2017 General Election Elected 51 – 49
A first responder.
News reports suggest that there are more women running for elective office and that these candidacies are a response to the Trump presidential election victory. If this is the case Cheryl Turpinhttps://cherylturpinforvb.com/ may have been among the first to respond.
She ran for the District 85 seat in January, 2017 — which would be a pretty quick response to the Trump election. The previous Republican incumbent of this Virginia Beach seat had been elected to the US Congress in November, 2016. Cheryl Turpin ran in the special election for this open seat and lost to a deputy sheriff by six points or a little more than 300 votes. She is trying again against the same opponent in the regular election of 2017. She has no primary opponent so the general election contest has begun.
This note is part of an effort to elect a Democratic House of Delegates in Virginia. Virginia elects its state officials in odd years. Virginia already has a Democratic Governor and Lt. Governor and Attorney General as well as two Democratic Senators. The Virginia Senate is Republican 21-19 but is not up for election until 2019. In the legislature, only the House of Delegates is up for election. If the House of Delegates is to become Democratic, Democrats will have to win 17 seats away from Republicans.
Although District 85 has not always been contested by Democrats, the district itself has a history of close races. Hillary Clinton carried HD 85 in 2016 — one of 17 Republican-held House of Delegates districts that she carried. More typical of HD 85, Republican Ken Cuccinelli won the district by about two points when he lost the governor’s race to the current governor, Terry McAuliffe in 2013.
Cheryl Turpin is a strong fund raiser. She has turned to the internet looking for small donations. In January she raised twice the amount he Republican opponent raised. She will need to do at least as well this time around.
Cheryl Turpin has a claim to being a local. LIke so many of the Virgina candidates, Turpin comes from a military background. Her father was an army man for 23 years before retiring to live in Virginia. Turpin grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia and, for the last 18 years has lived in Virginia Beach. Her two daughters – Ellison and Patricia – attended Virginia Beach Public Schools and are graduates of the local Kempsville High School.
Cheryl Turpin is a local high school science teacher. She received a BS from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MEd from the University of Virginia. For the past 8 years, she has taught Advanced Placement Environmental Science. She also spent much of her career working with at-risk students, serving as a partner in an organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap by preparing all students for college.
Some of her political positions are associated with her work. Cheryl Turpinsays “as a science teacher, I know firsthand that today’s failure to protect our environment will lead to unsafe air and water and rising sea levels that threaten Virginia Beach.” More directly related to her work as a teacher, she has urged a reduction in the amount of mandated testing that children have to endure.
Cheryl Turpin is an advocate of a minimum wage that is high enough so that working people do not live in poverty. She is also an advocate of expanding access to Medicaid under the ACA (assuming that will be possible by the time she takes office) so that all Virginians are able to get health insurance.
If she is going to have a chance to win, Cheryl Turpinhttps://cherylturpinforvb.com/ will again need outside support. We can be a part of that support. In January, Cheryl received 2939 votes to her opponents 3301. A typical contested House of Delegates seat in 2013 had 15,000 voters. With enough resources and with enough energy, Cheryl Turpin needs to get out close to eight thousand votes for herself. Help her get those votes.
