Incumbent Buddy Fowler wins 59th seat in House

Republican incumbent Buddy Fowler defeated Democrat Rachel Levy by a 57% to 43% margin in a race for the 59th House District.

Fowler’s victory marks his sixth term in the House of Delegates. 

Levy had run an unsuccessful campaign against Fowler two years ago and saw a similar result this year, despite new districting of the central Virginia territory, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.  

The 59th District consists of parts of Henrico, Louisa and Hanover Counties and is mostly rural, white and Republican, according to VPAP.

The 59th District has heavily favored Republicans since the 2016 presidential election, and this trend continues with Fowler’s win.

When assessing campaign finance, Fowler had also taken the lead, raising $226,594, whilst Levy had raised $172,400, according to the VPAP.

Previously, Fowler had been serving as the vice chair of the House Finance Committee where his priority had been to cut taxes, according to the Henrico Citizen. 

Fowler has remained dedicated to the anti-abortion movement since joining other Republicans’ efforts to restrict abortion access, which is still legal in Virginia. Abortion access is a contested policy that has been at the forefront of elections since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. 

Fowler also explained his vision of investing in the right sectors.

“I think we’re making targeted investments in very important areas, and not least of which is our hardworking taxpayers,” Fowler said in an interview with the Henrico Citizen.

Moving forward, Fowler explained his interest in helping reduce drug prices for seniors in the district as well as creating tax credits to ease the process of producing food by building greenhouses, according to NBC12 News. 

Contact international edit Ahona Anjum and contributing writer Maria Byrnes at ahona.anjum@richmond.edu & maria.byrnes@richmond.edu.