According to Connection Newspapers editor/publisher Mary Kimm, it appears that the long-rumored retirement of Del. Ken Plum (D-Reston/Fairfax) is upon us. According to his Wikipedia entry, Plum also served as Democratic Party of Virginia chair from March 1998 to December 2000, and also served as a member of the House of Delegates in the 18th and 50th districts in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
In addition to Mary Kimm’s tweet, I’m hearing from a source that Del. Plum will make an announcement tomorrow (this is the final week of the Virginia General Assembly’s 2023 session, so expect a bunch of announcements in coming days), and that there are a slew of Democrats waiting to run for this deep-blue seat, which Plum has held for an incredible 40 years (since 1983)! Among the rumored Democratic candidates are Fairfax County School Board member Karen Keys Gamarra; Paul Berry (chair of the Virginia Latino Advisory Board – reportedly will announce tomorrow); community organizer Shyamali Hauth; maybe also former Del. Ibraheem Samirah [UPDATE 6:50 pm – hearing that Samirah is not planning to run for this] and/or Mary Barthelson (who primaried Plum in 2021, getting 21.6% of the vote). We’ll see. But for now, thanks to Del. Plum for his service, and let the best Democrat win the nomination to succeed him!
P.S. Just for the record, although Plum overall has had a solid Democratic voting record, I’m still pretty peeved about his vote (and anyone else’s vote) for the godawful Virginia redistricting amendment.
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
