Senate District 017

Virginia’s new 17th State Senate district encompasses Suffolk City, Isle of Wight County, parts of Portsmouth City, Southampton County, Brunswick County, Greensville County, Franklin City, parts of Dinwiddie County, Emporia City, and parts of Chesapeake City. With over 164,000 registered voters, this is a competitive district that doesn’t lean in one direction or another.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Democratic Delegate Clint Jenkins and Republican candidate Delegate Emily Brewer will face each other in the general election for Virginia’s new 17th State Senate district. Delegate Jenkins has served in the House of Delegates since 2020. Delegate Brewer has served in the House of Delegates since 2018.

Delegate Clint Jenkins has served in the House of Delegates since 2020. He sits on the Counties, Cities, and Towns Committee, the Public Safety Committee, and the General Laws Committee. He was raised in Suffolk, graduated from John F. Kennedy High School, and served in the United States Army. Delegate Jenkins earned his Bachelor of Arts at Saint Leo University and went on to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for graduate studies. Currently, he runs a real estate company with his daughter.

Delegate Jenkins advocates for everyone’s right to make their own healthcare decisions with their doctors. If elected, he has stated he will fight to keep abortion access protected by law. He sees the impact that restrictions on abortion and other barriers to healthcare have had, especially on Black women. In 2019, he participated in a Men for Choice event hosted by REPRO Rising Virginia. Delegate Jenkins is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

Delegate Jenkins believes that every child should have access to quality public education, regardless of race, ethnicity, or zip code. He supports raising teacher pay and investing in public schools, so students have the resources they need to thrive. He considers broadband infrastructure imperative to the education of students in rural areas. Delegate Jenkins advocates for universal pre-kindergarten, noting these programs offer children a head start. He supports increasing overall education funding.

Delegate Jenkins advocates for sensible gun ownership and pledges to continue this advocacy if elected. He is endorsed by Giffords, an organization dedicated to gun violence prevention. He has fought against bills that aim to weaken commonsense gun violence prevention laws. He supports extreme risk protective orders and universal background checks. Delegate Jenkins sits on the public safety committee, where he voted against attempted rollbacks from Republican legislators. Previously he mentored youth as a way to serve his community and stop cycles of gun violence.

Delegate Jenkins believes every Virginian should have access to quality, affordable healthcare. He advocates for better transparency in pricing, as well as improved broadband access in rural communities for telehealth services. Previously, he worked as a crisis counselor for mental health, and he understands the need for policies that are trauma-informed. He supports Medicaid expansion, and if elected, he will fight against attempts to roll back on progress made in affordable healthcare access.

Democratic Delegate Clint Jenkins and Republican candidate Delegate Emily Brewer will face each other in this race. Delegate Brewer has served in the House of Delegates since 2018. During the 2023 General Assembly, she voted in favor of an anti-trans forced outing bill. She has stated support for abortion bans and has sponsored and voted for legislation that would weaken gun violence prevention laws.

Because of his commitment to healthcare access, gun violence prevention, and quality public education, Delegate Clint Jenkins is the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 82nd House of Delegates district encompasses Petersburg City, parts of Dinwiddie County, parts of Prince George County, and Surry County. With almost 64,000 registered voters, this is a competitive district that doesn’t lean in one direction or another.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Republican Delegate Kim Taylor is facing a challenge from Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams in the general election for Virginia’s new 82nd House of Delegates district. Delegate Taylor has served in the House of Delegates since 2022.

Kimberly Pope Adams is an auditor who wants to bring accountability to the House of Delegates. She grew up in the "Five Forks" area of Hopewell and has a deep-rooted connection to the traditions and culture of the Tri-Cities. Adams is a mother who wants to be a voice for a district that Richmond has long ignored. She will stand with farmers, local businesses, and community leaders to make the district thrive.

Adams believes that every Virginian deserves to live in a safe community. She wants to address the crime and violence that have devastated families and neighborhoods in the 82nd District. As Delegate, Adams will work to achieve measurable results for the district by engaging stakeholders to promote a law enforcement workforce that reflects the community it serves, working with community leaders, individual citizens, and law enforcement to establish innovative crime prevention initiatives, and ensuring state funding exists to adequately staff Sheriff and Police departments.

Adams believes that the government should not interfere in a healthcare decision, and all decisions should be made between the person and their doctor. As Delegate, she will fight tirelessly to oppose any attempt to ban abortions in Virginia, including obstacles like mandatory waiting periods and limits on access to contraception.

Adams believes every working family deserves an opportunity to enjoy economic security and success. She believes that workers should have the right to unionize and collectively bargain. Employees should have paid sick leave to use for themselves or their children, and employers should invest in specialized training, making education and workforce development available to the community.

Food insecurity is an undeniable fact for many residents in our community. People in both urban and rural areas lack access to affordable fresh food. Most tragic is that food deserts exist in communities where agriculture is vital to the local economy. Adams believes broadband internet access is as necessary for Virginians as electricity and water. Educational opportunities, employment opportunities, and affordable healthcare are often dependent upon reliable internet access. In order to make counties more attractive to live, broadband access must be a unified priority for both State and local government.

Pope’s opponent is incumbent Republican Delegate Kim Taylor, a Dinwiddie County resident who owns a small business with her husband. As Delegate, Taylor voted to require reinstatement of the mandatory 24-hour waiting period before a person can access abortion (HB 212). She opposes common-sense gun violence prevention legislation and voted to repeal the extreme risk protection law (HB 209). She also voted to reduce penalties for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit (HB 11).

Because of her stances on healthcare, economic security and development, and her commitment to the needs of her constituents, Kimberly Pope Adams is the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 83rd House of Delegates district district encompasses parts of Isle of Wight County, Southampton County, Brunswick County, Sussex County, Greensville County, Emporia County, and parts of Dinwiddie County. With over 66,000 registered voters, this district leans Republican.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Republican Delegate Otto Wachsmann is facing a challenge from Democrat Mary Person in the general election for Virginia’s new 83rd House of Delegates district. Delegate Wachsmann has served in the House of Delegates since 2022.

Mary Person is a native of Emporia, Virginia, who has served as an educator in her community for 26 years. She began her career as a teacher of children with autism and is now the Principal of Bellfield Elementary in Emporia. Person is an active member of the NAACP, a board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greensville/Emporia, and a member of the Crater Regional Workforce Development Board. She has also served in various educational and political roles, including eight years as Mayor of Emporia. Person has worked tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of her constituents, establish scholarships for graduating seniors, and attract more businesses and industry jobs to the area.

Person believes that quality health care should be affordable for everyone. She is in favor of expanding mental health services for adults and children. She believes that prescription drugs should be affordable, saying that “no one should have to choose between getting a prescription filled or eating.” She pledges to advocate for legislation to combat health care inequity.

Educational infrastructure is a top priority for her. She wants to ensure the future of public education and make sure all children succeed. She wants to make sure kids have the social and emotional skills necessary to be successful in school and have qualified teachers in the classroom, especially in rural areas such as the 83rd district. Incentives must be offered to college students to go into the field of education to increase the number of qualified teachers in the field.

She also lists economic development as a top priority. She wants to provide opportunities for our communities to have jobs. She believes that a qualified workforce is essential to economic development, so specialized training for skilled positions is a must. To accomplish this, she pledges to actively recruit prospective companies by meeting with them and explaining the benefits of investing in our district. She pledges to always be the number one advocate for obtaining good paying jobs in our communities.

Of equal importance is public safety. She argues that our communities must be a safe place to live, work, and go to school. She advocates for community policing to allow officers to develop relationships with the community and the community to develop relationships with the officers. She also wants to ensure that officers are properly trained in dealing with mental health issues. She pledges to promote legislation to ensure community safety remains a priority and will also work with local government and police departments to fight for safe communities.

Person’s opponent is incumbent Republican Otto Wachsmann, a Sussex County pharmacist and small business owner. Wachsmann has consistently voted against trans youth, having voted for HB 1387, which limits participation in sports on the basis of sex assigned at birth, and voted for HB 2432, which requires schools to inform parents of students experiencing "gender incongruence". He wants to deny abortion access and voted for HB 212, which would have reinstated the mandatory 24 hour waiting period for individuals seeking an abortion.

Given Person’s commitment to building an equitable society and ensuring the basic needs of all are met, she is the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 84th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Suffolk City, parts of Isle of Wight County, Franklin City, and parts of Chesapeake City. With over 66,000 registered voters, this district leans Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Democratic Delegate Nadarius Clark is facing Republican Michael Dillender in the general election for Virginia’s new 84th House of Delegates district. Delegate Clark served in the House of Delegates from 2022 to 2023, resigning from House of Delegates District 79 to run in this race. Dillender previously ran in the 2021 District 76 House of Delegates race.

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

As a native of the Tidewater region, Delegate Clark has witnessed the effects of climate change and rising sea level. 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.

Del. 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.

As a candidate, Delegate Clark pledged 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. As Delegate, he voted against HB 212, which would have reinstated the mandatory 24 hour waiting period for individuals seeking an abortion prior to the procedure.

Delegate Clark has been a staunch advocate for diversity and equality. He voted against HB 1387, which limits participation in women's sports on the basis of sex assigned at birth and also voted against HB 2432, which requires schools to out trans kids to their parents. He voted against HB 753, which allows religious schools to discriminate against faculty and students and voted against HB 127, which makes it illegal for Governor’s Schools to factor diversity into admission processes.

Delegate Clark’s opponent in this race is Mike Dillender, a member of the Board of Directors for the Stonebridge School. In this role, he has hidden behind rhetoric to forward an agenda to blatantly indoctrinate children into the belief that America is inherently and historically a Christian nation. He has pledged to sponsor legislation defunding Planned Parenthood. He wants to put armed guards in every school rather than pass common sense gun violence prevention legislation. He proudly touts an endorsement from Gov. Youngkin.

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

Virginia’s new 88th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Portsmouth City. With almost 60,000 registered voters, this district leans strongly Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Democratic Delegate Don Scott is facing a challenge from Republican Jim Wright in the general election for Virginia’s new 88th House of Delegates district. Delegate Scott has served in the House of Delegates since 2020.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Don Scott was first elected to represent the 80th District in the House of Delegates in 2019. With district lines redrawn, he will now run for the 88th district. He is the current leader of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus. Leader 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. Leader 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, Leader 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 also co-patroned the constitutional amendment to restore voting rights to returning citizens this year as well.

As a resident of a coastal area, Leader 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. Leader Scott advocates for incentivizing electric vehicle use for marginalized communities and creating infrastructure to support electric vehicles. In 2020, he voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which commits the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy by 2050.

Leader Scott believes in keeping communities safe by passing common sense measures to reduce gun violence. 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. In the last session, he co-sponsored HB 2387, which would establish a refundable income tax credit for firearm safety devices and voted no on HB 509, which would repeal the extreme risk protection order law.

Leader Scott wants working families in Virginia to live with dignity and supports raising the minimum wage. He advocated to expand 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.

Leader Scott is running unopposed, but due to his support of criminal justice reform, the environment, gun violence prevention, and working families, he is the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 89th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Chesapeake City and parts of Suffolk City. With over 64,000 registered voters, this district is a competitive district that doesn’t lean in one direction or another.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Democratic candidate Karen Jenkins and Republican candidate Baxter Ennis will face each other in the general election for Virginia’s new 89th House of Delegates district. Jenkins previously served on the Suffolk City School Board. Baxter previously ran in the 2022 Chesapeake City City Council At Large race. There is no incumbent running in this race.

Karen Jenkins is a lifelong resident of the City of Suffolk and currently serves on the Suffolk School Board. Jenkins is a champion for education, public safety, and mental health. During her first term on Suffolk School Board, Jenkins participated in training and workshops to improve policies and procedures for Suffolk Public Schools. She was instrumental in developing business partnerships and programs to enhance student academic achievement and worked closely with state legislatures to gain funding for SPS.

As a mental health professional, Jenkins understands the importance of mental health resources. She pledges to advocate for legislation and funding to bring mental health awareness and resources to the district. Education is also a top priority for Jenkins. Working on the Suffolk School Board and with Suffolk Public Schools, she has a proven track record of prioritizing and putting students at the focus of our education system. In tandem with her focus on education, Jenkins believes that we all deserve to feel safe and have public safety resources available to us in our time of need. She plans to assess and modernize public safety systems in our district to meet our current and future needs. She has also received an endorsement from Planned Parenthood of Virginia.

Jenkins has the opportunity to make Virginia history. She is running for this seat at the same time as her husband, Delegate, Clint Jenkins, seeks the newly created seat in SD 17. If both were to win their respective seats, they would be the first married couple to serve contemporaneously in the state’s history.

Jenkin’s opponent is Republican City Councilman Baxter Ennis, a veteran. Councilman Ennis wants to provide unchecked funding to police. He supports a near-total abortion ban and repeats GOP lies about activists’ positions. He will do nothing about gun violence.

Despite limited available information on Karen Jenkins, the positions that she does advocate and the work she has done for public schools make her the progressive choice in this race.