2017 General Election Lost 50 – 50 (101 votes)
Turning Virginia Blue
Donte Tanner https://dontetanner.com/is running to oust the Republican incumbent from this suburban Fairfax County/Prince William County seat.
Virginia has its elections in odd numbered years and needs to flip seventeen House of Delegate seats from Republican to Democrat this fall. Flipping seventeen seats would be hard, but not impossible. After all, Hillary Clinton carried seventeen HD seats held by Republicans in 2016. Those seats are the target. HD 40 is one of the Republican-held seats that Hillary carried.
Donte Tanner’s candidacy for HD 40 is connected to those interested in and trying to create a Democratic wave election. He is endorsed by upstart groups working on that wave: Vote Vets,a liberal group that wants more veterans in office; Run for Something, an organization encouraging younger candidates to run for office; New Politics, encouraging veterans of the military and of other national service to run for office; Democracy for America, encouraging progressive candidates.
Donte Tanner is a Newport News native. Son of mother who was a cop and a Navy veteran father who became a cop after leaving the military. Tanner went to the Air Force Academy from high school. As a Captain in the Air force he led a team working on space and missile systems. As a private contractor, working for the government and in the private sector, he worked on issues that ranged from marketing to efficiency. As ex-military and a brand new father in middle class suburbs, he fits right into the community.
He doesn’t quite fit. The district is (rounded numbers) 60% white, 20% Asian, 10% HIspanic, a little over 5% black. Donte Tanner is African-American.
Donte Tanner raises the issues that most Democrats in Virginia raise — more funding for public schools, improving transportation in an area where traffic is impossible, ethics issues related to the use of campaign funds. He has other issues, too, some of them his fellow suburban Democrats are less likely to raise. Process issues. The very first issue on Tanner’s list is the creation of a redistricting commission to end gerrymandering in Virginia.
Symbolic issues. Donte Tanner has urged a school name change in his Fairfax County School District, a new name for J.E. B Stuart High School in Falls Church. A group of alumni and students from that school asked the Fairfax County School District to change the name and Donte Tanner is with them even though Falls Church is not part of his Delegate District. Supporters of that change argue that the diverse study body of J. E. B. Stuart High School (in round numbers – 50% Hispanic, 25% white, 15% Asian, 10% black) does not want to honor a Confederate war hero.
Donte Tanner https://dontetanner.com/would be a different representative for HD 40, one with an avowed liberal perspective. Fairfax County residents in HD 40 may well appreciate Donte Tanner. I hope you appreciate what he brings to the campaign and will provide him with support. Remember, the election is only a little more than four months away.
