2 Democrats attempting to unseat Thornton in Fairfield

Three candidates, including longtime incumbent Frank Thornton, are seeking the Democratic nomination for the Fairfield District seat on the Henrico Board of Supervisors. The winner of the June 11 primary will face independent candidate Delta R. Bowers in the Nov. 5 general election.

All three Democratic candidates have had lengthy roles in the community, whether in government, community activism, mentorship programs or church involvement.

Frank Thornton
Thornton is the incumbent Fairfield supervisor, a man who has held the seat for more than two decades. He won it in 1995, taking office in 1996 as the first African-American to be elected to the board. He had previously lost in 1987 and 1991 – the latter by just three votes.

He told the Citizen that should he win another term, it would be his last.

Thornton has been a leading force behind a number of endeavors in Fairfield, such as the 2011 opening of the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center; the founding of the Henrico Police Athletic League program, which provides at-risk youth educational, athletic and social programs and the opportunity to build relationships with Henrico police officers; and the development of several other facilities on Laburnum Avenue (in addition to the recreation center), such as a new health center, a revived Eastgate Town Center, the new Fairfield Library (opening in October) and a new public aquatics center that will open next year.

Thornton has vowed to emphasize job creation and what he terms “economic justice,” he said.

The latter – namely, equity in jobs, reducing poverty and making sure people of color and people of different nationalities have job opportunities – is a pursuit Thornton said is tied to his goal to further expand public transportation, since transportation is a means for people to seek jobs and work, he said.

Thornton, 78, retired five years ago after a 43-year career as a French professor at Virginia Union, his alma mater. Education, perhaps not surprisingly, is another area of emphasis for him. He hosts regular town hall meetings to ensure that citizens know how the county works, he said.

When he first took office, Thornton was the only Democrat on the Henrico Board of Supervisors. But that didn’t prevent him from collaborating with the other supervisors on solutions that were best for county residents.

“One of the strengths I brought to the office since I’ve been there, I think, has been the art of diplomacy,” Thornton said. “I was the only Democrat with four Republicans on the board and we were able to still do a lot of the things for Henrico residents. . . We didn’t look at things in terms of just politics, but what was best of county residents. I’m proud to have been a part of that.”

Thornton is proud of his efforts to foster regional cooperation between Henrico and neighboring jurisdictions – something he believes has improved during his time on the board.

Maurice Tyler
Community activist Maurice Tyler sees the Fairfield District as an area in slow decline, and by running for supervisor, he wants to effect change in the district and “bring a different type of energy” to the community, he said.

The cornerstone of his platform is public safety, which he sees as insufficient in its current state in Fairfield, leading to shootings, accidents and deaths. He cited the shootings of five-year-old Kemiyah Edwards, who was shot in the head in April 2019, and one-year-old Jaidah Morris, who was killed after being shot through an open window in her home in 2017.

“I felt like the district has been on decline,” Tyler said. “And now that we have declined, we have murders. . . It’s an issue. I’m not used to that. And I tell everybody, I tell my community, you can’t get used to that. That’s not something that we can say, ‘That just happened in the East End.’”

Tyler was involved with efforts to expose substandard housing conditions in the former Essex Village Apartments (now St. Luke Apartments). He organized a community event that highlighted the issues and helped educate residents about their right to organize a tenant council that could communicate issues to the development’s owners. The awareness Tyler helped raise got the attention of Henrico County, which began investigating Essex Village and ultimately helped force change, he said.

His dedication for those residents stemmed from his own experience growing up in Hope Village, a low-income housing development in the district, he said.

Tyler also has engaged in food drives, clothing drives and blood pressure drives in his community, he said. To enhance community participation in government, Tyler said he would hold more town hall meetings and neighborhood watches and host wellness checks during which community members could discuss their issues.

“Not everybody that needs to hear your message is going to be in the facility,” Tyler said of town hall meetings. “So sometimes, you have to take the message to the community. And sometimes, you got to go to the community to find out how they feel and what affects them, and maybe they might have some good solutions and ideas on what could be done.”

Tyler, who is also the CEO of a cleaning company, considers himself a well-known member of Fairfield.

“I’m not going to sit up here and say I fell from the sky and now I know everything,” Tyler said, adding that he still had things to learn. “But I think the energy that I bring to a community, and if you can just see people when they mention me, you know how their eyes light up and they understand this guy brings hope, this guy brings a spirit of love and concern.”

As a coach in Henrico County for three decades, Tyler has gathered other coaches and has formed organization Coaches Against Violence Everywhere in response to the shootings and violence. He has vowed to seek the Fairfield seat until he wins it.

Joseph W. Brown
The Rev. Joseph W. Brown has lived in Fairfield District for 46 years, and in that time, he has seen Fairfield stagnate and decline, he said – and it prompted him to run.
Brown retired in 1979 and is currently the pastor at the Community of Hope Ministry in Henrico, which he founded. He also is a substitute bus driver for Henrico County; has served as president of the Hechler Village neighborhood watch; was involved in the development of the Eastern Henrico Recreation Center; is a board member for the Henrico Too Smart 2 Start Coalition, a non-profit focused on reducing youth substance abuse; and is a mentor for the Henrico Heroes Mentoring program, a program for students at Henrico County Public Schools to receive mentoring and support.

Although he sees certain improvements in Fairfield as encouraging, Brown said he believed that the district deserved more.

One point of focus for him would be helping to revitalize business development and working to bring back businesses that have left the district. He also has proposed implementing business classes for high school and college students so that they have the skills necessary to start and operate their own businesses.

Another focus of Brown’s is to address the high percentage of non-accredited schools in the district and bring parent-teacher associations, teachers and the school board to the table to understand the underlying issues and fix the problems.

Recognizing declining infrastructure in the district from gas leaks to sidewalk problems, Brown also wants to address such issues with the proper personnel, he said.
Brown, 77, also wants to start or enhance an existing volunteer program to assist senior citizens in the district and create or improve an existing summer program for high school students focused on jobs.

“I’m running because I am concerned about my community,” Brown said. “I’m running because I am a concerned citizen for my community. I care about my community.”