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McClellan, Morrissey announce 4th District bids amid backlash on primary [1]

['Michael Martz And Dave Ress Richmond Times-Dispatch', 'Michael Martz', 'David Ress', 'Daniel Sangjib Min Times-Dispatch', 'Bob Brown', 'Alexa Welch Edlund Times-Dispatch', 'Joe Mahoney Times-Dispatch']

Date: 2022-12

Sens. Jennifer McClellan and Joe Morrissey, both Richmond Democrats, declared their candidacies on Tuesday to succeed the late Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th.

McClellan, 49, a corporate lawyer entering her 17th year in the General Assembly, formally jumped into a growing field of Democratic candidates for the seat, left vacant by the sudden death of McEachin, 61, on Nov. 28 after a long battle with health effects from his treatment for colorectal cancer.

"It's time for a Black woman's voice to be heard in the Virginia congressional delegation, and the perspective that brings," she said in an interview before her campaign announcement next to the Bell Tower in Capitol Square in downtown Richmond on Tuesday morning.

McClellan sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 2021, losing to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a five-candidate field.

Her formal announcement came a day after Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, declared his candidacy with support from a group of Black elected officials in the Richmond region.

Morrissey

Morrissey launched his bid for the seat Tuesday morning in front of Petersburg City Hall.

“I’ve spent the better part of the last decade fighting for issues important to Virginia, like the environment, reforming our criminal justice system, investing in affordable housing, fighting for Virginians’ health care and preventing gun violence," Morrissey said.

He described himself as a “worker bee” in the General Assembly, touting his work on criminal justice reform.

Morrissey said his achievements showed he can accomplish reforms by working across the aisle, claiming as successes reinstatement of parole for juveniles and abolition of the death penalty, which the General Assembly enacted in 2021 when it passed legislation sponsored by Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News. The only state senator who joined the list of the bill’s patrons was McClellan.

He said his successes extended beyond criminal justice reform, to include health care, preventing gun violence and the environment, adding that he was the chief patron of the Virginia Clean Economy Act. This bill was sponsored in the House by Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax and in the Senate by McClellan.

Morrissey, a former Richmond commonwealth's attorney, served in the House of Delegates from January 2008 to December 2014 and from January to March 2015. He lost a run for mayor of Richmond in 2016 and was elected to the state Senate in 2019 after defeating Democratic incumbent Rosalyn Dance in a primary.

The 4th District includes all or part of 15 cities and counties, stretching from Richmond south to Brunswick and Greensville counties. About 75% of its voters are in Richmond, eastern Henrico and eastern Chesterfield.

Primary backlash

Others, including Chesterfield County businessman Tavorise Marks and former Del. Joseph Preston, D-Petersburg, also are seeking the Democratic nomination in a party firehouse primary next Tuesday, Dec. 20, that already has sparked accusations of unfairness to working class voters.

Morrissey said the 4th District Democratic committee’s decision to hold a firehouse primary on a Tuesday rather than this Saturday, Dec. 17, “will have the net effect of chilling and limiting voter turnout." He called it "the most anti-working class, anti-democratic and anti-Black woman decision since the Byrd era."

In an apparent reference to McClellan, he asserted that it benefits "one candidate in Northside Richmond and the West End when they get out on a Tuesday.”

Former state Democratic Chairman Paul Goldman threatened to file a lawsuit against the 4th District Democratic Committee over its vote to hold the party primary on a weeknight instead of a Saturday, when more voters can attend and participate.

"Congressman Don McEachin understood that Democrats should be leading the fight to allow working families maximum access to the ballot, which is only possible in elections ARE NOT on Tuesday when you can do IT ON A SATURDAY," Goldman said in a blast text message.

Marks, 39, a Chester resident who grew up in Brunswick County and owns an insurance business in Hopewell, said he is "highly upset" by the committee decision.

"I think it's very unfair, especially for a party that says it's the party of the people," he said in an interview.

Marks said the party filing requirements for paying $3,000 fee and submitting 150 notarized signatures by Friday afternoon "only benefit career politicians."

"If you're not in the Richmond power circle, it's almost like you don't have a chance," he said.

McClellan, asked about the decision after her campaign announcement, said Gov. Glenn Youngkin's decision to set the special election on Feb. 21 and require the nomination of candidates by Dec. 23 "left them little choice."

"Mobilizing voters in less than a week would have been even more undemocratic," she said after a speech that emphasized the importance of voting rights that had been denied or suppressed by poll taxes and literary tests for her ancestors.

Committee Chair Alexsis Rodgers did not return requests for comment.

Voting sites

In its announcement on Monday night, the 4th District Committee said it had set the "unassembled caucus" on Dec. 20 "in order to meet the time constraints of the Governor’s writ of election while operating a transparent, open, and fair election."

The committee on Tuesday announced that polls will be open Dec. 20 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Anyone "who considers themselves a Democrat" and is registered to vote in the 4th District can cast a ballot at any one of five locations, including two in Richmond and one in Highland Springs. The polling locations are:

• Brunswick Conference Center - 100 Athletic Field Rd, Lawrenceville, Virginia 23868

• Dogtown Dance Studio - 109 W 15th St., Richmond, VA 23224

• Diversity Richmond - 1407 Sherwood Ave, Richmond, VA 23220

• IBEW Local 666 - 1390 E Nine Mile Road, Highland Springs VA 23075

• Tabernacle Baptist Church - 444 Halifax St., Petersburg, VA 23803

Voters will need to bring one of the same methods of identification that are required to vote in a state-run election.

McClellan

Like Bagby, McClellan honored the legacy of McEachin, whom she had succeeded in the Senate in 2017 after his election to a redrawn congressional district with a minority-majority population in all or parts of 15 localities reaching from Richmond to the North Carolina line.

The Virginia Supreme Court redrew the state's congressional districts in 2021 after a state redistricting commission could not reach agreement.

McEachin was Virginia's third Black congressman, after Rep. John Mercer Langston, elected in 1888 to represent the 4th District, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-3rd.

McClellan wants to make history as the first African American woman to represent Virginia in Congress.

"This is a bittersweet day for me, as I continue to mourn a friend but hear the call to carry on his legacy and carry my own servant leadership to Congress," she told supporters at her rally in Capitol Square.

McClellan was introduced by former Del. Viola Baskerville, D-Richmond, whom she had succeeded in the House of Delegates after her first election in 2005.

Now, 17 years later, Baskerville said McClellan is ready to take her skills to the next level in Congress.

"We have the opportunity to send our best from this capitol to the nation's capitol," she said. "Let us do no less."

McClellan touted her accomplishments in the House and Senate, in which she said she had helped to pass more than 350 pieces of legislation so Virginia led the South on issues such as reproductive rights for women, voting rights, measures to combat climate change and protect domestic workers.

Abortion issue

Abortion rights remain a crucial issue in the General Assembly, as Youngkin and his Republican allies intend to push legislation in the coming assembly session to prohibit most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with 20 weeks as a fallback option.

Under the order that Youngkin issued on Monday, the special election for the congressional seat would be held on the 41st day of a legislative session that customarily lasts 45 or 46 days. It will be followed at the so-called "veto session," currently expected in early April to act on the governor's vetoes and amendments.

Some Democrats worry that if McClellan were to win the 4th District seat, it would open a door for Republicans to force a tie on abortion restrictions - potentially with help from Morrissey, who personally opposes abortion but generally supports a woman right to choose. Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a conservative Republican, would break a tie in the Senate.

Morrissey said in a June statement that "women should have safe access to the procedure, at the very least, up to the moment a fetus can feel pain which many agree is 20 plus weeks of a pregnancy; in cases when a mother’s health or life is at risk; in cases of rape that result in a pregnancy; and in cases of incest that result in a pregnancy.”

Bagby's campaign has privately sought to reinforce misgivings about an abortion vote in the Senate, but McClellan said in an interview that she expects to be in her Senate seat through the regular session. "By the time the election is done and certified, the session will be over," she said.

She is counting on Democrat Aaron Rouse to win a special election on Jan. 10 to fill the vacant seat of Sen. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, who was elected to Congress in the 2nd District in November, which would pad the Democrats edge to 22-18. Rouse faces Republican Kevin Adams in the special election.

Regardless, McClellan said, "The short answer is I don't believe this will be a disruption."

"At the end of the day, the question I always ask myself is 'where can I do the most good for the most people right now,'" she said.

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[1] Url: https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/mcclellan-announces-4th-district-bid-amid-backlash-over-primary-plan/article_00a3aa3a-1e43-513d-a2b1-a000db3cdf9c.html

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