From Del. Rip Sullivan’s Blue Dominion PAC:
| Flip-A-District Friday: Volume XV
Welcome to the 15th edition of Flip-a-District Friday, or rather, Defend-a-DemocratFriday. This week, we’re featuring four incumbent Democratic Delegates facing Republican challengers on November 7th — John Bell, Jennifer Boysko, Mike Mullin, and Kathleen Murphy. EVENT ALERT:
Meet the candidate: John Bell Delegate John Bell is a retired member of the United States Air Force. He served almost 26 years before retiring as a Major in 2007. John enlisted in the Air Force in 1981 after graduating from high school because he believes in fighting for what is right. During his Air Force career John served as a Finance Officer all over the world, including tours in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was consistently recognized during his career as an outstanding performer and was named the #1 Non Commissioned Officer out of over 5,000 assigned to the Far East in 1992. After completing his bachelors degree in Business Administration and graduating Summa Cum Laude — while serving full time in the Air Force — from Regis University, he was selected for Officer Training School. At Officer Training School, John finished in the top ten percent of graduates and was named a Distinguished Graduate. John was also a Distinguished Graduate of Squadron Officer’s School and was named the U.S. Air Force’s 2006 Outstanding Contributor to Financial Management and Comptrollership. A member of the Virginia House of Delegates since January 2016, John has stood up to extreme politicians in Richmond, and worked across the aisle to put your values first. He supports expanding access to health care and protecting women’s rights. As a veteran and a father, he knows we need responsible gun safety laws to keep our children safe at school. And as a fiscally responsible Delegate, John believes the government should respect your tax dollars. He will never stop fighting for your values and priorities. House District 87: Secretary Clinton won this district with 60 percent of the vote. The 87th District encompasses parts of Loudoun and Prince William Counties. Delegate Bell has represented the district since 2016, and is being challenged by Republican Subba Kolla this November. Click here for more district details. Just one example of why we cannot let Subba win: Subba Kolla nominated President Trump at the GOP Convention in Cleveland. He said quite clearly that they share the “same core values.” That said, beyond his passionate support of the Republican Party, he rarely talks about what his core values actually are. Before he became a passionate Trump supporter, Subba was a big Ted Cruz backer. Before that, he was a Marco Rubio fan. When asked about his changing allegiances, Subba simply stated that he a “party loyalist.” This is an interesting quote given that prior to 2016, Subba contributed money exclusively to Democrats according to FEC reports. This might lead one to believe that Subba is bipartisan, except that he proclaims now that he is a “conservative Republican.” So what does Subba stand for? His website gives no policy specifics and in a LoudounNow article, he admits that he “is still formulating detailed policy ideas.” The 87th District deserves a Delegate with concrete ideas, not someone who seems more interested in politics than policy. Contact the campaign: jhixson@johnbellfordelegate.co
Meet the candidate: Jennifer Boysko Delegate Jennifer Boysko represents the 86th District in the Virginia House of Delegates, serving Herndon, Oak Hill, parts of Chantilly and Sterling Park. She was elected in 2015 and serves on the House of Delegates Privileges and Elections Committee and the Counties, Cities and Towns Committee. She is also a legislative member on Virginia’s Broadband Advisory Committee. Prior to being elected to the House of Delegates, Jennifer served as the Herndon liaison for the Dranesville District Member of the Board of Supervisors, John Foust. She also served as Governor McAuliffe’s citizen appointee to the Virginia Board of Real Estate and as a Board Member of NARAL Pro-Choice VA. She continues to volunteer in her local community with the Herndon Fortnightly Club, the Rotary Club, the Dulles Area Democrats and serves on the Virginia Democratic State Central Committee. House District 86: Secretary Clinton won this district with 63 percent of the vote. The 86th District includes parts of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. Delegate Boysko has represented the district since 2015, and is being challenged by Republican Linda Schulz this November. Click here for more district details. Just one example of why we cannot let Linda win: Linda wants to make it harder for women seeking abortion services to receive care. She supports Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws that requireabortion clinics to adhere to hospital construction standards. These medically unnecessary (even major doctors’ groups weighed in to oppose them) and burdensome rules are often used as a backdoor attempt to shut down abortion access. In Kentucky, for example, state TRAP laws have led to the closing of all but one abortion clinic. The issue of TRAP laws recently came before the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Abbott (2016), when an abortion clinic in Texas sued Texas Governor Greg Abbott over HB 2, a controversial bill that state Senator Wendy Davis famously filibustered for eleven straight hours. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled in a five-to-three vote that the laws were unconstitutional as they put an “undue burden” on women seeking care. Virginia instead needs legislators like Jennifer Boysko, a women’s health advocate who supports science over ideology when it comes to health care access. Contact the campaign: Tripp@JenniferBoysko.com
Meet the candidate: Mike Mullin Mike is passionate about a lot of issues, and it’s one reason he is such a good Delegate for the 93rd District of Virginia. In his first year as a legislator, he passed four bills — more than any other freshman legislator in the House of Delegates. Mike excels at turning his experiences and understanding of the communities of the Peninsula into real results for his constituents. He is most proud of his bill to ensure that people who commit domestic violence are not eligible for “first offender status” if they have committed other violent felonies. When Mike is not in Richmond serving as a Delegate, he is a criminal prosecutor and resident of Newport News. He came to the Peninsula as a 17-year-old college freshman at Christopher Newport University. He loved the city so much he wanted to raise his family here, so he returned after earning his law degree. Mike and his wife Laura have three children and live in Kiln Creek. The Mullin family are active, long-time members of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church in Newport News. Mike is a Certified Gang Investigator by the Virginia Gang Investigator’s Association and volunteers his time to stop gang violence in our communities. He is a graduate of the Sorensen Institute of Political Leadership and a member of the Christopher Newport University Alumni Society. House District 93: Secretary Clinton won this district with 57 percent of the vote. The 93rd District comprises sections of Newport News City, James City County, Williamsburg City, and York County. Delegate Mike Mullin has represented the district since 2017. He faces a rematch this November with Republican Heather Cordasco, whom he defeated in 2016. Click here for more district details. Just one example of why we cannot let Heather win: Heather strongly opposes a woman’s right to choose, but also says that she believes choice is not a “state legislature issue.” Heather might think that being evasive about the topic with voters will cause them to ignore her anti-choice position, but her record proves that she understands exactly how much influence state government has in access to abortion services. As a former board member of the Family Foundation of Virginia, Heather “support[ed] their stand against the Virginia Board of Health’s proposed roll back of restrictions on abortion clinics.” She even signed a petition supporting the anti-abortion, medically unnecessary TRAP laws that Wendy Davis filibustered (for more details, see above section on Linda Schulz) in Texas. It’s also worth noting that Heather is an active member of “Women Speak for Themselves,” a radically conservative pro-life group that even opposes basic contraception and “cohabitation.” It does not matter if Heather will ever admit that women’s reproductive rights are an issue for the General Assembly — it’s clear from what Heather says and what groups she actively supports that a major priority of hers will be to roll back the right to choose. Contact the campaign: campaign@mullinforvirginia.com
Meet the candidate: Kathleen Murphy Delegate Kathleen Murphy is running for re-election to represent the 34th District. While in Richmond, she has been a fierce advocate for implementing commonsense gun safety legislation, providing resources for our veterans, and making sure Virginia has an economy that works for everyone. Kathleen is a small business owner. She previously worked in Legislative Affairs at USAID, as a Senior Advisor on International Trade issues at the Department of Commerce, and as senior staff for Congressman Charlie Wilson (D-TX), for whom she handled Defense and Foreign Operations appropriations. House District 34: Secretary Hillary Clinton won this district with 56 percent of the vote. The 34th District includes parts of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, and has been represented by Delegate Kathleen Murphy since 2015. Delegate Murphy faces Republican challenger Cheryl Buford this November. Click here for more district details. Just one example of why we cannot let Cheryl win: Cheryl says that she will “work across party lines” if elected, but one look at her Facebook account reveals just how partisan she actually is. Cheryl has written extremely conservative posts including the following:
While talk of bipartisanship may be appealing at first, Cheryl’s rhetoric when she wasn’t running for public office speaks more honestly to her extremely partisan preferences. Contact the campaign: info@murphyfordelegate.com This concludes Volume XV of our Flip-a-District Friday series. I hope you will continue supporting our great Democrats up and down this ticket with your time and resources ahead of Election Day. Best,
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