Former Virginia Del. Rich Anderson (R-HD51), who was defeated 53%-47% by Democrat Hala Ayala in 2017, announced this morning that he’s baaaaack (see his video, below)…running to regain the seat he held for eight years in the House of Delegates. This Prince William County district is solidly blue in gubernatorial and federal election years (Northam won it with 55% in 2017, Kaine won it with 59% of the vote in 2018). The main challenges here are: 1) making sure that Democrats show up to vote in an historically low-low-turnout “off-odd” election year, when Democratic turnout usually plummets both in absolute terms and relative to Republican turnout; and 2) as Ben “Not Larry Sabato” Tribbett points out, in rating this race a Toss Up, “The bluest areas in this district are represented by Rich’s wife on the Board of Sups, giving him a few different paths to win in an off-off election year where he is running w her.”
By the way, Anderson might claim to be all about getting results for his district, but in the House of Delegates his record was hard-right all the way: lots of ZERO ratings from NARAL and Planned Parenthood; a ZERO from Equality Virginia in 2012 and a 25% rating in 2013; a 100% rating from the extremist Family Foundation of Virginia in 2016-2017; a pathetic lifetime 44% rating from the Virginia League of Conservation Voters; a 100% rating from the even-more-extreme-than-the-NRA Virginia Citizens Defense League in 2017; a godawful 8% rating from the Virginia AFL-CIO in 2017; etc. In stark contrast, Del. Hala Ayala (D) received a ZERO from the VCDL, a ZERO from the NRA, and an 86% score from the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. Ayala also was a leader in the fight to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, which Anderson’s Republican Party blocked from a floor vote in the House of Delegates. The bottom line: we absolutely MUST reelect Hala Ayala in November, and hopefully send Rich Anderson to a permanent retirement from politics.
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