Richmond-area incumbents face challengers

The state Senate's new 22nd district is the marquee race for the Richmond region, but several incumbents in the area could face a challenge this fall.

Five people who have filed to seek House of Delegates and state Senate seats in the area are waiting to find out if they qualify for the ballot.

The Virginia State Board of Elections will certify the primary results on Tuesday, and the staff hopes to certify additional candidates by Wednesday.

In what will be a closely watched contest statewide, Democrat Bert Dodson, owner of a Lynchburg-based pest-control business, and Republican Tom Garrett, the Louisa County commonwealth's attorney, are poised to duke it out for a seat that was carved out in redistricting. It stretches from Lynchburg to Goochland County.

J. Todd Martinsen, 44, has filed to run as a Libertarian against Sen. Ryan T. McDougle, R-Hanover, in the 4th state Senate district.

Martinsen, a retail manager, is making his first run for elected office and wants to encourage voters to consider candidates outside of the two-party political structure.

He believes government should focus on providing individual rights rather than benefits and services.

"Over the years I've felt like we've had a situation where our government has become more of a business of its own, almost an industry of its own," he said.

McDougle says he's been hearing foremost about jobs and the economy from people in the district but also about expanding broadband and "regulations and the impact that can have on the business climate."

"Government doesn't create jobs. People create jobs," he said.

The district picked up parts of the Northern Neck in the latest boundary redrawing and McDougle says he's spending a couple of days a week out there.

Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, is facing a challenger for the first time in 12 years in Democrat David Meade Bernard.

Bernard, 60, owner of a plumbing business, has knocked on about 2,000 doors in Richmond and in Chesterfield and Powhatan counties, according to his campaign manager, Keith Carbone.

"The response has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly in the areas that have been redistricted," Carbone said.

Job creation is the top issue on the minds of people they've met with, he said. "People are nervous, they're anxious, they don't know what is being done to create jobs."

Watkins saw a shift in his district with the redrawn lines, and he picked up more residents of the city of Richmond. He has stepped up his campaigning, fundraising and planned mailings.

"I don't take anything for granted," he said.

Uncertainty over the next action out of Washington is a big problem, he said. "Nobody knows what Washington is going to do to them from a regulatory standpoint."

In the 16th state Senate district, which state Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, has represented since 1992, Preston T. Brown, a South Richmond businessman, says he's running to be "a voice for the people."

"The main thing people want right now are jobs," he said, advocating for efforts to keep jobs in Virginia instead of being outsourced.

"We have a chance to get a voice," said Brown, who is running as an independent. "For many years, we vote politicians in, and they don't look out for us. They look out for big business," he said.

Marsh said he's spending time introducing himself to new constituents added to the 16th as well as reaching out to people who remained in the district.

The civil-rights lion, a nearly 20-year veteran of the state Senate, said he doesn't mind the competition and that he's campaigning hard.

"I'm confident and optimistic that (voters) make the right decision, but I'm not going to take them for granted," he said. "I want every vote."

William K. Grogan is taking another crack at seizing the 68th House of Delegates seat from Del. G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond.

The attorney, running as an independent, is for term limits and a "fair and simple" tax code.

"I feel that Virginia should assume a leadership role as it has in past history and … they may be national issues that we should initiate them at the state level and then start a movement," he said.

Loupassi, also an attorney, supports a constitutional amendment to control state spending, and he talks to people about the state balancing its budget without raising taxes.

"It's a democracy and the people decide who they want to represent them," he said. It "gives everybody a choice."

Dwayne Whitehead, a pastor at World Overcomers Christian Ministry, has filed to challenge Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, as an independent in the 74th House of Delegates district.

Whitehead, 45, says this is the first time he has run for elected office and entered the race because "I think we can do more and I think we must do better."

He wants to see improvements to education and a conversation about helping felons who have served their time gain employment. He says he asks the people he meets what they would want their representative to address.

"If I'm going to serve the people, I need to hear what they want to do."

Morrissey picked up 8,000 new constituents as a result of redistricting and has been out meeting them.

He said people are taking about jobs — those with them want to keep them, and people without them want to find one.

Morrissey said he welcomes Whitehead to the race, and he intends to mount "a very strong and aggressive campaign."

"Unlike a lot of elected officials who perhaps don't like competition, I love it," he said.