Tavares Floyd listed himself as an owner of Charlottesville’s “McClenny + Watkins Funeral Home” on a financial disclosure form he filed with the Richmond City General Registrar to run for the 6th District council seat.
Robert “R.B.” McClenny Jr., the funeral home’s owner, told VPM News that’s not true.
Floyd “has never owned any part of the business,” McClenny said in a phone call Tuesday.
McClenny said Floyd worked for the funeral home “about five or six years ago” and still provides help on a part-time basis as an attendant for funeral services.
McClenny Funeral Service Inc., which is listed on its website as “Family Owned and Operated,” runs the McClenny Funeral Service in Charlottesville and McClenny and Watkins Funeral Service in Richmond’s Northside.
The business’ website — which identifies McClenny as the funeral service’s founder and his wife, Doris, as the manager and president — does not mention Floyd.
Doris McClenny is also listed as the registered agent for McClenny Funeral Service LLC, an active business entity registered with the State Corporation Commission. The LLC’s registered address is a Charlottesville residence owned since 2007 by Doris and Robert McClenny, according to Albemarle County property records.
As VPM News has previously reported, Floyd is not named as the principal owner or registered agent of any active business or tax-exempt organization incorporated in Virginia.
Floyd did not respond to questions regarding his stated financial ties to the funeral home and his claim of ownership by publication time. VPM News will update the story if and when he does respond.
Virginia code states that “any willfully false material statement or entry” made on “any statement, form, or report” required of candidates for office is election fraud, a Class 5 felony.
The Statement of Economic Interest form signed by every candidate for public office — including Floyd — carries that warning directly below the line where candidates sign to affirm that the information they have provided is “full, true, and correct to the best of my knowledge.”
Floyd, who worked as 6th District City Councilor Ellen Robertson’s liaison until declaring he would run against her earlier this year, has self-described and promoted himself as a civil rights attorney, a nonprofit leader, a small business owner and community leader both in Richmond and his previous residence, the City of Alexandria.
As VPM News previously reported, Floyd is likely not licensed to practice law in any U.S. jurisdiction. As of Tuesday, VPM News has verified that Tavares M. Floyd is not on the regulatory list for attorneys, lawyers and/or legal consultants in nearly every U.S. state, territory and the District of Columbia — save New Hampshire.
Floyd declined to answer multiple VPM News questions about when and where he was licensed via email: “I never said I was an attorney in Virginia. Nor did I practice law in Virginia. I’m a lawyer in Virginia. Get your facts right. Anybody who graduates law school & moves to anywhere is a lawyer.”
On multiple occasions, Floyd has claimed to be a member of various national organizations and the recipient of several awards, fellowships and appointments — as well as a participant on various nonprofit boards.
VPM News has independently verified some of these. The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce confirmed that Tavares M. Floyd, “an Alexandrian Attorney and Chief Executive Officer of the BeWell Project,” did receive a Top 40 Under 40 award in 2018.
SCC records show Floyd as the registered agent for a company named "The BeWell Project, L.L.C." with an Alexandria apartment as its listed address. That company has been inactive since July 2024 for failing to pay its registration fee (due in 2019). Neither Alexandria nor the federal IRS has any record of a tax-exempt "BeWell Project" or of any other nonprofit entity created by Floyd.
The State Corporation Commission has no record of the "Greater RVA Equity Fund," another company Floyd listed on his campaign filings, or any similarly-named entity.
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. confirmed Tuesday that Floyd is a member. And Floyd did serve as a Gov. Ralph Northam–appointed trustee on the Virginia Family and Children's Trust Fund. He was also previously an instructor at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace & Conflict Resolution, where his bio identifies him as “Tavares Floyd, Esq.” — an honorary title for practicing lawyers — and notes he is a civil rights attorney.
Since 2020, Floyd has publicly claimed a close familial relationship with George Floyd, the Minneapolis man whose 2020 murder by police kicked off a series of nationwide protests during the early months of the COVID-19 lockdown. Recent reporting from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, citing Tavares Floyd’s siblings and an unidentified member of George Floyd’s family, indicates the families are not connected.
Willie Hilliard, who is also running in Richmond’s 6th Council District, issued a statement this week calling for an official investigation into Floyd’s time as Roberson's liaison after the recent news reports. (Over the weekend, Hilliard also called for Floyd to explain his reported campaign finance discrepancies.
Robertson told VPM News on Monday that she did not have a reason to doubt Floyd’s credentials before recent Dispatch reporting.
In a campaign newsletter sent Tuesday, Floyd wrote: “When you stand up for the people, they try to tear you down. But we won't be silenced. It's the game they play in Richmond. We won't fall for it.”
“They've tried it all - saying I don't live in the City, which is the furthest thing from the truth,” he added — an apparent reference to a question from VPM News seeking to clarify his residence. Floyd, who previously lived in Henrico County, lists an address outside the 6th District for his campaign committee.
Other paperwork obtained by VPM News lists various addresses within the City of Richmond tied to Floyd, who refused to answer questions about his primary address on Monday: “I have lived in the city for a while. In the 6th district. Because you don’t have my address, that’s not my problem.”
Lyndon German, Dawnthea M. Price Lisco and Elliott Robinson contributed reporting.
