City of Richmond

Virginia’s new 57th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Henrico County and parts of Goochland County. With almost 63,000 registered voters, this is a competitive district that doesn’t lean in either direction. 

Virginia’s new 58th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Henrico County. With close to 61,000 registered voters, this district leans Democratic. 

Incumbent Delegate Cliff Hayes was born in Chesapeake and has represented the 77th District in the House of Delegates since 2016. He attended Norfolk State University, where he played basketball and completed post-graduate studies at multiple institutes of higher education. He spent his professional career working in information technology and technology policy. He also served as a member of the Chesapeake City Council from 2004 to 2012. He has two college-aged daughters and lives with his wife in Chesapeake.

Serving as the chair of the Joint Commission on Technology and Science, Hayes is a strong advocate for technological developments that boost the economy and protect the environment. He introduced and successfully passed legislation that created a major offshore wind generation facility. His work on this project led him to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club. Del. Hayes also voted in favor of the passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which will transition Virginia’s energy grid to 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Hayes has worked to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all Virginians. He voted in favor of Medicaid expansion in 2018, which granted access to affordable healthcare to 400,000 Virginians. Hayes was chief co-patron of a bill that expanded telemedicine services and ensured Virginians could safely see their doctors during the pandemic and beyond. He also voted to make abortion coverage available on the state health insurance exchange. He voted to cap insulin prices at $50 and he introduced and passed a bill to make it easier for pharmacies to distribute marijuana and CBD-based products.

Hayes has supported increased school funding at all levels. He voted in favor of a budget that gave teachers a 5% raise, increased funding for school counselors and nurses, and additional money to ensure schools can safely reopen during the pandemic. Hayes also worked to make higher education more affordable by voting for the Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back (G3) program, which makes community college tuition-free for low-and middle-income students who study in certain fields.

As a member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, Hayes has supported bills to ensure racial equity in Virginia. He voted to recognize racism as a public health crisis in the Commonwealth. The caucus also worked to ensure that the tax dollars received from the legalization of marijuana went to the Black and Brown communities that were disproportionately affected by drug enforcement. Hayes also fought for the historical preservation and funding for the maintenance of Black cemeteries in Chesapeake.

Hayes is facing a challenge from Republican candidate Geoffrey Burke, a Trump supporter. He believes Virginia should remain a right-to-work state, which greatly undermines the strength of unions. Burke also believes in privatizing education and opposes government regulations on polluting companies. He is against abortion access and common-sense measures aimed at keeping our communities safe from gun violence.

Due to his support of the environment, access to affordable healthcare, public education, and racial justice, Delegate Cliff Hayes is the most progressive choice for the 77th District.

Democrat Melanie Cornelisse is a seamstress, educator, and community organizer running to represent the 78th District in the House of Delegates. Raised in Kansas and Florida, Cornelisse has lived in Chesapeake for the past five years. Previously, she was a public school teacher, and currently owns her own business. She is heavily involved with gun violence prevention advocacy and runs the Chesapeake chapter of Moms Demand Action. Cornelisse lives in the Great Bridge area with her husband and two children.

As a survivor of gun violence, Cornelisse is passionate about and dedicated to gun violence prevention. She recognizes that gun violence is a public health crisis and has lobbied the General Assembly to implement policies that keep communities safe. She supports increased investment in gun violence prevention programs such as Be SMART, which teaches parents about safe gun ownership and storage. She also supports increased background checks for gun owners and increased restrictions on gun ownership, such as laws preventing domestic abusers from possessing guns. She has pledged not to accept donations from the gun lobby.

Cornelisse advocates for policies to make the ballot box as accessible as possible. Federally, she supports the passage of the For the People Act, which would expand voting rights and access. In Virginia, she would like to implement policies that make registering and voting as easy as possible. She helped advocate for the “Change the Date, Chesapeake!” and “Change the Date, VA” campaigns, which successfully lobbied the General Assembly to move the date of local elections from May to November, in order to allow as many voters as possible to cast a ballot.

Cornelisse advocates for policies to protect Virginia’s natural environment. She supports strong regulations on utility companies in order to ensure energy prices stay low and corporations are prioritizing the environment and Virginians’ health. She believes corporations should be held responsible for addressing the pollution and carbon emissions they produce and must pay their fair share in taxes to fund scientific research and climate protections. She also will fight for conservation efforts to protect Chesapeake wetlands.

As a former public school teacher and parent of kids attending local public schools, Cornelisse will prioritize education funding and school safety. She helped develop and run the Chesapeake School Safety Coalition. The coalition was originally founded to address gun violence in schools but has recently taken efforts to ensure students and school staff have the resources to stay safe during the pandemic. She supports increased investment in school resources at all levels and particularly emphasizes raising teacher and staff salaries. She also supports increased investment in student mental health and counselor services.

Cornelisse is running against incumbent Republican Delegate Jay Leftwich, an attorney who has represented the 78th district in the House of Delegates since 2014. Since his election, Leftwich has voted against expanding Medicaid coverage, raising the minimum wage, protecting insurance coverage of abortions, legalizing marijuana, and abolishing the death penalty. He also opposes keeping our communities safe by passing common sense measures to prevent gun violence.

Due to her support for gun violence prevention, expanding voting access, environmental protections, and funding for education, Melanie Cornelisse is the most progressive choice in this race.

Nadarius Clark was born in Norfolk and attended I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth and obtained his bachelor’s from Virginia Union University. Clark co-founded the Generation Now Network, an organization committed to faith-based activism, advocacy, and education. In 2017, he lobbied in Congress for the comprehensive expansion of Medicaid and Medicare. He is currently a radio host on 94.7 The Link and is one of the youngest candidates to run for delegate in Virginia.

As a native of the Tidewater region, Clark has witnessed the effects of climate change and rising sea levels. He believes the government must take urgent action to address the climate crisis. He opposes the Mountain Valley Pipeline and if elected, will support legislation to stop the construction of new pipelines. He also supports a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects and has vowed not to take campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies.

Clark wants to hold police accountable for the violence enacted on communities. He believes in using police alternatives to community dispute resolution to nonviolent and mental health-related crises. He supports ending qualified immunity, a practice that shields police officers from lawsuits for committing civil rights violations. Clark advocates for racial justice by promoting reparations to the descendants of enslaved people. He also believes in bringing equity to communities ravaged by the Drug War by directing revenue from the sale of legalized marijuana to Black and Brown communities.

Clark wants to bring access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Virginians. He also wants to focus on inequities in our healthcare system by improving disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia and disparities in the mortality rate of Black and Indigenous mothers. He has raised concerns over the affordable housing crisis stating that it is a public health issue and how he will work to address high eviction rates in the district and bring more funding for public housing.

Clark will work to provide public schools of every level with adequate funding and resources to benefit both the students and teachers. Understanding that teachers in underfunded schools often pay for materials out of pocket, Clark will ensure that teachers are paid fairly, and students can return to schools safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. He expressed his belief that students should have options outside of college and advocates for more investment in vocational programs and trade schools.

Clark is running against Republican candidate Lawrence Mason, a Navy veteran and volunteer first responder who is originally from New York. Mason is against keeping our communities safe by passing common-sense measures to prevent gun violence. He opposes shifting resources away from police budgets to community services and affordable housing.

Due to his support of the environment, racial justice, access to affordable healthcare, and criminal justice reform, Nadarius Clark is the most progressive choice in this race.

Incumbent Delegate Don Scott (D) was first elected to represent the 80th District in the House of Delegates in 2019. Scott is originally from Houston, Texas, and graduated from Texas A&M University. He later joined the U.S. Navy and earned a law degree from Louisiana State University after leaving the Navy. Scott founded his own law firm and is a member of the NAACP and VFW. He and his wife live in Portsmouth with their daughter.

In 1994, Scott was convicted of drug charges and served seven years in federal prison. He believes in second chances and works to reform the criminal justice system to reduce its harmful impact on communities of color. He co-patroned the House bill to legalize marijuana and wants to ensure that legalization will benefit communities ravaged by the Drug War. He voted to abolish the death penalty in 2021 and unsuccessfully sponsored legislation to decriminalize certain drugs. He co-patroned the constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to returning citizens this year as well.

As a resident of a coastal area, Scott understands the urgency of the climate crisis. In 2020, he supported the Clean Energy and Community Flood Preparedness Act, which reduces carbon emissions from power plants and provides protection to regions experiencing flooding issues. Scott advocates for incentivizing electric vehicle use for marginalized communities and creating infrastructure to support electric vehicles. In 2020, Scott voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which commits the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy by 2050.

Scott believes in keeping communities safe by passing common-sense measures to reduce gun violence prevention. In 2020, he voted for universal background checks, keeping guns out of the wrong hands with extreme risk protection orders, and restoring a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. Additionally, he voted to pass legislation to increase penalties for allowing minors to access guns. The following year, Scott supported legislation that bans guns from polling places and Richmond’s Capitol Square.

Scott wants working families in Virginia to live with dignity and supports raising the minimum wage. He advocated expanding protections offered to tenants during the pandemic to remain in place when the pandemic is over. He also wants to make the pursuit of higher education more affordable so people have more job opportunities and voted for the Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back “G3” program, which offers free tuition at community colleges for low- and middle-income students who study in certain fields.

Scott is facing a challenge from Republican candidate Deanna Stanton, a Portsmouth native, and hospice nurse. Stanton supports using taxpayer money to fund private education and opposes the right of workers to unionize. She opposes holding police accountable for the violence they inflict on communities and does not believe in keeping communities safe by passing common-sense measures to prevent gun violence.

Due to his support of criminal justice reform, the environment, gun violence prevention, and working families, Scott is the most progressive choice in this race.

Podiatrist Jeffrey ”Doc” Feld is running to represent the 80th District in the House of Delegates. He has lived in Virginia Beach for 20 years where his wife is a public school teacher. A former chief resident at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Feld runs his own medical practice with several locations in the area. He spends a lot of time volunteering with youth sports organizations and at local nursing homes while raising three children with his wife.

Understanding that strong schools are the backbone of thriving communities, Feld has unique insight into the need to improve equity in the education system because his wife is a teacher and their children attend public schools. He supports fully funding schools, universal pre-K, and raising teacher pay to attract the best talent and prevent turnover. He wants to reduce classroom sizes, increase student access to mental health resources, and make college tuition affordable in the Commonwealth.

As a resident of a coastal area vulnerable to rising sea levels, Feld knows the urgency of the climate crisis. He believes in using a collaborative approach to find common ground for all stakeholders to implement a just transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy economy. He wants to work with local farmers and the agricultural industry to increase education on environmental issues and make available programs, such as tree planting, to help them protect the environment. Feld also believes that the eco-tourism initiatives in the 81st District can help connect the area’s tourism industry with environmental preservation.

Feld’s experience in the medical field has led him to believe that all families in the district should have access to quality, affordable healthcare. He wants to lower prescription costs, make billing more transparent, and increase funding for mental health support and substance abuse recovery. He will fight to protect vulnerable populations and people with pre-existing conditions. He is also passionate about providing healthcare to veterans with his experience working at local veteran health facilities.

Feld wants to boost economic opportunities for working people to live with dignity and supports a living wage. He understands the hardships people are facing during the pandemic and will work to ensure that federal and state money is funneled to the district to create jobs and build infrastructure. He wants to ensure that local businesses have access to grants and loans to stay afloat during the pandemic and will collaborate with local banks and creditors to make resources available as well.

Feld is challenging incumbent Delegate Barry Knight (R), a hog farmer. Knight opposes keeping communities safe with common-sense measures to prevent gun violence. In 2020, he voted against increasing the minimum wage and the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which commits the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy by 2050. This year, he opposed abolishing the death penalty and the Voting Rights Act of Virginia.

Due to his support of public education, the environment, access to affordable healthcare, and working families, Jeffrey Feld is the most progressive choice in this election.