“I feel like I have the lived experiences to better represent this district.”
In November, Del.-elect May Nivar (D-Henrico) secured a victory over Republican incumbent David Owen in the race for Virginia House District 57. The district, which includes parts of western Henrico and eastern Goochland counties, has demographically shifted since Owen secured a narrow victory over Susanna Gibson in the 2023 general election.
That change presented an opportunity for Democrats like Nivar, who campaigned on issues that are important to the region: protecting reproductive rights, education and the economy.
While her appetite for government first came from serving on the Virginia Asian Advisory Board under former Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration, Nivar’s taste for policy-making comes from her lived experience as part of an immigrant family. Her family immigrated to America and opened a small Chinese restaurant to get by.
Nivar credits her parents for her own 30-year career with companies like Altria and Philip Morris. Her work centered on helping employers gain the perspectives of often marginalized stakeholders — experience she hopes to apply to policymaking for the commonwealth.
VPM News Henrico and Hanover County Reporter Lyndon German recently spoke to Nivar at the Tuckahoe Area Library in Henrico County, as part of a series of interviews conducted with the newest members of Virginia’s House of Delegates.
(Links to interviews with the other delegates can be found at the bottom of this story.)
Nivar spoke about winning in a competitive House district, how the need to create jobs in Virginia became personal and why she believes voting for a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights is so important.
This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.
Lyndon German: Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your district?
May Nivar: I’m really excited to represent House District 57, which includes western Henrico and eastern Goochland. I’m a mom of three public school graduates and a wife, and I’m a community and business leader.
I decided to run because I felt this district needed better representation, and I’m thrilled that I have the opportunity to do that.
Republican Del. David Owen won this seat in 2023 by about 700 votes. How did the ways this district has changed in the last two years help you win?
In 2023, it was an open seat, David Owen won the seat by 715 votes — 2 percentage points. This district was very competitive, and Henrico County has leaned more and more blue.
The other indicator for us was the fact that Kamala Harris won this district in 2024 by 9.4 percentage points. Mathematically, it was already a very winnable seat. It just took the right candidate to come in — and here I come.
I feel like I have the lived experiences to better represent this district, given my business background and the work that I’ve done in the community.
We hit the ground running in terms of leveraging my name recognition and the work that I had already done in Central Virginia, and applying it to this campaign — fundraising, knocking on doors and taking advantage of a lot of the relationships that I have built up in the past decade to get them to come out and support my campaign.
Your victory was part of the Democratic Party’s major gains in the House of Delegates in the 2025 election. What issues are you planning to tackle as part of the new strong Democratic majority?
Before the election, on the House side, we had a 51–49 majority, so it was really important for Democrats to defend every seat that we had — but also to expand the seats.
I ran on four key things. One is wanting to fully fund public school education and raise teacher pay. This is such an important issue for many teachers, our public school system and infrastructure. Improving career and technical education is another thing that I’ve heard a lot about when I’m knocking on doors.
Another is reproductive freedom. I have two young daughters, young women who I don’t want to live in a society in which they have fewer rights than I did growing up. I want to be in a position to pass the constitutional amendment enshrining reproductive freedom.
The third thing is affordability. A lot of voters in my district were talking about the high cost of housing, elder care, child care, health care. They are all things that have been affecting many Virginians. It’s important to try to help families feel like they’re not just surviving. We need to help them thrive.
Another thing is public safety and ensuring that our communities are safe and healthy. Whether that is environmental protections or strengthening our gun laws while maintaining responsible gun ownership.
Energy rate increases have been a focal point in both Goochland and Henrico, particularly as they pertain to data centers. What role does the state have in regulating the growth of this industry?
I think there needs to be a balance. This has become a very hot topic in my district.
My philosophy has always been that we need to make sure that we bring all the right stakeholders to the table. We need to do this in a very thoughtful way, where we have an opportunity to hear from residents, developers, local business leaders and environmentalists.
I believe that in my district, things are moving way too quickly, and I think we’re not putting the right people at the table to have the right conversations and to understand what’s at stake.
That’s going to be my philosophy not only in regard to data centers, but pretty much any issue. It’s important to have all the right stakeholders at the table and to understand the pros and the cons.
At the end of the day, my constituents have chosen to live in this district, to have beautiful homes and raise their families here. So it’s really important to maintain that way of life. But at the same time, there needs to be the appropriate growth that is necessary.
What is the biggest issue you have to tackle coming into the January session?
The biggest issue is changing the tide of where this country is going — protecting Virginia and our way of life and being able to protect our democracy. What has come out of DC and the Trump administration has really hurt Virginians, between the federal budget cuts and the job cuts.
I have a daughter who’s a federal employee who has now left Virginia. I talked about this during the campaign. What has happened is that these jobs have been cut, and it’s hurting our economy.
It’s hurting our way of being a top state for business, and my daughter is a prime example of someone who, unfortunately, has gone somewhere else out of the state to find a better opportunity. And she’s not alone.
We have to stop the bleeding. We need to really focus on the workforce and help families get back on their feet. We have Medicaid cuts and SNAP cuts that are happening. That means that the state legislature is going to have to do more digging into the budget that has been allocated for other things to help support these budget cuts and to fill some of those holes.
We have an opportunity at the state level to really mitigate some of that, but it’s going to come at a cost, unfortunately. A lot of that is due to the Trump administration and what they have been doing. We need to protect Virginia as much as we can and help our families.
Read VPM News’ interviews with incoming delegates:
Del.-elect Jessica Anderson (HD-71)
Del.-elect Kacey Carnegie (HD-89)
Del.-elect Stacey Carroll (HD-64)
Del.-elect Mitchell Cornett (HD-46)
Del.-elect Lindsey Dougherty (HD-75)
Del.-elect Mark Downey (HD-69)
Del.-elect Elizabeth Guzman (HD-22)
Del.-elect John McAuliff (HD-30)
Del.-elect Leslie Mehta (HD-73)
Del.-elect May Nivar (HD-57)
Del.-elect Virgil Thornton Sr. (HD-86)
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