Guy tries to defend her seat in tight race
GOP rival wants to defend ‘law and order’
The last time Virginia Beach and Norfolk voters chose who’d represent them in the 83rd District, Nancy Guy won by a few dozen votes.
It was reportedly the Democrats’ narrowest margin of victory that year, and knocked out Republican incumbent Chris Stolle, who’d held the seat for a decade.
On Tuesday, voters in the 83rd will again decide on their delegate — and it’s shaping up to be another close race.
Guy, a former Virginia Beach School Board member, is now the incumbent. She faces challenger Tim Anderson, a Republican attorney and gun store owner who won his party’s primary earlier this year.
It was an upset against Stolle, the former officeholder whose siblings include Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle and Commonwealth’s Attorney Colin Stolle. Anderson got 28 more votes.
As of Sept, 30, the most recent campaign finance figures available, Guy was significantly outraising Anderson — $1,196,133 to $434,666, respectively, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
But independent expenditures — which reflect money spent not in direct coordination with campaigns — show more than $7,200 was used for anti-Guy ads.
Most of the 83rd District covers western Virginia Beach, with a sliver of Norfolk’s Ocean View also included.
It’s among many competitive districts around the commonwealth being eyed for either helping to uphold or overturn Democrats’ majority in the House of Delegates. President Joe Biden recently tweeted out support for Guy.
In an interview with The Virginian-Pilot, Guy said she’s trying to focus on the race locally, not how it fits into national politics.
She believes the Democrat-led General Assembly “has made Virginia a cleaner, safer and more equitable place,” citing ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, abolishing the death penalty, protecting LGBT rights and passing the Clean Economy Act as highlights from her first term.
Public education is her top issue though, she said, especially local teacher shortages.
“I believe with every cell of my being that public education is the backbone” of society.
Environmental concerns and affordable housing are other top priorities, she said.
“In general I think our challenges in the 83rd are mirrored by those across the state: public education, environmental protection and health care,” she said. “I’m a very moderate, business-friendly Democrat who understands my job is to represent the 83rd.”
In a jab to her opponent, Guy noted she’s not “stirring the pot of our culture war.”
Anderson, a political newcomer, was embroiled in a few controversies last year.
An attorney, he led an effort to recall state Sen. Louise Lucas, whom he accused of inciting a riot on the day Portsmouth’s Confederate monument was heavily damaged and a demonstrator was seriously injured. Lucas then filed a defamation lawsuit against Anderson, which has since been dismissed, saying he damaged her character. After he was sued, Anderson said he felt as if he had been thrust into Virginia politics overnight.
Anderson also represented Amanda Chase, a Virginia state senator who filed a federal lawsuit earlier this year asking a judge to toss out her legislative colleagues’ decision to censure her for a “pattern of unacceptable conduct.”
Through his campaign manager, Anderson did not grant an interview for this story. But he told The Pilot last year that he has spent his career “working to maintain law and order.” He said he’d fight to put limits on campaign spending and advocate for term limits.
According to his website, his three top issues are growing the economy, reforming schools and “protecting our families.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Anderson said federal relief funding given to Virginia is unnecessary and should be returned. His law firm and gun store, however, took in at least $742,000 in federal COVID relief money, according to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration.