On Monday, January 21, Barack Obama was publicly sworn in for a second term as president of the United States. In a fitting bit of cosmic synchrony, the inaugural of the nation's first black president coincided with the celebration of the birthday of its greatest civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. With many schools and businesses closed, over a million people turned out to attend the festivities, and among them was Henry Marsh.
Marsh, now nearly 80 and a Democratic state senator from Virginia, was one of the veterans of Rev. King's movement, and one of the many men and women whose struggles would one day lead to Obama's historic achievement. In the 1960s, Marsh litigated countless school desegregation and employment discrimination cases, and in 1977, he became the first black mayor of the city of Richmond. He'd already served in the Senate for over two decades when he visited Washington, DC to celebrate the twin occasions of the president's inauguration and King's birth.
But the Virginia legislature wasn't among those observing the holiday. In fact, Republicans had long been waiting for an opportunity just like this. Though the GOP controlled the chamber, both parties held 20 seats, and Republican majority status rested on Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's ability to break ties in the party's favor. But Senate leaders had something so underhanded in mind that they knew even Bolling would oppose them. So they looked for a special advantage—and Marsh's temporary absence gave them one.
With Marsh gone, Republicans had a momentary 20-19 edge, and they used it to full effect, ramming through a bill to redistrict the Senate's own lines for the second time in less than two years. Legislators had already passed a revised map following the decennial census in 2011, but Republicans wanted a brand new map to consolidate their power. Their plan would increase the number of seats they were likely to win and shrink those the opposition would have had a chance of capturing.
It was a blatant power grab, and the reaction was fierce. Democrats were furious, particularly because the GOP had taken advantage of the absence of Marsh, a civil rights hero, to undermine the political gains of black Virginians, whose support for the Democratic Party is rock solid. The news media erupted with scathing editorials, and even Stephen Colbert piled on.
Remarkably, the rest of the Republican Party was also opposed, including Gov. Bob McDonnell. Senate leaders were right about Bolling as well, who denounced the scheme as a "dangerous precedent." The pressure to kill the re-redistricted map was intense, and even the Republicans in charge of the state House didn't want to touch it.
But before the plan could be scotched, there were two House Democrats who signalled their willingness to support it. In a transparent sop, the map packed African American voters into a new majority-black district, at the expense of at least eight other neighboring seats. It would badly diminish Democratic chances at holding or winning any of those other districts, and thus the Senate itself, but it would create one single opportunity for one single black politician.
Delegate Rosalyn Dance of the 63rd District was one of those ready to play ball, and she didn't hide her intentions:
"I don't like the process," Dance said. "But the irony of ironies is, it's going to be hard for us [to vote against the plan] as African Americans because they create a minority seat."
Other black delegates were not so easily fooled, with Louise Lucas
declaring: "I'm hot as a pot of fish grease about this." Referring to her colleagues, she added, "I'm hoping that they're not going to be so naïve as to bite that bait."
Dance was that naïve, but she never did get a chance to bite that bait. Scarcely two weeks after their colleagues in the Senate slammed their redistricting abomination through the door, House Republicans killed the scheme entirely using a procedural maneuver. It didn't come up for a vote in the House at all.
But Virginia Democrats haven't forgotten that Dance was ready to give cover to Republicans that they so desperately needed when they were under fire from all sides, and neither have we. The GOP plan would have made it almost impossible for Democrats to recapture the Senate, yet Dance was eager to trade any shot her party might have had at taking the majority for one lone black-majority seat. Appalling doesn't begin to describe it, and you won't be surprised to learn that this was far from the first time that Dance has given aid and comfort to the Republicans.
Fortunately, we have an opportunity to replace her with a much better Democrat, Air Force veteran Evandra Thompson. Thompson is running against Dance in next month's primary, and she's made Dance's wayward behavior the centerpiece of her campaign. Local Democratic leaders, tired of Dance's dalliances, have rallied around Thompson, calling her the only "true Democrat" in the race.
Thompson is a political newcomer, and unseating an eight-year incumbent like Dance is never easy. But Thompson's has attracted some real support and garnered legitimate attention for her campaign. Meanwhile, Dance has a long history of unpleasant votes and public statements that are hard to defend in a Democratic primary. That date is coming up fast, though: Voters across Virginia will go to the polls on June 11. And for Democrats in the 63rd state House District, the choice couldn't be clearer.