ELECTION 2023: Two Democrats seeking party nomination in 80th House of Delegates District
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Virginia’s 80th House of Delegates District, which includes a swath of Northern Henrico County stretching from the Glen Allen to the edge of Highland Springs, has no incumbent delegate because of Virginia’s 2021 redistricting process. But Democrats Destiny Levere Bolling and John Dantzler both have their eyes set on the seat and are campaigning to win the party primary on June 20.
The district is considered heavily Democratic – about three-quarters of voters in it cast their ballots for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the 2021 gubernatorial election, according to the Virginia Public Access Project – so this primary may effectively determine the winner of November’s general election. No Republican candidate has announced formally for the seat yet, but independent Michael Harned has.
Bolling has raised nearly $91,000 to date, while Dantzler this year has raised about $54,000.
During the most recent campaign finance reporting period (April 1 through June 8), Bolling raised nearly $59,000 from 120 donors, the largest of which were Dominion Energy Inc. PAC-Virginia ($10,000), Virginia AFL-CIO ($5,000) and Virginia State UAW PAC ($5,000), according to a VPAP report.
During the same timeframe, Dantzler raised no money, according to a VPAP report. Earlier this year, his company, Skyy Construction Company, made a $45,000 donation to his campaign and Shannon Dantzler gave $8,000
John Dantzler
John Dantzler considers himself a person of action, so when he concluded that becoming a lawmaker would be the most direct way to help his community, he was inspired to run for office. His recognition of a need for more economic inclusion was the main motivation for his campaign, he said.
“If I see a need in my community, most of the time, I'm gonna go ahead and fill it,” said Dantzler, who has lost in his previous two attempts at elected office (in 2015, when he challenged longtime Fairfield District Supervisor Frank Thornton, and in 2021, when he challenged then-74th District Delegate Lamont Bagby) .
Dantzler is a real-estate investor and is currently on the Keep Henrico Beautiful Board of Directors and the Dantzler Scholarship Foundation Board. He also owns a daycare center that housed and provided tutors for hundreds of children who were out of school during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
Mental health resources will be a priority for Dantzler if he reaches office; improving them, he believes, will help with other issues like gun violence. Dantzler wants to increase mental health resources in schools and supports plans to work with school boards to ensure small class sizes to help with disciplinary issues, he said.
“We need to bring more resources to the community and make sure that [they are] true resources so that we can address mental health,” Dantzler said, “because as long as we continuously have these mental health issues, we can't really focus on gun control or gun issues.”
The next issue on Dantzler’s agenda is criminal justice reform. He plans to address racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration and recidivism. He believes this will close the gap on higher education and homeownership and increase inclusion in business ownership, he said.
Dantzler also prioritizes creating more affordable housing in the district. He expressed concern with developers who tear down subsidized housing to build brand new housing while displacing those who lived there beforehand. He would support using the Federal Housing Trust Fund to produce and preserve affordable housing, he said.
Creating a state program similar to the 8(a) Business Development program is one way Dantzler plans to bolster businesses in the 80th District, he said. He wants to create beneficial programs that will help businesses bring in more revenue and keep contracts within the district. The 8(a) program limits certain contracts to businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantages people or entities.
Dantzler plans to pledge to donate the salary he would make from the House of Delegates to a constituents’ office so that he can have a steady line of communication between himself and his constituents, he said.
“It's not just about me, it is really about us,” he said. “[There are] over 80,000 Virginians that we have to make sure their voices are heard,” Dantzler said. His goal is to inspire the large non-voting majority of residents in the 80th district to vote and feel like their voices matter.
In 2015, Dantzler received 21% of votes for the Fairfield District seat on the Henrico County Board of Supervisors running as an independent, according to the Virginia Elections Database. In 2021, he received 8.6% of votes for the Democratic primary for the 74th District seat in the House of Delegates.
Dantzler has been the target of advertisements stating that he voted for Donald Trump and is not a true Democrat, but denies ever voting for Trump and expressed concern about making sure voters are cautious about listening to and believing “attack advertisements.”
Destiny LeVere Bolling
As a native of King George, a small town near Fredericksburg, Destiny LeVere Bolling knows what it is like to live in a community that feels overlooked by leadership and now wants to advocate for underserved communities in the House of Delegates, she said.
Bolling has been a communications director, educator, caregiver and volunteer while living in Henrico for the past six years and is a graduate of the University of Richmond. Her work at the Virginia AFL-CIO labor union motivated her to run for office, after she worked with working families across Virginia, she said.
“My favorite word all my life has been altruism, because I truly believe in putting other people before myself, and that is a huge driving factor for running for office,” Bolling said.
The first issue on Bolling’s agenda if she reaches office is healthcare accessibility and affordability. She wants to lower the cost of prescription drugs, make home health care more accessible and ensure home healthcare workers are being paid fair salaries, she said.
Bolling began serving on the Virginia Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Commission after being a caregiver to her grandmother, who died from dementia. She believes healthcare should be accessible and affordable to everyone, no matter where they live or what their income level is, she said.
Bolling also supports paying teachers higher salaries and bringing more reading and math intervention specialists to classrooms. She plans to help bolster the public education system with resources so that all students can feel confident and successful when they graduate, she said.
Rent-relief programs, working with real-estate associations and raising the minimum wage are measures that Bolling supports in addressing the issue of affordable housing. She wants to prioritize increasing housing affordability in the 80th District and looks forward to working with other legislators who already have worked on the issue, she said.
Bolling believes apprenticeship programs hold great power in supporting job opportunity and growth in communities, she said. She hopes to bolster the programs across the state, making sure high school graduates who do not choose formal education know they have other options for ways to learn and gain lifelong skills.
Bolling supports implementing laws that limit accessibility to guns, enforce background checks and help people understand that violence is not the answer, she said.
“I can't fathom attending any more vigils,” she said. “I can't fathom listening to another speech to talk about how wonderful a child was and how sad we are that they have lost their life at a young age. It just shouldn't be happening anymore.”
Knocking on doors to hear from community members is one of Bolling’s favorite things to do, and she plans to do so even after the campaigning season is over, she said. She believes it is critically important to be transparent and remain a visible part of the community after becoming an elected official.
If elected, Bolling plans to initiate bipartisan conversations to find common ground and make progress by walking across the aisle with honesty and civility.
“I know parties have different platforms and ideologies, but I don't think that that should stop a conversation from happening,” Bolling said. “Because at the end of the day, the laws [that] are passed at the General Assembly level affect all Virginians.”
LEARN MORE
John Dantzler's campaign website
Destiny LaVere Bolling's campaign website
Virginia Department of Elections – Citizen Portal
