A protégé of state Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance has jumped into the race for the 63rd House of Delegates District seat.

Lashrecse Aird, 28, announced that she would compete with three other announced candidates for the Petersburg area seat that Sen. Dance previously held. The current delegate, Joseph E. Preston, is giving up the seat to challenge Sen. Dance in the June 9 Democratic primary.

Ms. Aird is a former legislative aide to Sen. Dance and currently is executive assistant to the president of Richard Bland College.

The Virginia State University graduate also is chair of the Petersburg Democratic Committee and a member of the Petersburg Planning Commission.

She announced Tuesday she would run in the June 9 primary, which could decide the winner in the majority-black district.

The three other candidates, all of whom are running in the primary as well, are the Rev. Larry D. Brown Sr. of Dinwiddie County, Petersburg School Board member Atiba Muse and Petersburg businesswoman Gerry J. Rawlinson.

The district includes Petersburg and parts of Hopewell and of three counties, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie and Prince George.

— JEREMY M. LAZARUS