Democrats held two General Assembly seats after winning a pair of special elections Tuesday night. The pair of wins means the party will maintain its slim majority in the Virginia Senate and its large majority in the House of Delegates.
Del. Mike Jones will succeed state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who will be inaugurated as lieutenant governor on Jan. 17. About 80% of the voters in Senate District 15 live in Chesterfield County, with the rest in South Richmond, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
After Jones, a pastor and former Richmond City Council member, won a primary against Del. Debra Gardner (D–Chesterfield), he resigned his seat in the House of Delegates, effective Jan. 17. In the general election, he defeated John Thomas, whose campaign website described him as a former federal defense contractor and a US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives compliance agent.
Charlie Schmidt, a community activist and former American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, will take Jones’s seat. He defeated former Richmond City Council President Michelle Mosby in an upset to win the Democratic nomination, and then beat out Richard Stonage, a Bon Air resident and engineer. Just over half of House District 77 is in South Richmond, with the rest in Chesterfield County, per VPAP.
Both seats leaned heavily Democratic, and the results followed suit: Jones won 68% of the vote and Schmidt won 76%, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections Tuesday night.
The Democratic Party of Virginia called the wins “crucial,” in an emailed statement Tuesday night.
“Together, these victories send a clear message: when we remain laser-focused on making Virginia more affordable and a place where all can thrive, we can win and will keep winning,” said DPVA Chairman Sen. Lamont Bagby.
There are three more special elections for upcoming legislative vacancies due to Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger tapping delegates to join her administration.
On Jan. 13, voters will select successors to Del. Candi Mundon King (D–Prince William) and Del. David Bulova (D–Fairfax), who Spanberger chose for secretary of the commonwealth and secretary of natural and historic resources, respectively.
Then, on Jan 20, voters will vote to fill a vacancy for Del. Mark Sickles (D–Alexandria), Spanberger’s pick for finance secretary.
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