Early voting underway for special election in 10th state Senate District; More chaos for Mineral Town Council
Engage Louisa is a nonpartisan newsletter that keeps folks informed about Louisa County government. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
Quiet coming week in county government
For the latest information on county meetings including public meetings of boards, commissions, authorities, work groups, and internal county committees, click here. (Note: Louisa County occasionally schedules internal committee/work group meetings after publication time. Check the county’s website for the most updated information).
According to Louisa County’s website, there are no public meetings scheduled for the coming week.
Other meetings
Monday, December 30
Louisa Town Council, Louisa Town Hall, 212 Fredericksburg Ave., Louisa, 6 pm. Council postponed its December 17 meeting and rescheduled it for December 30. (revised agenda)
Additional information about Louisa County’s upcoming public meetings is available here.
Interested in taking your talents to one of the county’s numerous boards and commissions? Find out more here including which boards have vacancies and how to apply
Early voting underway in SD10 special election
Early voting is underway for a January 7 special election in the 10th state Senate District.
Republican Luther Cifers, a Prince Edward County entrepreneur, and Democrat Jack Trammell, a college professor and small farmer from Louisa County, are vying for the right to represent the district.
The winner will succeed the seat’s current occupant, Republican John McGuire, serving the remainder of his term, which runs through 2027. McGuire is stepping down to represent the 5th Congressional District in Washington.
The 10th is a mostly rural district, stretching from exurban Richmond to the outskirts of Lynchburg. It covers all or part of 11 localities, including most of Louisa County. Only four precincts on the county’s western end aren’t in the district.
Based on the results of previous elections, the 10th is friendly terrain for Republicans. President-Elect Donald Trump won support from 62.8 percent of the district’s voters in the 2024 presidential election.
Voters can cast ballots early at the Louisa County Office of Elections, 103 McDonald Street in the Town of Louisa, through Saturday, January 4. The office is open for early voting Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, excluding Wednesday, January 1, and Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm. Election Day is Tuesday, January 7. Polls are open from 6 am to 7 pm.
Given the district’s conservative lean, Cifers is a solid favorite to keep the seat in Republican hands. The political newcomer and founder of the kayak fishing supply company YakAttack beat six other candidates, including Louisa County Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams, at a December 13 mass meeting to claim his party’s nomination.
Since then, he’s crisscrossed the district and conducted interviews to introduce himself to voters, visiting with local party activists and appearing on conservative radio shows, according to social media posts.
In a brief speech at the mass meeting, Cifers said he’s “pro-life and pro-family” and believes in preserving the district’s “rural way of life.” He recounted his upbringing being homeschooled and working in the tobacco fields of Amelia County then getting a GED and a job in manufacturing.
Armed with, as he put it, “lessons from [his] dad and God’s favor,” Cifers said he started YakAttack in a friend’s basement with just $2,000 15 years ago. From there, he’s launched several other businesses, which, he said, provide “more than 100 good-paying, American jobs.”
If voters send him to Richmond, Cifers said he’ll bring real-world experience to the job and center the voice of the people.
“We’ve all heard the stories of citizens showing up in force to oppose solar farms or landfills or data centers, only to be ignored in favor of economic development. And we’ve all heard the story of the young family that still lives with Mom and Dad because they could not afford a home at today’s prices,” Cifers said. “While there are no easy answers, there are answers, and those answers have to align with the interest of the people.”
On his campaign website, Cifers said he’ll “advocate for simple, practical solutions that address the issues facing the citizens of the 10th District,” focusing specifically on improving home affordability, limiting government intrusion and preserving liberty.
Cifers casts himself as a fiscal conservative and said he’s committed to cutting taxes and reining in government spending.
“In an era of unsustainable, spiraling debt, I will use my business experience to better serve our taxpayers by stewarding their money more wisely, with an ultimate goal of creating a positive impact with less spending,” he said.
While Cifers emerged from a crowded field to win his party’s nomination, Trammell was the only Democrat to throw his hat in the ring. The race marks his second run for elected office. In 2014, he lost a bid in the 7th Congressional District to former Congressman Dave Brat.
In an interview with Engage Louisa last month, Trammell, who spends a couple days a week teaching sociology and human services courses at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland and the rest on his farm in southeastern Louisa County, described himself as “a teacher, a farmer, a small business owner, a parent and grandparent and an active community member who loves this part of the state.” As a long-time resident of central Virginia, he said he understands many of the issues rural communities face.
Should voters elect him, Trammell said he’ll prioritize those issues in Richmond, including pushing for more support for small farmers and finding ways to advance rural entrepreneurship; addressing public safety and transportation concerns that exist outside of major cities and suburbs; and identifying ways to bring down the skyrocketing cost of living.
“From housing and healthcare to gas and groceries, rural Virginians are paying far too much for basic necessities. We must take steps to ease this financial strain and lower costs for everyone,” Trammell said in a post on his campaign Facebook page.
Trammell also emphasizes his support for public education and his commitment to safeguarding reproductive rights.
“As a husband, father, and grandfather, I am also deeply committed to protecting women’s rights to make their own healthcare decisions. When elected, I will work to enshrine reproductive rights in the Virginia State Constitution,” he said on Facebook.
The 10th district contest is one of three special elections slated for the first Tuesday in January—the day before the start of the General Assembly’s 46-day session.
The other two are Democrat-friendly seats in suburban Loudoun County. In the 32nd Senate District, Democrat Suhas Subramanyam is stepping down after winning a seat in Congress. The Democratic nominee vying to replace him, Del. Kannan Srinivasan, is vacating his 26th District House of Delegates seat, setting up a special election in that district.
Srinivasan is facing Republican Tumay Harding in the senate race while Democrat JJ Singh is squaring off against Republican Ram Venkatachalam for the House seat.
The special elections could tip the balance of power in the narrowly divided legislature. Last session, Democrats held a 51-49 advantage in the House and a 21-19 edge in the Senate.
If Republicans manage to flip the House seat, the chamber would be evenly divided, forcing the parties to broker a power sharing agreement.
A pair of Republican victories in the Senate would yield a 20-20 split, giving the party a narrow edge because Lt. Governor Winsome Sears, a Republican, has the power to cast tie-breaking votes.
The 2025 General Assembly session starts January 8 and ends February 22.
Voter information: Senate District 10 special election
Election Day: Election Day is Tuesday, Jan. 7. Cast your ballot from 6 am to 7 pm at your regular polling location. Click here to find your polling place.
Early voting: In-person early voting is available from Friday, December 27 through Saturday, January 4. Cast your ballot Monday through Friday (excluding Wednesday, Jan. 1), from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, or Saturday, January 4, from 9 am to 5 pm at the Louisa County Office of Elections, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa.
Vote by mail: The last day to apply for a mail-in ballot was Friday, December 27. Ballots can be returned to the Office of Elections via mail or dropped off. A secure drop box is available 24 hours a day.
Register to vote: The deadline to register to vote if you aren’t already registered is Tuesday, Dec. 31. However, Virginia has Same Day Voter Registration including on Election Day. Voters who register to vote after the Dec. 31 deadline and vote the same day will cast a provisional ballot. Click here to register to vote or check your registration status. Click here to learn more about Same Day Voter Registration.
Sample ballot: Check out a sample ballot here.
Questions about voting: If you have questions about voting, visit the Virginia Department of Elections website here or call the Louisa County Office of Elections at 540-967-3427.
Read more:
Cifers tops Adams, five other candidates to claim Republican nomination in Senate District 10 -Engage Louisa, Dec. 15, 2024
Trammell seeks Dem nomination in SD10 -Engage Louisa, Nov. 17, 2024
Voter Guide: Where do the candidates stand? -Cardinal News
More chaos for Mineral Town Council: legal concerns, turmoil surround Hempstead’s ouster
The Mineral Town Council is expected to backtrack on the ouster of one of its members, according to a top town official.
Mayor Ed Jarvis said in an interview on Friday that he expects council to reverse course on its removal of council member David Hempstead. Jarvis said council would take up the matter at its January 13 meeting amid concerns that the process used to remove Hempstead ran afoul of state law.
Council voted to expel Hempstead after a closed-door trial in late November, relying on a disciplinary process laid out in Robert’s Rules of Order, the parliamentary procedure that governs how the body conducts meetings.
That process differs from a section in state code related to the removal of local elected officials, which requires a voter-initiated recall petition and action by a circuit court judge.
Council’s reconsideration of Hempstead’s ouster comes after he was arrested at a special council meeting on December 19. Hempstead’s arrest compelled Louisa County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rusty McGuire to weigh in on the process used to remove him.
Council convened the meeting to share information about the candidates vying for an interim appointment to Hempstead’s seat. Hempstead attended the meeting and sat with council, refusing to leave when members tried to convene in closed session.
Hempstead insisted he’s a lawful member of the body and said he would only leave “in handcuffs.” He was eventually arrested by a Louisa County sheriff’s deputy and, according to online court records, charged with disorderly conduct.
McGuire subsequently dropped the charge. He said in an email on Friday that state code wasn’t followed in the effort to remove Hempstead from office.
“The Code of Virginia provides a specific process for voters to initiate the removal of an elected official in a court of the Commonwealth. After consulting Mineral Town Council that was not done in this case,” McGuire said. “We immediately dropped the charge placed against Mr. Hempstead as we cannot let the criminal justice system be weaponized in Louisa County. The deputy was placed in a difficult position being told Mr. Hempstead was no longer a member of council and was trespassing.”
The town has since cancelled a Dec. 30 meeting where council had planned to appoint a town resident to fill Hempstead’s seat.
A closed-door trial
Council voted 5-0 to expel Hempstead after a 75-minute closed session trial at a special meeting on November 21, just two weeks after he finished second in a special election to fill two council seats. Prior to earning voters’ backing, Hempstead served as an appointed council member for about six months.
Council convened the trial based on a disciplinary process in Robert’s Rules of Order in which a committee appointed by the mayor gathered evidence related to alleged “neglect and misconduct” on Hempstead’s part and presented it to council.
After considering the evidence, council moved to remove Hempstead in open session, accusing him of negligence of duty, misconduct of office, misuse of office, and multiple violations of the town’s code and council’s civility pledge. Council members didn't publicly provide any additional details about the alleged offenses.
Council set the trial at a November 7 emergency meeting—two days after the election—that Hempstead didn’t attend. Neither the meeting’s public notice nor its advertised agenda explicitly mentioned that council planned to consider disciplinary action involving a town official.
Hempstead was invited to participate in the trial and defend himself against the charges, according to a November 8 email he received from Town Clerk Stephanie Dorman. He declined to attend, calling the proceeding a “kangaroo court” and insisting that council didn’t have the power to remove him.
Town leaders maintained that, per advice from their legal counsel, Robert Sproul, they could expel a member under provisions in the town’s charter and ordinances and via a process laid out in Robert’s Rules of Order.
Sproul, a former assistant county attorney in Loudoun County, didn’t answer multiple emails from Engage Louisa, sent prior to the trial, requesting clarification on where council derived the authority to remove a member.
Town charter and state code
State code sets a high bar for removing a local elected official. It requires filing a recall petition in circuit court signed by at least “a number of registered voters who reside within the jurisdiction of the officer equal to 10 percent of the total number of votes cast at the last election for the office that the officer holds.”
The petition is then reviewed by a circuit court judge, who may remove the officer if they determine he or she committed certain crimes or other offenses including “neglect of a clear, ministerial duty of the office, misuse of the office, or incompetence in the performance of the duties of the office when that neglect of duty, misuse of office, or incompetence in the performance of duties has a material adverse effect upon the conduct of the office.”
In some instances, town charters specify a removal procedure that supersedes state code. In the Town of Amherst, for example, the town’s charter provides that council can “expel a member with the concurrence of two-thirds.”
That process mirrors provisions in both the Virginia and US Constitution, which permit each chamber of the General Assembly and Congress to expel a member with a two-thirds majority vote.
In 2019, Amherst’s council used the process to oust a member, according to media reports.
Mineral’s charter doesn’t lay out a specific removal process, however. It only says that council “shall establish its own rules of order and procedure and may punish its own members and other persons for violations thereof.” A town ordinance adopted last year requires that council conduct business using Robert’s Rules of Order.
Jarvis said that Sproul advised council members that they could expel Hempstead, adding that, in his view, relying on broad provisions in the town’s charter and ordinances, instead of state code, was a “novel approach.” As the town’s mayor, Jarvis runs council meetings, but only votes if there’s a tie.
Jarvis said that, after Hempstead’s arrest, McGuire reached out to him. He said he connected him with Sproul and the two discussed the removal process.
“I think there was a difference of opinion…in terms of whether council had the power or the right to basically throw Mr. Hempstead off council. According to the commonwealth’s attorney, [the process used] was contrary to the way the laws [are] written in the commonwealth,” Jarvis said.
In interviews and public comments, Hempstead repeatedly insisted that council’s action was illegal, pointing to the recall process provided in state law and emphasizing that Robert’s Rules of Order is merely a guide to running meetings and carries no legal weight.
Hempstead’s arrest and its aftermath
Hempstead made his case in dramatic fashion at council’s December 19 meeting. (video)
He joined council members at the dais and refused to relinquish his seat when they voted to convene in closed session.
Hempstead said he’s a lawful member of the body and asked Sproul to explain how council had the authority to remove him via a process that didn’t conform with state code. Sproul declined to answer the question.
A Louisa County sheriff’s deputy approached Hempstead and asked him to leave the meeting, per council’s request. Hempstead repeatedly refused, shrugging off a warning that he’d be charged with trespassing if he didn’t comply.
“They can’t ask me to leave because I am a member of council,” Hempstead told the deputy.
A second officer then approached the dais, and the pair placed Hempstead in handcuffs and escorted him from the building.
In a criminal complaint, the arresting officer said he responded to a report that “a male subject was causing a disturbance at a town hall meeting,” noting that “the caller advised Dispatch that the male in question was David Hempstead.”
Upon arrival, the officer said he was told Hempstead was no longer on council but he “refused to step down and leave.”
“I asked Mr. Hempstead to leave and advised that the Town Mayor wanted him to leave the meeting and that he stated that the meeting was being delayed due to his behavior. I advised him that he needed to stand up and leave and he refused several times. I attempted to assist Mr. Hempstead up to escort him from the meeting and he tensed up and refused to stand up or place his hands behind his back. Mr. Hempstead finally complied and was taken into custody for public disturbance,” the officer wrote.
In an interview last Friday, Hempstead said he was taken to a holding cell in Louisa, fingerprinted and eventually released on $2500 bond. He said McGuire called him on the Monday following his arrest and informed him the charge had been dropped and would be expunged from his record.
The town on Thursday cancelled a Dec. 30 special meeting to appoint a town resident to fill Hempstead’s seat.
Jarvis, who’s resigning as the town’s mayor, effective January 3, to take a job out of state, indicated that he expects council to reverse course on Hempstead’s removal at its January meeting, either by voiding action taken at the November 21 trial or taking other steps to reinstate him.
Hempstead said that, other than a visit from Jarvis last week, he hasn’t formally heard from anyone in town government and reiterated that he has been a duly elected council member since he was sworn in after the November 5th election.
“I don’t trust any one of them, and I don’t assume anything. I would think that they still don’t want me on the council, and they will begrudgingly admit me back. I'm going to tell them I've been told by the commonwealth’s attorney that I was never not a councilman. That's all there is to it. Don't offer me my seat back because I never lost it,” he said.
Other disciplinary action
Council’s move to expel Hempstead came on the heels of other disciplinary action, which was prompted, in part, by his alleged mistreatment of town staff.
In mid-October, council members voted unanimously to censure their colleague. In a two-page resolution, council alleged that Hempstead had acted in a “less than professional manner,” accusing him of harassing and demeaning staff, including the town manager, clerk and treasurer, as well as fellow council members.
The resolution also alleged that Hempstead ignored town protocol by using his personal email account to conduct public business; shared documents discussed in closed session without authorization, including paperwork that was part of a contract negotiation; and overstepped his authority as a council member, among other allegations.
Hempstead has said what council characterized as harassment, was merely an effort to get information about Dorman, the town clerk, and Town Manager Nicole Washington’s job qualifications.
Hempstead has also said that he shared an executed contract related to an agreement the town made with Clayton Homes, the developer of a controversial 14-lot subdivision on the eastern edge of town, when it was a “done deal.” He said the contract was a public document, but council members wanted to hide it.
Editor’s note: Chris Guerre contributed research for this article.
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