VA-04 Special Issue
Okay, who asked Santa for another election this Christmas?
Virginia’s 4th District Special Election
We really thought we were going to take December off after California finished counting their results, but circumstances have unfortunately changed. Democratic Congress Member Don McEachin, after a short and private battle with cancer, passed away three weeks ago, setting off the first special election of the 2023-2024 cycle. Given the wide latitude for scheduling special elections, Virginia Governor Glen Youngkin surprised many by setting a February 21 date for the general election. As helpful as it is to get a Democrat back in Congress soon after the body convenes in January, it doesn’t leave Democrats with enough time for a traditional primary, forcing the state party to choose between a party convention and a so-called “firehouse primary”, now a uniquely Virginian institution. The VADP went with the latter.
What this means for the voters of VA-04 (Richmond area and Southside VA) is that the Democratic Party (not the government) will open up a collection of voting locations for a period of four hours. Any eligible voter in the district will be able to vote at one of these locations as long as they sign an oath that they are members of the party. The oath is entirely unenforceable, which means any voter in the district can participate, turning this election into an open primary. Turnout is expected to be rock bottom, as is usually the case even for regularly scheduled firehouse primaries with months of advance notice.
There are four candidates for this unusual firehouse primary.
Sen. Jennifer McClellan
Jennifer McClellan, perhaps the most prominent politician Richmond now, would be the frontrunner in a more traditional primary. She’s put in her time, serving continuously in state government since 2006, and rarely rocked the boat. Unfortunately, she has little to show for it - you may remember her run for governor in 2021, and if you do, you’re part of a small group - she took less than 12% in that primary, a painful showing even if few expected her to win. In this election she’s the candidate of the state and federal Democratic establishment, pulling in Tim Kaine and three members of the state’s Congressional delegation (Don Beyer, Jennifer Wexton, and Gerry Connolly) as Day 1 endorsements. The Richmond establishment originally wanted a different candidate (Del. Lamont Bagby), but got in line behind McClellan after only a few days.
McClellan’s politics have always leaned establishment, and while voters can expect her to be a reliable vote for Democratic priorities, that’s about all they should expect from her. She may be a corporate lawyer who has raised tens of thousands of dollars from dirty state electrical monopoly Dominion Energy, but she’s not antagonistic towards progressives, and hasn’t outed herself completely on the completely wrong side of any hot intra-party issues. Inspired yet? What if we told you she’s probably the best realistic outcome?
Sen. Joe Morrissey
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Morrissey is back, and more problematic than ever. Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney election of November, 1989, spawned a monster when a young attorney named Joe Morrissey emerged victorious, and though he only served one term, he spent the next decade in the Richmond legal scene acting like he owned the place, which resulted in multiple suspensions of his law license and, finally, a disbarment in 2001 after a series of convictions for contempt of court, assault, and bribery. After attempts to set up international law practices failed, he decided to get back into politics in Richmond, was elected to a majority-Black state house seat in 2007, and since then has been the rare white politician with enduring appeal to Black voters in the South. This charming man managed to get his law license back in 2011, but that all came crashing down in 2013, when he was charged with multiple counts of child endangerment and one count of child pornography, after it was discovered he was sleeping with his 17 year old legal assistant, and had sent naked pictures of her to his friends. Under pressure from state Democrats, he resigned his seat. Then, incredibly, he won, from jail, and running as an independent, the special election for the vacancy he had caused, and managed to stay in the House.
Somehow, that did not kill his career prospects, and he filed to run for Senate. It was only after he filed that election officials realized he didn’t live in his Delegate district, and he was ejected from the body, again. As for the Senate race, he’d started something he couldn’t finish, and dropped out of it shortly thereafter. Somehow, that didn’t end his political career either, even though he had just been sentenced to a misdemeanor sex crime against his legal assistant (who he is now married to, and taking shocking photos of a different variety with). He ran for mayor in 2016, and, even though he lost, managed to clearly win the Black vote. In 2018, he was disbarred a second time both for impregnating a teenaged employee, and for other assorted corrupt actions he’s engaged in after getting his law license back.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of him either, and the boy with a thorn in his side managed to stage a comeback in 2019, defeating an incumbent Democratic state senator in the primary, finally getting himself to the State Senate, where he serves today. Now, Bigmouth is striking again, and he should be considered a very real threat, no matter how long his rap sheet is, and the more we ignore him, the closer he gets to winning. One major cause for concern is the open nature of the primary, and the lack of a corresponding Republican firehouse primary, which has led to a fledgling effort by Republican media figures to convince Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary to help Morrissey.
ex-Del. Joseph Preston
Joseph Preston is destined as the also-ran in this election. After a couple unsuccessful attempts at the State House in the 90s, he won the party convention for a special election in 2014, but, instead of running for reelection, challenged state Sen Rosalyn Dance in the primary, and lost 62% - 38%. He spent precious little time in the legislature - less than a year - after which he was hired and then fired as the City Attorney for Petersburg. Preston is a bit of an enigma, and doesn’t have much support from any wing of the party, but may pull in serious numbers in Petersburg as the only local candidate
Activist/Insurance agent Tavorise Marks
The longest shot of candidates on the ballot is Tavorise Marks, who ran for a light red seat in the Richmond suburbs in 2019, but narrowly lost the primary. Marks describes himself as fighting for “REAL progressive CHANGE”, and said he supports a $16.50/hr minimum wage instead of the standard $15/hr.
Blinked and you missed him:
Del. Lamont Bagby
Lamont Bagby was the original choice of the Richmond establishment, most notably Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney. For this reason, he was probably a worse choice than Jennifer McClellan, but now we’ll never know. Facing the looming threat of Congress Member Joe Morrissey, he dropped out after only a few days and endorsed McClellan, as did all his original Richmond endorsers.
Results
Some other housekeeping - a few more election results have been decided since our last issue. Sacramento County’s 5th Supervisor district, our last uncalled race of the November election, went for de facto Republican Pat Hume over progressive Democrat Jacelyn Moreno 50.2% - 49.8%, a difference of 41 votes.
Austin held its runoff this week, resulting in a narrow victory for progressive Zo Qadri, whose candidacy had received national attention; but also a narrow loss for Celia Israel in the mayoral contest to moderate Kirk Watson, who leaned heavily on Republican support in the closing weeks, winning with 50.4% to Israel’s 49.6% in another classic East vs. West Austin contest. Establishment choice José Velásquez won District 3 in another close race, while urbanist candidate Ryan Alter won easily in District 5.