Virginia General Assembly candidates appeal to voters before elections on Nov. 3

Elections for the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates are taking place on Nov. 3. One of the most contested Senate races is taking place right here in District 10, Daniel Palazzolo, head of the political science department, said.

Republicans control the House by a margin of 66 to 33, and they will likely remain in control, Palazzolo said. Republicans also control the Senate, but only by a margin of 21-19. Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam holds a tie-breaking vote on many issues, so the Democrats only need to win one more seat to effectively take control of the chamber.

In District 10, which includes the university, Republican incumbent John Watkins is retiring. The two leading candidates are Democrat Dan Gecker (left) and Republican Glen Sturtevant (below). In 2011, the 10th District was redrawn to include more of the city of Richmond and less of the surrounding suburban and rural areas, Palazzolo said. This has resulted in the district becoming more Democratic.

“This is probably as much of a battleground district as you are going to find in terms of competitiveness,” Palazzolo said.

A big determining factor in this election will be voter turnout, Palazzolo said. Even though the 10th District leans Democratic, Republicans typically have a stronger turnout during midterm elections.

Some of the major issues in this election are education, jobs and gun control, Palazzolo said. A national gun-control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, which is backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has begun running political advertisements supporting Gecker and targeting Sturtevant. The group plans to spend $700,000 on ads in the 10th District, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Members of the Richmond College Democrats have been campaigning for Gecker by calling people in the area and walking door to door, said Jeremy Etelson, president of the group. Initially, the group’s goal was to convince voters to support Gecker, but now it is focusing on increasing Democratic voter turnout by reminding people about the election. The group receives contact information for potential Democratic voters from the Gecker campaign, and those are the people the group is focusing on now, Etelson said.

Maggie Moroney, a Westhampton College junior, has been working for Glen Sturtevant’s campaign three to four days a week. In the days leading up to the election, the Sturtevant campaign has been contacting potential swing voters, as well as known Republican voters, to encourage them to vote, Moroney said.

The university has not been a big target for the Sturtevant campaign because so many students are from out of state and are not registered to vote in Virginia, Moroney said.

One of Gov.McAuliffe’s goals was to expand Medicaid in Virginia by accepting federal money as a part of the Affordable Care Act, but his effort to do so was rejected by the Republican held House and Senate, Palazzolo said. If the Democrats take control of the Senate, it will give them more leverage in the Medicaid debate, but the House, which will likely remain Republican, would still be able to block any attempt at Medicaid expansion, he said.

Polls will be open this Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Voters must be in line before 7 p.m. to be allowed to vote.

Contact contributor Jack Clark at jack.clark@richmond.edu