Henrico voters return 9 of 10 county incumbents to office

Nine of 10 incumbents on the Henrico ballot won re-election Tuesday by comfortable margins, reclaiming all five seats on the county's Board of Supervisors, two on the School Board, one on the Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District board and the commonwealth's attorney's seat.

Henrico voters also selected a new sheriff and three new School Board members, each of whom will fill a seat vacated by outgoing officials. And they re-elected five of their six House of Delegates members and both state senators.

Board of Supervisors
Incumbent Democratic Fairfield Supervisor Frank Thornton (73 percent) and incumbent Republican Tuckahoe Supervisor Pat O'Bannon (64 percent) each won a seventh four-year term on the board, comfortably holding off challengers Delta Bowers and Marques Jones, respectively.

Democratic Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson (70 percent) won his third term on the board, defeating independent Angela Rowe, and Brookland's Dan Schmitt won his first full term, earning nearly 60 percent of the vote to outdistance Democrat Steven Burkarth.

Three Chopt District Supervisor Tommy Branin, a Republican, won an unopposed race to earn his second term.

School Board
The three new School Board members – Kristi Kinsella (Brookland), Marcie Shea (Tuckahoe) and Alicia Atkins (Varina) – each won by double-digit margins (Kinsella by 14 percent over Jackson Knox, Shea by 13 percent over Melissa Dart and Atkins by 22 percent over the closest of three other challengers).

They'll join incumbents Micky Ogburn (Three Chopt), who won her second full term (after initially having won a special election to complete Diana Winston's term) in an uncontested race; and Roscoe Cooper (Fairfield) who won his second term by earning 64 percent of the vote to defeat challenger Keith Hicks.

Sheriff
Democrat Alisa Gregory, the chief deputy for current Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade, won a surprisingly easy three-way race to replace Wade as sheriff, earning 55 percent of the vote to outpace Republican Bob Matson (30 percent) and independent Tom Wadkins (14 percent). Gregory had an unusual cross-party endorsement from Wade, a Republican who is retiring after 20 years in office. She had considered running as a Republican initially, then later changed her mind – but retained Wade's support regardless.

Commonwealth's attorney
Two-term Democrat Shannon Taylor won another four-year appointment as Henrico commonwealth's attorney, earning 61 percent of the vote to easily defeat Republican Owen Conway, a former assistant commonwealth's attorney she fired along with 13 others after claiming the seat eight years ago.

Henricopolis Soil and Water Conservation District board
Incumbent Nicole Anderson Ellis won a third four-year term to serve on the board, which works to promote the conservation of land and natural resources, but fellow incumbent James Beckley finished fourth among five candidates for three elected spots. Challengers Anne-Marie Leake and Claiborne Yarbrough claimed the other two spots; two other seats on the five-person board are appointed.

Virginia Senate
Henrico voters helped return both of their state senators – Republican Siobhan Dunnavant (12th District) and Democrat Jennifer McClellan (9th District) – to office for four more years.

Dunnavant's win against Democrat Debra Rodman came down to the absentee ballots in Henrico – the last votes posted, after 2 a.m. She won by just more than 1,500 votes (51 percent to to 49 percent) in a race that was particularly noteworthy on a night when Democrats seized control of the Senate and House of Delegates.

Rodman appeared to have control of the race as votes were tallied earlier in the evening, leading for most of the night. But once a typo in the number of votes attributed to Rodman first reported by the Citizen (4,600 instead of 460 at the Lakewood precinct in western Henrico) was corrected, she surged into the lead.

McClellan easily defeated Libertarian challenger Mark Lewis, earning 80 percent of the vote.

Virginia House of Delegates
All five incumbent state delegates from Henrico who sought re-election won: John McGuire (R-56th District), Dawn Adams (D-68th), Delores McQuinn (D-70th), Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-72nd) and Lamont Bagby (D-74th). McQuinn and Bagby faced no challengers, but VanValkenburg endured a tight race against Republican GayDonna Vandergriff, winning with about 53 percent of the vote. Adams (56 percent) beat Republican challenger Garrison Coward, while McGuire (61 percent) defeated Democrat Juanita Jo Matkins.

In the 73rd District seat in western Henrico, voters selected Democrat Rodney Willett over Republican Mary Margaret Kastelberg in a contest between two political newcomers for a seat vacated by Rodman.