I didn’t plan to run for office when I left my job in 2023 to focus on my family. But life doesn’t care about plans. Richmond’s Democrat-controlled government endangered my family. Virginia’s Democrat-led Senate threatened our way of life. And the system offered no way to hold them accountable. I’m running to correct a failing system and give Richmonders a golden opportunity to send a message to City Hall.
In the last election the delegate race for District 79 was uncontested. When we showed up to vote, we were handed a ballot with only one name on it. That’s not good enough.
Our republican form of government only functions when the people choose their representatives in government. But in order to choose, there has to be more than one choice!
When any candidate assumes office without public scrutiny or open debate, they do not govern with the full consent and will of the people. Entrenched power disconnected from the electorate is the natural consequence of uncontested elections.
Bottom line: Richmonders deserve to choose their delegate.
On January 6, 2025, the water stopped running to our house in Southside. For days my husband couldn’t work because he had to drive around searching for clean drinking water for our family of six. We also needed water to clean and sanitize bottles for our six-month-old twins. He went to water distribution sites where he was handed limited emergency rations. It wasn’t enough. We worried we would have to leave our home and seek shelter with our-of-state relatives.
Our elected officials failed us. They put my family’s health and safety at risk, along with everyone else in our community.
Richmond’s Democrat-run city government must answer to the state government. A Republican delegate for the citizens of Richmond will be a valuable check against the type of neglect that caused the water crisis. While City Hall Democrats were busy trying to put an unwanted casino in Southside, they should have been paying attention to weaknesses in our critical infrastructure. As your delegate and your neighbor, I will make sure the city stays focused on what really matters.
Earlier this year, Sen. Stella Pekarsky (D-Fairfax) blindsided Virginia’s homeschooling families with Senate Bill 1031. The bill strips an important religious exemption from Virginia’s compulsory education law, stripping parents of the right to homeschool their children in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs. The Massachusetts-based lobbyists behind this bill make no secret of the fact that they consider homeschooling parents presumptively neglectful and not to be trusted with their kids’ education.
Here in Virginia, we know that parents are ultimately responsible for their kids’ education. To fulfill this responsibility, parents must be free to decide where their kids are educated, and by whom. Limiting the right to choose homeschooling on religious grounds strips parents of the fundamental right to direct their children’s education. As a homeschooling mother, I am adamantly opposed to Senate Democrats’ efforts to remove this important pillar of religious freedom in Virginia.