First, the citizens in Virginia’s 33rd Senatorial District must do the right thing, and elect Delegate Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, to the senate on the special election scheduled for January 8, 2019. Jennifer has demonstrated the judgement, leadership, fortitude and commonsense we need to continue to move Virginia forward. Electing Jennifer is the first step to democrats taking control of the senate.
Secondly, Tommy Norment, the current — albeit temporary — Senate Majority Leader, seems to be out of sorts — more so than usual lately. Tommy wrote a scathing letter to the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce castigating this body for its endorsement of Jennifer over former Delegate Joe May, a Fairfax Republican. Despite the fact that a letter of the nature is highly unusual to start with, Mr. Norment is poking his nose in a district not of his own and seems to have forgotten that he has own race to consider in 2019.
Third, Tommy’s race in November 2019 will not be the cakewalk he has experienced in the past. I know, because I am the one who is challenging Tommy next year. There is dissension among Tommy’s constituents in the 3rd Senatorial District. Not only does he not represent the interests of citizens and working families in district, he does not represent Virginians across the Commonwealth: Most of Virginia is rural and most areas do not have access to high speed broadband access which means families and businesses in these areas will continue to fall behind; Interstate 64 is a mess and should have beens addressed years ago and, because of congestion, traffic accidents on I-64 are more frequent and much more serious; more than 60% of people who file for bankruptcy do so as a result of medical bills or expenses, yet Tommy fought vociferously against Medicaid Expansion during the 2018 General Assembly Session; and every year Virginia expends more resources on putting people in jail or prison, while Tommy has done nothing to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline by allocating more resources to our education system or reform our criminal justice system which would conserve resources and provide a second chance for many young men and women.
Lastly, I ask anyone who reads this to send support to Jennifer. She needs all of our help, morally, spiritually and financially. I also need Daily Kos readers to follow my race to represent Virginians in the 3rd Senatorial District of Virginia. To learn more about my race, visit www.herbjonesforvirginia.com.