Special Elections for House of Delegates
Three New Delegates Elected in January Special ElectionsHouse District 70 in Richmond and House District 81 in Virginia Beach
Delores McQuinn won a special election for the House of Delegates seat vacated by Dwight Jones, the new Mayor of Richmond, and Republican Barry D. Knight won the right to succeed former Del. Terrie L. Suit to represent parts of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
Turnout was extremely light in both races, decided on January 6. In Richmond, just 895 of the district’s 44,000 registered voters went to the polls. In Hampton Roads, 3,000 ballots were cast. McQuinn, Richmond City Council's longest-serving member, defeated Henrico lawyer Carlos Brown in a December 6 firehouse primary, and was the only candidate on the ballot in Richmond’s 70th district.
Knight, a hog farmer from Pungo and a member of the Virginia Beach Planning Commission, won a three-way firehouse primary November 29 with an impressive 59% over Virginia Beach Sheriff Paul Lanteigne and Oceana Naval Air Station CEO Tom Keeley. Knight handily defeated political newcomer John LaComb with 83% of the vote in the January 6 special election.
On January 13, voters narrowly elected Democrat Charniele L. Herring to fill the House seat of former Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria. Herring, a lawyer, led Republican Joe Murray by 16 votes and was certified the winner by the State Board of Elections. Murray requested a recount, and House Republicans refused to seat Herring when the legislature convened on convened on Jan. 14. Two weeks after the election, following a recount, Herring was sworn into office in the House of Delegates on January 26.
In a hastily called firehouse primary with two evenings of voting in late December, Herring defeated Ariel Gonzalez 191 - 43 to earn the Democratic nomination. Republicans, meanwhile, nominated Murray with just 20 votes of 49 cast in a three-way race for the GOP nod. Murray is a special assistant to U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). Just 2,679 of the districts 48,000 registered voters cast ballots on June 13 and Herring won by 16 votes, a margin of less than 1%.
Democrats were roundly embarrassed by the razor-thin results as the Alexandria district is overwhelmingly Democratic, voting above 70% for Democratic candidates in every Virginia statewide race since 2004.
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