LETTERS: Reader weighs in on Three Chopt supervisor's race

Dear Editor:

As a lifelong Democrat, I can't believe that I am considering voting for a Republican in our upcoming local elections. But here I am.

I've lived in Henrico's West End for almost two decades. I've always followed state politics but I didn't really get excited about the Henrico Board of Supervisors until I met Penny Page, who ran in the Democratic primary for the Three Chopt seat earlier this year. She ran a local campaign during the primary that rivaled campaigns for our state legislators in this general election. She personally made three passes knocking doors in our neighborhood and I got a dozen mailers and texts from her campaign. I never saw or heard from her opponent, Misty Whitehead, before the Democratic primary, which made the choice clear. Penny Page put in the kind of hard work that shows someone will work hard when elected. And I loved her platform of gun violence prevention and affordable housing, two issues I don't often see talked about locally!

I was disappointed when Page lost the Democratic primary, but I was still ready to support Misty Whitehead, who won. Whitehead was our Democratic nominee and I was going to support a Democrat! At least until I started paying attention to what Whitehead was saying. Then I got a little worried. During a forum held at Reynolds Community College, my old favorite candidate Penny Page asked Whitehead a question about the violence prevention policy that Page had run on in the Democratic primary. Whitehead, our newly nominated Democratic candidate, said she outright did not support Page's violence prevention ideas, especially the aspects pertaining to domestic violence. Whitehead explained that she holds the very misguided belief that the biggest problem with domestic violence is that so many people are falsely accused of committing these crimes. I was floored! This flies in the face of any evidence on the subject, which suggests it is far more likely common that victims are afraid to even come forward, let alone accusing innocent people of these crimes en masse. I don't know if Whitehead opposes Page's really great suggestions because she can't let go of some animosity leftover from when the two ran against each other in the Democratic primary or if she really just doesn't understand the issue. But around this time I started to notice that I may be more on the same page with Republican Tommy Branin, who Whitehead is running against in the general election in a few weeks.

That same week, Penny Page, despite having been defeated in the Democratic primary, took the initiative to present a new domestic violence policy for police at a Henrico Board of Supervisors meeting. While Whitehead had seemed purely opposed to these measures, Republican Tommy Branin listened to Page intently. Branin was present because, as the incumbent, he currently sits on the Board of Supervisors. Branin actually seems like he might want to help our county adopt Page's policy ideas too. He's been very vocal about his support of the police. Penny Page's campaign also really convinced me that we need to act on affordable housing and, while I am not sure Branin wants to build for the same reasons of affordability that Page does, Branin's helped get a lot of new housing built during his time on the Board of Supervisors. This is quite a contrast to Whitehead, who spends a lot of time talking about the risk of overdevelopment and turning Henrico into Northern Virginia.

And remember, I originally felt enthusiastic about Penny Page because she ran such a great race. I have no reason to believe Whitehead would do anything at all if elected, based on the fact that no one I know has seen her campaigning at all. We've seen Tommy Branin actually do a lot of things over the past few years. While I haven't agreed with every move he's made, I can't deny that he's made progress on walkability, he's put up more solar panels, and we're getting big wins pretty often like the real estate tax cap for seniors or the program that helps county employees buy a home.

I've got a few friends who have also been noticing the same things I have about this particular Republican candidate matching our ideals better than the Democratic alternative, so I can't help but wonder if a lot of other people may feel the same way. I am not turning my back on Democrat Misty Whitehead because I am upset that she beat my top choice, Penny Page, in the primary. It really just seems that Republican Tommy Branin is more in line with the ideas that Page made me care so much about.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Franklin, Henrico