Two Norfolk Republicans vie for open delegate seat
Party will hold drive-thru election Dec. 6
NORFOLK — Two Republicans have joined the race for an open state delegate seat in a Democratic stronghold that recently becameslightly more friendly to the GOP.
Political newcomers Sylvia Bryant and Mario Portillo will vie for the Republican nomination in a firehouse primary on Dec. 6 at the American Legion Unit 327 in Norfolk, where the party will hold a drive-thru election in order to meet social distancing guidelines through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are excited,” said Bryant, who was born and raised in West Virginia before Norfolk’s proximity to the beach lured her there at 19, where she has lived since. “For far too long, we’ve been kind of the party that has just been forgotten about in Norfolk. Everything has been from the Democrats’ point of view.”
That’s because the 90th District on Norfolk’s east side usually votes Democratic, though newly drawn district lines that went into effect in 2019 made that advantage slightly less lopsided, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project. The district also includes a microscopic slice of Virginia Beach — that city has 79 voters in the 90th District as of this week, its registrar said, compared with more than 43,000 in Norfolk.
Generally, whoever has gotten a nod from Democrats has won. The two who are hoping to change that have traditional conservative positions on issues including guns and abortion.
“I really don’t like what’s happening in Richmond where they’re trying to make it easier to let a woman have an abortion,” Portillo said, alluding to the actions of a General Assembly led by Democrats for the first time in decades. Portillo is an immigrant from Guatemala who moved to the United States in 1978 as a teenager before becoming an American citizen and serving in the military for more than 20 years.
“As a corpsman, I’ve seen what weapons do to people, but I know that weapons can protect us also,” he said. “The Second Amendment is not about guns, it’s about allowing persons to protect themselves the way they want.”
Along with stricter abortion rules and looser gun restrictions, he wants more freedom for businesses to decide whether and how to remain open safely through the pandemic.
And he wants to address road flooding in the district. Portillo, a retired Navy chief corpsman, is 52, and he previously worked for Virginia’s Department of Veterans Services.
Bryant, 53, said she wants to revitalize both the economy of the region and the school division that serves it. And she expressed both concern about the “safety of our neighborhoods” and an interest in protecting the rights of those whoownfirearmsfor self-defense. She works as an office administrator.
“I don’t want to think someone will drive by and shoot,” she said, emphasizing the importance of “the police (to) have the proper training. And we need to focus on mental health, and we need to focus on coming together to work on a solution so the police officers can do their jobs.”
Thedistrict hasbeenrepresentedsince2014byJoeLindsey, a longtime lawyer who was recently appointed to a judgeshipinNorfolk’sGeneral District Court.
Lindsey has to step down from his job as a delegate in order to serve as a judge, leaving the 90th District seat vacant for the remaining year of his two-year term. Aspecial election is expected sometime in early January.
“They’ve been very active door knocking and setting up flyers,” said Bob Brown, chairman of the Norfolk Republican Party, estimating that the district is now 55% Democratic instead of the 65% it was before redistricting. Although Republicans are still in the minority, the shift worked “a little bit in our favor,” Brown said.
Whoever the Republicans choose to represent them in a general election will go up against the Democratic pick. So far, Richard “Rick” James, a retired Norfolk police officer and detective, is running against Norfolk Councilwoman Angelia Williams Graves in that race.