Virginia Beach, District 1

Virginia’s new 22nd State Senate district encompasses parts of Virginia Beach City. With almost 150,000 registered voters, this district leans Democratic. 

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Democratic Senator Aaron Rouse is facing a rematch challenge from Republican Kevin Adams in the general election for Virginia’s new 22nd State Senate district. Senator Rouse was elected to the State Senate in 2023 in a special general election where he previously defeated Adams. Previously, he served on the Virginia Beach City City Council.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Aaron Rouse has served in the State Senate since winning his 2023 Special Election in District 7. He previously served on the Virginia Beach City Council. He is a Virginia Beach native and First Colonial High School graduate. Senator Rouse holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Virginia Tech. He is a former NFL player. He and his wife, Virginia Beach Councilwoman Jennifer Valetine-Rouse live in Virginia Beach with their son and daughter.

Education is a key area of focus for Senator Rouse, having gone through the Virginia Beach public school system himself. He pledges to fight to raise teacher pay to above the national average. He believes in expanding access to preschool education programs. Senator Rouse also sees the need to modernize classrooms so all children in the Commonwealth can have a safe learning environment. He also believes that job training in schools should be expanded so children are better prepared to enter the workforce. He founded Rouse’s House, an education nonprofit that focuses on youth and families.

Senator Rouse advocates for affordable healthcare and abortion access. He believes healthcare decisions should be between patients and their doctors. His goals are to lower the overall cost of healthcare and prescription drug care costs, expand healthcare coverage, protect the right to abortion and fight against attacks on access, and ensure every person has access to contraceptives. On his win in the 7th District, Senator Rouse called it a “victory for ensuring access to reproductive healthcare across the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

Senator Rouse believes in investments that create an economy where every family can thrive. His focus is on new economic opportunities. While a member of the Virginia Beach City Council, he worked to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and to increase salaries for education and public safety professionals. Senator Rouse’s economic goals are to bring new good-paying jobs to the region, expand job training opportunities, increase funding for affordable housing, and building new workforce housing.

Incumbent Democratic Senator Aaron Rouse is facing a rematch challenge from Republican Kevin Adams. The two faced each other in January 2023 during the special election for District 22. Kevin Adams is a retired Naval Lieutenant Commander. He is anti-abortion and has voiced support for Governor Youngkin’s 15 week abortion ban.

Because of his commitment to protecting abortion access, Senator Rouse is the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 95th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Virginia Beach City and parts of Norfolk City. With over 57,000 registered voters, this district leans Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Democratic candidate Alex Askew is running unopposed in the general election for Virginia’s new 95th House of Delegates district. Former Delegate Askew previously served in the House of Delegates.

Democrat and Former Delegate Alex Askew is a Virginia Beach native who was raised by a public school teacher. He worked for nearly seven election cycles on various local, state-wide, and national campaigns. He served as a Chief of Staff for the Virginia House of Delegates, where he helped craft groundbreaking legislation such as the nationwide Ashanti Alert, Medicaid expansion, affordable housing expansion, and school safety initiatives. In his term as the Delegate for the 85th District, he had nine bills signed into law, with 7 of them receiving unanimous bipartisan support. In 2022, he was narrowly defeated and conceded the seat. He is now running to be reelected in the newly-redrawn 95th district.

Fmr. Del. Askew has been a staunch defender of equality. He worked alongside Delegate Dolores McQuinn and sponsored HB1993, which requires state agencies to establish and maintain comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic plans in coordination with the Governor’s Chief Diversity Officer. “The comprehensive emphasis on equity-minded legislation throughout the 2021 General Assembly session has been historic,” said Secretary of Administration Grindly Johnson. “This legislation makes Virginia a national exemplar in fostering the business case for organizational effectiveness in our state agencies.”

Fmr. Del. Askew has also been an advocate for common-sense gun violence prevention. He voted for HB 2128, which increases the time for the State Department to complete firearm Background Checks, a necessary step in preventing unsafe gun owners from slipping through the cracks. He also voted for HB 2276, which classifies the manufacture, import, sale, transfer, and possession of certain firearms as a Class 5 felony. These measures are indicative of Fmr. Del. Askew’s commitment to firearm safety and his understanding of the policies that can help prevent tragedies.

Fmr. Del. Askew’s record also shows he is committed to racial and economic justice. As delegate, he passed a law that makes it a hate crime to intentionally make a false 911 call on the basis of race, religion, gender, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, color, or national origin. Additionally, he voted for HJ 555, which restores the civil and voting rights for returning citizens after they have completed their jail sentences. He worked with the Virginia Emergency Management Association to protect minority and other vulnerable communities across Hampton Roads—a region prone to disasters and storm flooding.

He has also been clear on abortion access and healthcare. After Texas passed a horrendously restrictive abortion law in 2021, he said simply: “Repro care is health care. Repro justice is economic justice. Repro rights are human rights.” As Delegate, he voted to repeal the abortion prohibition in Virginia health insurance plans and establish the Reproductive Health Protection Act. His positions have earned him an endorsement from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia.

Fmr. Del. Askew is running unopposed, but because of his position on firearm safety, reproductive rights, and criminal justice, he is still the progressive choice in this race.

Virginia’s new 96th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Virginia Beach City. With over 59,000 registered voters, this district leans Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Democratic Delegate Kelly Fowler is facing challenges from Republican Mike Karslake and Independent Nicholas Olenik in the general election for Virginia’s new 96th House of Delegates district. Delegate Fowler has served in the House of Delegates since 2018.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Kelly Fowler is of Filipino-Mexican heritage and moved to Virginia Beach when her father, who was in the Navy, was stationed there. An engaged member of the community, she used to be an elementary school teacher and now owns a small local real estate company that specializes in military family relocation and advocacy. She and her husband reside in Virginia Beach with their three daughters. Fowler was first elected to represent the 21st District in 2017 and will now run for HD 96 with the redrawn district lines.

Delegate Fowler was motivated to run for office after attending the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. in January 2017.. In 2020, she voted to repeal medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers by supporting the Reproductive Health Protection Act. She supports abortion access and voted to make abortion coverage available on the health insurance exchange.

During her time in office, Delegate Fowler voted to give teachers a 5% raise, believing higher teacher pay will reduce high turnover and make it easier for schools to recruit and retain the best teachers. She also voted to increase school funding in the Commonwealth, including money to help schools reopen safely during the pandemic. She also voted to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students in 2020 and make them eligible for financial aid the following year.

Delegate Fowler recognizes the real threat of climate change. She hopes to create long-term solutions to preserving the green spaces in the Virginia Beach and Chesapeake areas. Del. Fowler has patroned legislation aimed at tackling the flooding issues of the 21st District. Additionally, Del. Fowler is in support of clean energy and green jobs and voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020, which aims to make Virginia 100% clean energy by 2050.

Delegate Fowler believes in making the promise of democracy real for us all by supporting our fair and free elections. In 2021, she voted for the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, which prohibits discrimination at the polls. She also voted to keep voters safe during the pandemic by removing the signature requirement on absentee ballots during an emergency and establishing drop boxes for voters to leave their ballots. In 2020, she voted to extend the early voting period and to make it easier to vote absentee in Virginia.

Delegate Fowler’s main opponent is Republican Mike Karslake, a business owner affiliated with Business Networks International. He describes himself as politically conservative and has spent 20 years working within the Republican political network. He wants to give police additional funding with no accountability. He will allow gun violence to go unchecked in our communities, and his top priority is to “preserve our religious freedoms”--so long as they support “Judeo-Christian values”.

Independent candidate Nicholas Olenik is also in the running for the race, but we could not find a website or any listed positions at the time of research.

Due to her support of abortion access, public education, voting rights, and the environment, Delegate Fowler is the most progressive choice in this election.

Virginia’s new 97th House of Delegates district encompasses parts of Virginia Beach City. With over 63,000 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 Karen Greenhalgh is facing a challenge from Democrat Michael Feggans in the general election for Virginia’s new 97th House of Delegates district. Delegate Greenhalgh has served in the House of Delegates since 2022.

Michael Feggans is a Virginia Beach native who graduated from Tallwood High School and enlisted in the U.S Air Force after graduation. He values education and has degrees from Virginia Tech, Norfolk State, and the University of Virginia. After 20 years of service in the Air Force, he decided to retire and become a tech entrepreneur in Virginia Beach. With the creation of the new 97th House District, Feggans is running for the House of Delegates to continue serving his community.

Feggans lists “protecting reproductive freedom and women’s rights” as the first priority on his website. He pledges to fight to safeguard and expand abortion access.He has been endorsed by Roe Your Vote Virginia.

He also lists “fighting for common sense gun safety measures to keep our communities safe” as a top priority. As a military veteran and responsible gun owner, he knows how dangerous guns can be in the wrong hands. That’s why he supports common sense solutions to curb gun violence, including expanding background checks, strengthening Virginia’s extreme risk protection order law, and bolstering safe storage requirements to keep guns out of schools and keep our communities safe. Because of these stances, he was endorsed by Giffords PAC.

Feggans pledges himself to protecting our environment and supporting renewable energy jobs to support and combat recurring flooding, sea level rise, and promote resilience in coastal Virginia. He knows that clean energy is crucially important in Virginia Beach as we face the impacts of climate change in our coastal region every day. He believes that offshore wind would bring economic and environmental benefits to this region. His positions earned him an endorsement from Sierra Club and from NRDC Action Fund.

Feggans also promises to support small businesses and entrepreneurs to create an economy that helps families and our community thrive. He says he’ll fight in Richmond to lower the costs of prescription drugs and healthcare and make housing more affordable. As a small business owner, he has personally felt the sting of rising costs and knows that a strong economy starts on Main Street. He will work to modernize processes and help to combat the issues that hold small businesses back. His language focuses on business, but he has earned an endorsement from AFL-CIO and professes support for unions.

Feggans’ opponent is incumbent Republican Delegate Karen Greenhalgh, a Virginia Beach business owner. Del. Greenhalgh became infamous in her 2021 race against Fmr. Del. Alex Askew for sending out an “overtly racist” mailer targeting her opponent. She supports restricting access to abortion by passing medically unnecessary regulations on abortion providers. She opposes the right of workers to form unions and will work to keep the state’s right-to-work law in place. She targets LGBTQ+ youth, having Sponsored HB 1387 to limit participation in women’s 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".

Because of his stances on healthcare and abortion, environmental protection, and gun safety, Feggans is the clear progressive choice in this race.