This week in county government; Supervisors get Firefly update, talk library, solar, sports complex; Rogers, Snyder join Runnett in school board race; Candidates file for town offices
Engage Louisa is a community newsletter aimed at keeping folks informed about Louisa County government. It’s free, non-partisan, and powered by volunteers. We believe our community is stronger and our government serves us better when we increase transparency, accessibility, and engagement.
This week in county government: public meetings, June 27 through July 2
Monday, June 27
Jefferson-Madison Regional Library Board of Trustees, monthly meeting, Northside Library, 705 West Rio Road, Charlottesville, 3 pm. The public is invited to attend in person or via Zoom. A link is available on the agenda. (agenda)
Trustees will discuss a request for a name change for the regional library system, among other business. See below for more information.
Tuesday, June 28
Human Services Advisory Board, 103 McDonald Street, Louisa, 11 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
Wednesday, June 29
Through Truck Traffic Work Group, Emergency Operations Center, Louisa County Office Building, 1 Woolfolk Ave., Louisa, 10 am. At publication time, an agenda was not publicly available.
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.
BOS roundup: Firefly updates board; Supervisors talk library, solar, sports complex, and more
The Louisa County Board of Supervisors dispatched with public business in short order Tuesday night, hearing an update from Firefly Fiber Broadband on its county-wide fiber project and green-lighting a pair of requests from Fire and EMS Chief Robert Dube. The board also continued discussions about revisions to the county’s solar ordinance, a request for a name change for the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, and a proposed bond referendum that could fund new and improved athletics fields. Six of seven supervisors were on hand for the meeting. Jackson District Supervisor Toni Williams was absent. Check out the meeting highlights below. (meeting materials, video)
Firefly and its partners provide fiber update: Firefly CEO Gary Wood updated the board on his company’s efforts to deliver universal fiber access to Louisa County. Firefly, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Central Virginia Electric Cooperative, expects to finish connecting customers in CVEC’s service area by the end of the year. The company is partnering with Dominion Energy and Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, the area’s two other electric providers, to deliver broadband to the rest of the county by 2025.
Firefly is using a multipronged approach to connect the county and taking advantage of a patchwork of funding sources. In 2018, the company began connecting customers in CVEC’s service area, which includes a large swath of western Louisa County. Aided by a $550,000 tax abatement courtesy of the county and some federal funds, Firefly expects to deliver fiber access to every customer in the service area in the next six months.
Wood said the company is currently connecting customers around the Ferncliff substation in south-central Louisa County and will begin connecting customers around the Doubleday substation, just across the county line in Orange, in July. The company has laid 320 miles of fiber in western Louisa and is providing fiber access to 4,100 passings with 2,100 active accounts, according to Wood.
Firefly’s Regional Internet Service Expansion Project is the main vehicle the company is using to connect most of the county. The RISE project is a partnership between Firefly, major electric providers, local governments, and the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. It aims to deliver fiber access to some 36,000 unserved homes and businesses across 13 central Virginia counties over the next three years. Firefly will act as the internet service provider and, in Louisa County, lease fiber lines from Dominion and REC.
In December, the Virginia Telecommunications Initiative awarded $79 million in state grant funding to the RISE project. Firefly representatives told the board that Louisa’s portion of RISE is expected to cost about $70 million with nearly $22.4 million of that coming from VATI funds. Louisa County committed nearly $9 million in local matching funds to the project with the first roughly $3 million installment included in the FY23 Capital Improvement Plan. The company said the project would require 1,100 miles of fiber in Louisa County alone and provide broadband access to more than 11,000 homes and businesses.
“It’s a significant infrastructure investment and upgrade in the next three years in Louisa County,” Wood said.
As part of RISE, Firefly will first tackle fiber construction around REC’s Shannon Hill substation in south-central Louisa. Wood said he expects construction to begin in July with final connections starting as early as September and continuing through the end of the year.
Construction crews will then move to REC’s Mount Hope substation in southeastern Louisa where, Wood said, design work is complete and make-ready work in progress. From there, Firefly will move to the Buckner substation, which covers much of the county’s eastern border.
Wood said that Firefly doesn’t plan to announce a county-wide timeline for each substation because priorities can change. He noted that the company communicates with customers once work in their area is set to begin. He said that, generally, it takes six to eight months to get an in-home fiber connection from the time work trucks first appear in the neighborhood.
REC representative Mark Ponton cautioned residents that the company is involved in a pair of fiber projects in Louisa County: one in cooperation with Firefly for broadband and another to increase grid reliability. Mountain Road District Supervisor Tommy Barlow said he encountered crews laying fiber in his neighborhood, but Ponton said those lines are part of the reliability project not for broadband. He promised Barlow that Firefly is coming.
In Dominion territory, Firefly’s work is taking a different course. Dominion is laying middle mile fiber while Firefly is providing last mile construction. Dominion’s Garrett Braun told the board that his company will construct about 58 miles of fiber in the county. Wood said that Firefly will likely add about 100 miles of fiber from Dominion’s lines to enable home connections.
Dominion expects to finish constructing fiber by the end of the year. But Wood didn’t provide any insight into when last mile work would commence in Dominion territory. He encouraged residents to visit Firefly’s website for more information about the county-wide fiber project.
“It takes a while to get infrastructure up but, when we get it there, you’ve got world-class service, gigabits speeds, at prices that are competitive anywhere in the US. And, we’ve got it fixed once and for all. It’s not a temporary solution,” Wood said.
Sports complex committee turns its attention to building fields near schools: A Board of Supervisors committee tasked with scouting locations for a potential multi-field sports complex that some say could spark sports tourism offered a somewhat different vision for recreation upgrades in Louisa County Tuesday night.
Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes and Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry, who comprise the committee, said they think the county would be best served building new fields adjacent to schools and upgrading existing fields at the high school and middle school complex.
“We want to try to spread the improvements throughout the county to try to help as many athletics folks as we can. That’s why we started looking at the schools because that is a better location,” Gentry said. “Right now, that’s where we are going. Now, at our next meeting, we may decide something a little bit different but, right now, we’d like to get some facilities at every elementary school, improve some of the facilities at the high school, increase some of the facilities at the high school because that’s a more centrally located area. I think, in the long run, we’ll come out with something that most folks in the county will say is helping everybody.”
It's unclear how many fields the committee is considering, what form they might take or how much they would cost but Barnes noted that the county could potentially save money on parking and other infrastructure if they built on school campuses. It’s also unclear how the committee might proceed in crafting one or more bond referendums that would seek voters’ permission to fund the projects.
Supervisors discussed building a sports complex during the FY23 budget process and said they’d like to ask voters if they want to pay for it via a referendum this November. Some county officials suggested the complex could be constructed near Zion Crossroads, making it easily accessible off Interstate 64 and close to hotels and restaurants. They said the complex has potential as an economic development project while also providing recreational opportunities for local youth.
At the June 6 meeting, the board considered a proposed ballot question, drafted by County Attorney Helen Phillips, that asks voters if supervisors should be empowered to issue up to $16.5 million in bonds to fund the complex, a field house at the high school, and upgrades to other county-owned sports facilities. The field house and other upgrades were new additions to the referendum, which hadn’t been publicly discussed at previous board meetings.
Several supervisors suggested that the complex and upgrades at the schools shouldn’t be rolled into one referendum because they are separate projects. Some community members pushed back against potentially siting the complex near Zion Crossroads, suggesting that it wouldn’t benefit most Louisa youth. Community members also questioned the concept of sports tourism as a viable idea for economic development.
If county officials plan to place a referendum for recreational upgrades on the ballot this November, they’ll have to resolve the many questions surrounding the project in short order. According to Phillips, a circuit court judge must issue a Writ of Special Election by August 18 for any referendum to appear on this year’s ballot. Phillips said the board needs to decide if it wants to move forward with one or more referendums no later than its August 1 meeting.
The sports complex committee is expected to update the board again at its July 5 meeting. At publication time, the committee didn’t have a public meeting advertised on the county’s website.
Note: Supervisors are now advertising meetings of committees and work groups formed by the board in accordance with Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act.
Adams says regional library name change would require approval from each member jurisdiction: Board Chair and Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams continued to push back against a potential name change for the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library.
During a brief report to the board Tuesday night, Adams said that a name change requires amending a 2013 agreement that the regional library system has with its five member jurisdictions and any amendment to that agreement requires the consent of each jurisdiction, two of which are on record opposing a name change. He said any proposed changes to the agreement should be referred to the Regional Library Agreement Review Committee for discussion as laid out in the contract.
Adams based those assertions on a memo from Charlottesville Attorney Ralph Main, who has led legal challenges against the City of Charlottesville over its efforts to remove Confederate monuments. Main is currently representing the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and another group in their challenge to the city’s decision to give its Robert E. Lee statue to a local nonprofit that plans to melt it down and create community art. Adams said the county received Main’s memo unsolicited.
A group representing descendants of enslaved laborers asked JMRL’s board of trustees to change the library’s name in May, citing Jefferson and Madison’s role as slaveholders. Trustees agreed to add a discussion about a potential name change to the agenda for its June 27 meeting.
Adams responded by threatening to defund the library if it adopted a new name, accusing the descendants’ group of attempting “to erase our history.” At his urging, supervisors unanimously passed a resolution formally opposing a name change. The Greene County Board of Supervisors passed a similar resolution.
Library trustees will meet Monday afternoon to discuss the name change request, among other business. Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry, who serves as the board’s liaison to the library, said he plans to attend. Wendy Craig, who represents Louisa County on the nine-member board of trustees, is expected to provide a report to supervisors at their July 5 meeting.
Louisa County is a founding member of the regional library system, which formed in 1972. It includes eight branches spanning the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle, Nelson, Greene and Louisa counties. Supervisors appropriated about $392,000 to the library in FY23.
Adams updates board on revised solar ordinance as county receives another application from a utility-scale solar developer: Mineral District Supervisor Duane Adams briefed his colleagues on potential amendments to the county’s solar ordinance, which the board’s solar committee has been crafting for nearly nine months. Adams said the committee could cut a controversial amendment included in its original proposal that would prohibit the approval of utility-scale solar facilities that produce less than 151 MW of power and replace it with language addressing siting agreements.
The committee included a floor on megawatt production in its draft amendments, in part, to maximize the tax revenue the county collects from large-scale solar sites. Under Virginia law, utility-scale solar facilities that are subject to a locality’s machinery and tools tax and produce 150 MW of power or less initially receive an 80 percent tax abatement but facilities that produce more than 150 MW receive no tax break.
Siting agreements are another tool localities can use to reap significant financial rewards from large-scale solar projects. A 2020 law empowers local governments to negotiate deals with developers that can include financial compensation for capital needs and to mitigate the impacts of solar development. Adams said the committee is assessing how siting agreements could impact the county and considering including language covering the agreements in its ordinance in place of a floor on megawatt production. He said he expects the board will formally consider amending the solar ordinance later this year. The board adopted the current ordinance in February 2021 as part of a larger rewrite of the zoning code.
As the committee continues to craft changes to the ordinance, the county has received another application from a utility-scale solar developer. On June 16, Pinegate Renewables, via Turkey Solar LLC, filed a request for a Conditional Use Permit to construct and operate a 15.6 MW solar array on 101 acres of a 241-acre site off Klockner Road in western Louisa County. The project area includes seven parcels (tax map parcels 9-16, 9-20, 9-4, 9-19, 9-49, 9-96, and 9-53), one of which was formerly home to a turkey farm.
During the Planning Commission’s public hearing on the revised ordinance in April, Pinegate urged county officials to rethink the floor on megawatt production. Matthew Herndon, whose family is leasing property to the developer, said in an email to the commission that the proposal would kill a good project and amounts to a “terrible intrusion on our property rights.”
The board’s solar committee, including Adams and Patrick Henry District Supervisor Fitzgerald Barnes, began work on revising the county’s solar ordinance last fall amid fallout from Dominion’s Belcher Solar facility off Waldrop Church Road where stormwater runoff has caused significant damage to neighboring farms.
In their draft amendments, Adams and Barnes recommended restrictions on solar development, including a floor on generation capacity and a cap on the amount of land in the county that can be used for utility-scale solar sites. They said the proposed amendments aim to protect the county’s rural character. The revised ordinance unanimously cleared the Planning Commission in May after discussion and a public hearing that spanned two meetings.
Supervisors green-light two FEMS requests: Supervisors voted 6-0 to approve a pair of funding requests submitted by Fire and EMS Chief Robert Dube.
The board authorized the Fire and EMS department to use over $33,000 in county funds to hire a full-time volunteer recruitment and retention coordinator. The department received a nearly $500,000 federal grant last August that funds a volunteer recruitment and retention program for four years. The grant allots $35,000 a year to pay a part-time program coordinator but Dube said all the applicants interested in the position to date want full-time work. Supervisors agreed to combine county funding with the grant money to cover a $50,000 annual salary and benefits for a full-time employee.
In addition to running the volunteer program, Dube said the staffer would teach an introductory firefighting class at Louisa County High School, a duty previously covered by a training officer. In a written request for the funding, he said that the department’s growth on the career side has placed increased demands on the officer and they no longer have time to teach the course and train career and volunteer staff.
Beyond providing funds for a volunteer coordinator, the grant allots money to recruit, train, equip, and retain volunteers, according to Dube. Specifically, it covers the costs of entry-level physicals, background checks, personal protective equipment, and training. It also funds a marketing program and enables the department to offer tuition assistance to volunteers attending college. If the department meets certain parameters, the grant could be renewed beyond the initial four-year allotment.
Supervisors also approved a resolution authorizing FEMS to apply for a $391,475 Port Security grant to purchase a fire and rescue boat. The grant would fund 75 percent of the cost of the boat while requiring a 25 percent local match. If the grant is secured, the resolution permits the department to spend about $98,000 in county funds on the boat.
The department owns a 2008 Kenner fishing boat that was purchased used and has no fire and rescue capabilities. The canopy on the boat is unable to handle rough water and maintaining the craft is expensive, according to the resolution. The grant and matching funds would enable the county to buy a boat that includes a firefighting pump and patient care area.
“Currently, we have a 2008 fishing boat that was never designed or equipped for fire or rescue but we make it work. But, with the traffic on the lake and the ability to get one paid for, 75 percent by the Feds, it’s something we ought to pursue,” Dube told the board.
Board approves use of county name in proposed Lake Anna specialty license plate: The Lake Anna Business Partnership is hoping to add a Lake Anna-themed license plate to the more than 200 specialty plates currently offered by the Virginia Department of Motors Vehicles. Supervisors briefly discussed the license plate Tuesday night and voted 5-1 to approve a letter from County Administrator Christian Goodwin to DMV that green-lights the use the county’s name in the plate’s design. The partnership also plans to list Spotsylvania and Orange counties on the plate, the two other localities home to Lake Anna shoreline.
Cuckoo District Supervisor Willie Gentry said he didn’t know enough about the license plate proposal to approve Goodwin’s letter.
According to the LABP, Delegate John McGuire agreed to sponsor legislation during the 2023 General Assembly session authorizing DMV to issue the plate. Most specialty plates require 450 pre-orders prior to a bill’s introduction. The Lake Anna plate will cost $10 and LABP is tasked with collecting pre-order applications.
LABP launched a contest in mid-June to solicit designs for the plate. The winning design requires DMV approval. For more information about the license plate and the design contest, click here.
Election roundup: Rogers, Snyder join Runnett in school board race; Candidates file for town offices; Reeves falls short in VA07
At least three candidates will vie for the Mineral District seat on the Louisa County School Board in a special election this November.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, David Rogers and Amy Snyder officially filed to run last week, joining Lloyd Runnett, who declared his candidacy in April. The race marks Rogers, Snyder, and Runnett’s first run for public office.
In March, the school board appointed Runnett to fill the Mineral District seat through the end of the year after long-time board member Sherman Shifflett died just a month and half into his fifth term. The winner of November’s election will serve through 2025.
Rogers also sought an appointment to the board after Shifflett’s passing, one of five candidates to vie for the position. He said, at the time, that he decided to apply because, as an African American, he thought he could bring a perspective that the board lacked. Rogers has continued to express concern that the board doesn’t include any African American members, arguing that its lack of diversity contributes to the division’s challenges attracting people of color to its faculty.
“If you want to get some strong minority candidates to come here and teach—let’s say you go to (historically Black colleges and universities) and you are looking for somebody—they don’t see anybody that looks like them, nobody that can relate to them, that can talk to them, so why would they come here,” he said in March.
Rogers, who works in the insurance industry, has lived in the county since 2009. In an email to Engage Louisa, he said he’ll bring a new perspective and keen negotiating skills to the board and noted that he hopes to increase diversity and transparency in the school division.
“I plan on bringing more transparency to the school board. The parents need this,” he said.
Snyder, a registered nurse with three children in Louisa County Public Schools, has lived in the county for 15 years. She said she’s running because “parents need a voice on the school board.” None of the board’s current members have children enrolled in the division.
“I'm proud of our school system here in Louisa County and I want to work to make it better for students, parents, and teachers,” Snyder said in an email.
Runnett, a Louisa native whose two children attended local schools, spent much of his career in public safety. After retiring from Henrico County Fire and EMS, he now directs the Louisa County Resource Council, a local nonprofit that operates a food pantry and provides other services.
Runnett said in an email to Engage Louisa that his predecessor, Sherman Shifflett, was a long-time friend and mentor. He noted that Shifflett tapped him to work on several school projects including appointing him to a committee that recommended naming Moss-Nuckols Elementary School after two prominent African American educators, Harry Nuckols and Henry Moss. Shifflett also placed Runnett on the division’s school safety taskforce.
Runnett said that, in his role at LCRC, he works with some of the county’s most economically vulnerable families and he’s “humbled and honored to be their voice at the table regarding education in Louisa County.” He touted the school division’s accomplishments to date and said, as a board member, he hopes to continue to build on that legacy.
“At LCPS, we are proven leaders in all areas of education. We are developing our children to succeed in their life's vocations and also to be kind humans who contribute to the community. I will work, to the best of my ability, to continue this legacy of achievement,” Runnett said.
Mineral District residents have until August 19 to file to run in the special election, which will be held concurrently with the November 8 general election. Early voting begins September 23.
Fresh and familiar faces file to run for town offices: A mix of fresh and familiar faces officially opted to run for office in the Towns of Louisa and Mineral this November ahead of the June 21 filing deadline.
In Mineral, two candidates who are well-known to town voters threw their hats in the ring for mayor: three-term incumbent Pamela Harlowe and Town Councilor Ed Jarvis.
As of Tuesday morning, no one had filed to run in the mayoral race, raising the possibility that Mineral’s more than 300 registered voters might choose their next mayor via write-in votes. But both Jarvis and Harlowe submitted paperwork to Louisa County Registrar Cris Watkins prior to the 7 pm filing deadline, setting up an intriguing battle for Mineral’s top job.
The town has been beset by controversy over the last year with Harlowe and Jarvis at odds on key issues. Jarvis played a leading role in an effort to annul the town's charter last summer, a move that sparked backlash from Harlowe and other town residents. Jarvis was one of five councilors who voted to censure Harlowe in April for interfering with the duties of the then-interim town manager and making disparaging remarks to him. According to The Central Virginian, council rescinded the censure at its June meeting. Jarvis and two other councilors were absent.
Five candidates filed to run for the six seats up for grabs on town council, none of whom are incumbents. The field includes Ronald W. Chapman, Jr., C. Blair Nipper, Olivia Barrow McCarthy, Bernice W. Kube, and Rebecca T. “Becky” McGehee. Kube, who previously served several terms on council, and McGehee are the spouses of two current council members who opted not to seek re-election, Ed Kube and Roy “Snake” McGehee. Sitting councilors Tom Runnett, Tony Henshaw, and David Lawson also chose not to run. With only five candidates officially on the ballot, the sixth council seat could to be filled by a write-in candidate.
In the Town of Louisa, incumbent Garland Nuckols is the only candidate in the mayor’s race while four candidates are vying for two seats on town council. Incumbent John Jerl Purcell, IV is seeking his second term with three political newcomers joining him in the race: Louisa County Fire and EMS Chief Robert Dube, Tanyard resident Vicky Harte, and Donnelly Dale resident Daniel Ray Crawford. Councilor Bud Dulaney opted not to seek re-election to the five-seat board whose members serve staggered terms.
While Louisa has avoided much of the controversy embroiling its neighbor, the council race could be a spirited one as the town considers rezoning 11 aces off Route 33 and Pine Ridge Drive for a proposed up to 85-unit housing development. Some residents in the adjoining Tanyard subdivision, including Harte, oppose the rezoning, in part, because of concerns about stormwater runoff.
Harte told the town’s Planning Commission in May that her property floods regularly even when there’s not a storm. She said she’s not opposed to development “but I can’t handle the water, and neither can my neighbors,” according to The Central Virginian. Planners recommended that council approve the rezoning with Purcell, council’s liaison to the commission, voting in support. Council didn’t vote on the rezoning at its June meeting, deferring action until at least July, per the newspaper.
Reeves falls short in bid for Republican nomination in 7th Congressional District: State Senator Bryce Reeves, who has represented most of Louisa County in Richmond since 2012, fell short in his bid for the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District Tuesday night, finishing a distant third in the six-candidate primary field. Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega won the nomination, garnering nearly 29 percent of the vote. She’ll face Democratic incumbent Abigail Spanberger this fall in a race that’s expected to be one of the most closely watched in the country.
Reeves was widely considered the favorite to win the nomination in a redrawn 7th that encompasses much of the 17th state Senate District he currently represents. The new 7th includes Spotsylvania County, where Reeves resides, as well as a swath of rural central Virginia. It stretches north into the outer ring of the Washington suburbs including a slice of vote-rich Prince William County. The district, once anchored in suburban Richmond, no longer includes Louisa County, which was placed in the 5th Congressional District during the decennial redistricting process.
Neither Vega nor Spanberger live in the new 7th but members of Congress aren’t required to reside in the district they represent. Spanberger lives in Henrico County while Vega lives near Manassas just outside the district.
Louisa County voters didn’t have a primary on the ballot last Tuesday with the field in the 5th Congressional District already set. Rep. Bob Good, the Republican incumbent, secured his party's nomination in a May convention while Democratic nominee Josh Throneburg was the only member of his party to qualify for the ballot, negating the need for a primary.
Reeves faltered on his home turf Tuesday night, winning only one locality he currently represents, while Vega ran up the score in Prince William where she claimed more than 50 percent of the vote. Former Army Green Beret Derrick Anderson finished second with about 24 percent of the vote district-wide while Reeves garnered 20 percent in the low-turnout contest. Reeves narrowly lost Spotsylvania to Anderson and was edged by Vega in both Orange and Culpeper, all of which lie in his senate district.
“While we didn't get the outcome we wanted last night, I am beyond blessed to have had such strong support, whether it was the volunteer hours that our team spent with us, the generous contributions that were so vital to our race, or the spiritual support we received through your prayer and worship,” Reeves said in an email to supporters Wednesday afternoon. “While the radical left of this country may think they can do whatever they want, I, for one, will not stand by as they try to tear us down, and I know in my heart that none of you will either. I am excited to continue fighting for our values in the Senate, and to continue to serve you just as I always have.”
Reeves will continue to represent most of Louisa County and the rest of the 17th Senate District through 2023. All 40 seats in the Senate are up for grabs under new maps in November 2023. Reeves resides in the newly drawn 28th Senate District where he’s already attracted a Republican primary challenger. Most of Louisa County heads to the new 10th District while a slice of the county’s western edge falls into the 11th.
Louisa Board of Supervisors Chair Duane Adams and 56th District Delegate John McGuire, who currently represents all of Louisa County in the General Assembly’s lower chamber, are seeking the Republican nomination in the 10th, a solid Republican district with no sitting incumbent. Hanover County GOP Chair Jack Dyer is also in the race.
McGuire, who failed to win the Republican nomination in the 7th Congressional District in 2020, jumped in that race again last November. He dropped out after redistricting revamped the district and set his sights on the Senate.
McGuire endorsed Vega over his General Assembly colleague Reeves in the 7th District race, one of several hard-right figures to back her candidacy. A former police officer and the first Latina elected to Prince William’s Board of County Supervisors, Vega also received endorsements from Good, former 7th District Congressman Dave Brat, ousted by Spanberger in 2018, former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, and US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who stumped for her in Fredericksburg Monday night.
In an interview on the John Fredericks Show Tuesday morning, McGuire championed Vega and attacked Reeves, suggesting tensions among the county’s legislative delegation in Richmond. McGuire accused Reeves of siding with “radical” Democrats, in part, because he was one of several Republicans to join Democrats in censuring state Senator Amanda Chase last year. A majority of the Senate rebuked Chase after she promoted baseless claims about the 2020 election and called rioters at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 “patriots.”
McGuire also complained that Reeves didn’t give him credit for passing a new law that cuts taxes on veterans’ retirement benefits. Both men carried a version of the bill in their respective chambers during the 2022 General Assembly session though McGuire said that Reeves’ bill provided a less generous tax cut than his.
“The press release goes out and says Bryce Reeves did everything and there’s a lot more to it than that,” McGuire said.
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