Democrat Levy officially announces bid for 59th District seat

Democrat Rachel Levy has formally announced her bid for the Democratic nomination for the 59th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. The district, viewed as a Republican stronghold by the Virginia Public Access Project, includes portions of Henrico (in the Brookland and Fairfield districts) as well as western Hanover County, the Town of Ashland and much of Louisa County. Levy had informally suggested months ago that she was planning to seek the seat.

If she earns her party’s endorsement, Levy could face a familiar opponent from her first foray into politics in 2021, when now-five-term incumbent Republican Buddy Fowler defeated her 64% to 36% in the 2021 general election for the 55th District seat in the House.

Following a redistricting process last year, much of the district shifted into the newly shaped 59th, and Fowler announced in April that he would seek to shift with it. He will face a challenge for the party's nomination from fellow Republican Philip Strother, a Henrico attorney whose family owns Philip Carter Winery and Valley View Farm in Northern Virginia’s Fauquier County.

Levy, 49, is an educator and a longtime resident of Ashland. She views herself as a candidate who could represent both the rural and suburban portions of the district equally well. She pledged to support efforts that would improve access to health care and reproductive choices, protect the environment and natural resources and preserve “hard-won individual liberties and freedoms.”

“Sadly, after narrow wins in statewide and House of Delegates races in 2021, too many holding office have shown they are extremist, not conservative,” Levy said. “I will continue my work to preserve and strengthen our public schools. I will continue to champion policies that ensure our economy works for all of us, not a select few.”

Voters in the district supported current Republican Glenn Youngkin over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the 2021 gubernatorial election 63% to 36%.

On her campaign website, Levy touts the fact that voter turnout in the 55th District in 2021 was almost 30% higher than it was in the 2019 election, when Fowler defeated Democrat Morgan Goodman 60% to 40%.

“Last time, we built,” she said in a press release Thursday. “This time, we win.”

Levy is a PTA and booster club officials and also has served on several committees in local school districts and was a member of then-Gov.-elect Ralph Northam’s PK-12 policy council. She’s also served as the president of an education association and serves on the board of directors of her synagogue.