Senate District 012

Born in New Jersey, Democrat Natan McKenzie moved to Virginia at a young age. He is a Virginia State University graduate, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in marketing and a certificate in project management. He has a multicultural background, having Dominican and Jamaican heritage. McKenzie participates in the NAACP, the Urban League of Greater Richmond Young Professionals, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievers, and the Petersburg Wellness Consortium. Currently, he is a financial advisor and small business owner.

McKenzie is dedicated to uplifting women and the issues they face in the Commonwealth. He recognizes that Virginia is the last southern state to offer accessible abortion care. He also sees how systemic racial and gender inequities impact women, especially with regard to equal pay. McKenzie has volunteered with local abortion advocacy organizations and has been endorsed by others for being a champion of abortion rights.

McKenzie pushes for fully funding education and getting guns off the streets. He also supports financial literacy for all, affordable healthcare, and protecting the environment.

Natan McKenzie is facing former State Senator Glen Sturtevant. While Sturtevant’s campaign website has little information on his stances, he has drummed up some controversy regarding his position on gun violence prevention legislation. In 2019, voted in favor of an extreme risk protectionlaw, later saying he did so by accident. Sturtevant is anti-abortion and has advocated for funding dangerous crisis pregnancy centers.

While additional information could not be found on McKenzie’s stances, his commitment to the community and strong support through endorsements of well-regarded advocacy organizations and legislators, making Democrat Natan McKenzie the progressive candidate in this race.

Herb Walke was born and raised in Norfolk, VA. He studied engineering at the University of Virginia and worked in construction on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel between semesters. Walke married his wife Jackie and worked for Reynolds Metals in Richmond for several decades as a corporate staff industrial engineer, division planning manager, systems and financial analyst, division accounting manager, and division cost manager. Walke started Walke Business Solutions, Inc. in 1998 and has since helped Fortune 500 companies, government, and small businesses adopt “Lean Manufacturing” to improve production and processes. He has trained over 3,000 professionals in Lean Manufacturing systems. Walke has volunteered and has served as an officer in the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers local Richmond Chapter for over 40 years. He is also a passionate woodturner and has volunteered with the Richmond Woodturners.

Walke will be a strong voice for commonsense gun violence prevention. He knows that innocent people are killed, hurt, maimed, or emotionally traumatized daily by gun violence. He argues that we need reasonable commonsense rules and laws that rein in the out-of-control use of deadly weapons by those who should not be allowed to have them. Prayers and thoughts are not the answer.

Walke’s views on community safety extend to law enforcement as well. He believes that we should be at ease interacting with law enforcement. Law enforcement should be properly trained and monitored to ensure they have the necessary training and equipment to keep them safe while they protect us and our communities.

Walke will be a voice for environmental protection. He wants us to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program, which puts a cap on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that will get stricter over time. He speaks out against Governor Youngkin’s decision to remove us from it, arguing that “Virginia’s biggest air polluters just sent the Commonwealth another $71 million dollars to help pay down the Commonwealth’s exorbitant climate costs and spiking energy bills. Perversely, the very same week, Governor Youngkin proposed Virginia taxpayers instead shoulder the burden of paying for climate damage to our coastal real estate and inland communities.”

Funding and protections for public schools are also a top issue for Walke. He believes that education is the fundamental reason that the US and Virginia have been leaders in innovation for our society. Virginia K-12 schools have consistently been ranked as number 4 or 6 among the 50 states. It is imperative that we properly fund our treasured public schools and universities and not attempt to micromanage the teaching at our excellent schools.

Walke is facing Republican Mark Earley, an attorney. Earley supports Republican initiatives to police public schools and forcibly out trans kids. In the run-up to the election, he removed his positions on abortion from his website, which previously indicated that he was wholly against abortion. He will do nothing about gun violence and even supports putting armed guards in classrooms.

Given Walke’s positions on environmental protection, common sense gun reform, and public education, he is the progressive choice in this race.