Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Poof! 21 Retirements and 363 Years of Combined Service. So Far.

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by

Bob Rayner
in

by Chris Saxman

Here’s a General Assembly Retirement Tracker with estimated years of service:

Retirements thus far – 7 Senators and 14 Delegates. Combined years of service? 363. I’m putting the Over/Under at 30 members of the General Assembly and 480 years of service that will not return next year. So far not returning:

Senator Dick Saslaw – 48
Senator Janet Howell – 32
Senator Tommy Norment – 32
Senator John Edwards – 28
Senator Jennifer McClellan – 18 (Congress start date March 7)
Senator Jill Vogel – 16
Senator John Bell – 8
Delegate Ken Plum – 44
Delegate Kathy Byron – 26
Delegate Rob Bell – 22
Delegate James Edmunds – 14
Delegate Margaret Ransone – 14
Delegate Roxann Robinson – 13
Delegate Kathleen Murphy – 9
Delegate Mike Mullin – 8
Delegate Jeff Bourne – 7
Delegate Dawn Adams – 6
Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler – 6
Delegate Wendy Gooditis – 6
Delegate John Avoli – 4
Delegate Tim Anderson – 2

Not included in this list are the nomination battles between sitting incumbents or the incumbents who face challenges in their new districts. Sixteen incumbents face off which will add another eight to the list of non returners and there are five House members plus eleven Senators facing nomination battles. Possibly 24 could be added to the current 21.

So. Far.

Chris Saxman is a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates. This column first appeared on his blog, The Intersection, and is republished with permission.

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Comments

29 responses to “Poof! 21 Retirements and 363 Years of Combined Service. So Far.”

  1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The General Assembly line-up will be very different next year. The lobbyists will need programs to help navigate the new faces.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Wouldn’t worry about the lobbyists. They’ll survive and thrive. They’ll be “local knowledge” to the newbies.

      “Local knowledge” is the local guy you pick up on the dock with the promise of a 6-pack when sailing in unfamiliar waters in hopes that he knows the currents and bars.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        They show up at candidates’ doors with checks. They get the same love and facial recognition as a dog gives when you show up with a doggie treat.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Tail wags included? Just curious.

  2. energyNOW_Fan Avatar
    energyNOW_Fan

    Obviously ( I assume) this is partially fall-out from the new district maps. For example. in NoVA I believe we would have had incumbent Marsden-D running against incumbent Saslaw-D. So something had to give, as Saxman’s first article on the subject pointed out so clearly.

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      All those in the list, except for the following, were put in a district with at least one other incumbent:

      Senators: Vogel, John Bell
      Delegates: Plum, Rob Bell, Robinson, Mullin, Gooditis

      Of course, all of those who did not have to face an incumbent still had new districts and some of them may have felt the new district would not be as friendly as the old one.

      Pending further announcements, some of the upcoming primaries will be very interesting. Some of these observations may be moot, because one incumbent has moved into a new district.

      Louise Lucas v. Lionel Spruill. This will be fun to watch. Supposedly, the new district has more of Spruill’s home turf than of Lucas’. Reportedly, both have resisted entreaties from the party for one of them to move into the new District 17, which has no incumbent.

      Glenn Davis v. Bobby Knight. Two Republican heavyweights paired in Virginia Beach.

      Marie March v. Wren Williams in Southwest Va. There is bad blood between these two Republicans. She has already accused Williams of assault and battery, for which he was acquitted.

      There are still three districts in Northern Virginia which have two Democrat incumbents, with a senior incumbent facing one with less seniority and influence.

      1. vicnicholls Avatar
        vicnicholls

        Correct, Spruill is not going to be let go of by Chesapeake. He’s served since the 80’s. Wren Williams will take Marie March hands down.

      2. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Great basketball coach, Bobby Knight, but he never chaired House Approps…Barry? 🙂

      3. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Great basketball coach, Bobby Knight, but he never chaired House Approps…Barry? 🙂

  3. Sue Avatar
    Sue

    Help me understand why all these Republicans are leaving? Tim Anderson? They aren’t throwing in the towel are they? Is the future looking that dismal in the Commonwealth?

    1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7e0bcdb980a736b7ec7536bf7d7f463844e2fc3fc7123858d7e71e3ca869f5fc.jpg

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      As a result of the redistricting, many incumbents, Democrat and Republican, wound up in a district with another incumbent. Anderson, for example, would have been in the same district as Bob Bloxom from the Eastern Shore. If both had decided to run again, they would have had to run against each other for the Republican nomination, either in a primary or district convention. In his announcement that he was not going to run, he said, “I did not get into politics to just run over fellow Republicans.” Another factor might have been that the new district in which he would live only includes a small part of Virginia Beach, in addition to the Eastern Shore and Norfolk, which Bloxom represents now. https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/vp-nw-tim-anderson-next-step-0223-20230222-aalggx4sczgy7n75lftn34qt7i-story.html

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Yeah, as drawn that is an Eastern Shore seat. Anderson will be back somehow.

  4. WayneS Avatar
    WayneS

    I think we could stand to lose another 1,000 or so years of combined “service” over the next few elections cycles…

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      It’s easy to blame the longtooth, but believe this, a room full of rookies can screw it up way worse than you can imagine.

      1. Stephen Haner Avatar
        Stephen Haner

        Oh yeah. Institutional knowledge, some “been there, done that and here is what happened”, always useful. Two on that list were members during my first full session as a reporter in 1985, Saslaw and Plum. Hanger was also there, as a delegate, and should he return in ’24 he’ll be the senior member. But his service was interrupted, not continuous. Lost the ’91 election, returned as a senator in ’96?

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Yeah, but Saslaw is well overdue to retire. He passed his sell by date a decade plus ago when he vowed to fight redistricting then rolled over the next day and accepted a plan that cost the Dems the Senate majority. When asked about his previous vow his response was “I lied”. Good riddance.

      2. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        That’s why I set my sights on 1,000 instead of 2,000.

  5. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    And we were worried about the state of the Commonwealth’s economy.

    Those leaving will pocket the “cash on hand” from their election accounts. Better times ahead, unless they take it to Florida.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      You’re wrong, as is often the case;
      https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title24.2/chapter9.3/section24.2-948.4/

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        I stand corrected.

  6. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    “Greener” pastures?
    https://media1.giphy.com/media/3o6MbtkMMDIdSXwpyM/giphy.gif

  7. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    The more we see this, the more we know how unrealistic it is to expect elected , especially incumbents to draw “fair” redistricting maps. Take this job away from the permanently.

    1. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Okay, but you are seeing the cost in the lost expertise and institutional knowledge. Now, since I want government weak and disorganized, and power diffuse, I do see the upside. The downside is the bureaucrats, the “deep state”, can be the winners.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I acknowledge that – but it’s not all good either necessarily. Look at how well Dominion is “embedded” in the incumbents, for instance.

        There may be other better ways to redistrict but clearly we see what happens when a true and honest redistricting is done compared to one the legislators control.

        You are right about legislative chaos verses well-groomed legislation but you also have to admit what “skilled” legislators can do on the bad side also, right?

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I can see where you’re perhaps conflicted. But you gotta admit, The newer and younger may well be harder for Dominion to influence as least the way they are currently.

        When I think of “deep state”, it more about career govt employees like the ones that let the VDOE woman hang herself… eh?

    2. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      It has been taken away from them permanently by the constitutional amendment. Maybe, in 2031, when it is time to redistrict again, the legislator will remember what happened this time and be more willing to compromise and cooperate, rather than turn it over to the Supreme Court

      I doubt if a future redistricting will result in this much throwing of incumbents into the same district. It happened this time because the district lines had been manipulated for many years around incumbents who lived in the same area.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        I agree with you about the “many years” effect.

  8. Tom B Avatar
    Tom B

    The people who got us where we are today are leaving. Yay!!

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