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Several Democrats seeking party nod in area House of Delegates races

Jeremy M. Lazarus | 6/9/2017, 11:39 a.m.
Can Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn fend off her first Democratic primary challenger since she won the 70th House District ...

— Can Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn fend off her first Democratic primary challenger since she won the 70th House District seat eight years ago?

Voters in the district will answer that question next Tuesday, June 13.

Delegate McQuinn, 62, is facing opposition from Alexander W. Mejias, 39, a business strategist for a software company.

Mr. Mejias portrays himself as a new face with a new approach to help the district and Virginia cope with the Trump administration and the potential slashes in federal spending.

The district includes a portion of the city’s East End and eastern parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties.

Mr. Mejias has stumped on issues such as criminal justice reform and public education improvement in trying to rally support against the incumbent who served on Richmond City Council and the School Board before winning the seat in the General Assembly.

Delegate McQuinn calls her opponent an “Alex come lately” to issues in which she has been involved both in the General Assembly and previous elective positions.

She hopes voters appreciate that she now has a seat on the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee and has more say on state spending.

The race in the district is one of several General Assembly primary battles of interest.

In the 68th House District that includes much of the city’s West End and Southwest, plus parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties, three Democrats are vying to win the Democratic nomination to take on incumbent Republican Delegate Manoli Loupassi.

The candidates are Dawn M. Adams, Ben J. Pearson-Nelson and Mary Jo Sheeley. Whoever gains the most votes will face an uphill battle to defeat Delegate Loupassi.

In the Petersburg area, Delegate Lashrecse D. Aird is hoping voters will give her a second term representing the 63rd House District based on her record and her appointment to the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

Delegate Aird is engaged in a Democratic primary rematch with businesswoman Gerry J. Rawlinson. The primary is tantamount to election because there is no Republican opponent waiting in the wings for the November general election.

And in Norfolk, two men are vying to fill the 89th House District seat that Delegate Daun S. Hester is giving up to run for Norfolk treasurer.

The Democratic candidates seeking the party’s nomination are Jerrauld “Jay” Jones, an attorney and son of former delegate and now Norfolk Judge Jerauld C. Jones, who once represented the district; and Joe Dillard, vice president of the state NAACP, president of the Norfolk Branch NAACP and a graduate student at Norfolk State University.