2017 General Election Elected 53 – 47
Virginia has had its primary. This note is in support of Kelly Convirs-Fowlerhttps://www.voteforfowler.com/ who was the victor in the Democratic primary to run in District 21 of the House of Delegates.
Republicans and Democrats have chosen candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and the House of Delegates throughout Virginia. Virginia elects these people in odd years. They elect their state Senate in odd years as well — but not until 2019.
Virginia is a state that can be moving blue. They currently have a Democratic Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and two US Senators. To maintain the status quo, they need to keep the state-wide offices Democratic.
They have not had a Democratic legislature for some time. A Democratic House of Delegates is important to the people of Virginia, but it is also important to us all. The last time the state was redistricted for state districts and districts for the US Congress, Republicans Gerrymandered the state so that it was extremely difficult to elect a proportionate number of Democrats to either body. A genuinely representative state legislature in Virginia will make for better legislation for Virginia. It will also lead to more representative members of Congress from Virginia and a Congress that more accurately represents the people of the United States.
There is a chance to change Virginia’s House. It requires flipping 17 seats from Republican to Democratic. That number, as it turns out, is exactly the number of Republican-held House of Delegates districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. Those Republican incumbents are our target. The Democratic candidates are consistently interesting and worth supporting. I have already written about eight of them — HDs #10, #12, #32, #50, #73, #85, #94, and #100 where there was no primary for the Democratic nomination or, in the case of one of them, a caucus had selected the candidate.
Kelly Convirs-Fowler’s opponent, the incumbent in HD 21 in Virginia Beach was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2009. He won that election by 14 votes — not 14%, but 14 votes. He hasn’t had a close election since.
Recently, statewide and national Democrats have run strongly in HD 21. In 2014, Senator Mark Warner, in an extremely close state-wide race, got half the votes in HD 21. In 2016, Hillary Clinton carried the district.
KelluConvirs-Fowler is convinced that HD 21 can elect a Democrat in 2017. She was a Virginia Beach public school third grade teacher for five years and now heads a group of real estate agents who specialize in military relocation. Her husband is a deputy in the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Department. Convirs-Fowler will tell you that her work has been just the right preparation for elective office. She will also tell you that the election results in 2016 have motivated her and a whole new group of Democratic candidates to represent their communities.
For Kelly Convirs-Fowler, whose daughter was born the day Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, the difference between the last president and the newly elected president was her reason to run. On March 4 at Mt. Trashmore in Virginia Beach, Trump supporters held a March 4Trump rally. Kelly Convirs-Fowler was the spokesperson for the counter demonstration. On that cold day, she wore her pink knit hat pulled down over her head and announced that it was time for her to do something. “This cannot happen again. How it doesn’t happen again is by people like us, who stand up and say something and refuse to be silent.”
Someone not looking carefully might see Kelly Convirs-Fowler as a conventional middle American woman, a housewife working in fields that are often women’s work. By the standards of right wing critics, she might even be accused of being a member of the elite –– less likely because she is married to a man in law enforcement. Kelly Convirs-Fowler is not a member of anybody’s elite. She is the first in her family to go to college and is not exactly a conventional middle American.
Like most politically active Virginians, shehas a military connection. Her military connection is a little different from most. Kelly Convirs-Fowler’s story begins in the Philippines. Both her grandfathers were Filipinos. Both served in the U.S. Navy. Both became US citizens by virtue of their service. Both were buried with honors as veterans, one of them in Arlington.
Like most politically active Virginians, Kelly Convirs-Fowler is vocal about issues. She describes her commitment to education as a commitment to community as well as to children and parents. She describes access to quality health as a right for everyone. She is committed to making changes in the local economy so that it is more diversified and less dependent on the federal government. Her opponent, the incumbent, shares an interest in a more diversified economy. Where Kelly Convirs-Fowler emphasizes the value of education, he emphasizes lower taxes. Where Kelly Convirs-Fowler emphasizes the right to affordable health car, he has proposed non-insurance contractual agreements between patients and doctors for health care –– an approach that will not help many Virginians.
You can help Kelly Convirs–Fowler https://www.voteforfowler.com/ transform the Virginia House of Delegates by helping elect her. Remember, the election is less than five months away. Think about helping her now. Look at the other Virginia candidates I’ve written about or wait for additional candidates I’ve written about. Then choose a few to support. A candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates doesn’t need as much support as a candidate for Congress or the Senate needs. So a little bit goes a long way. But remember, the election is this November. Early support is a big deal.
