VanValkenburg 'keeping all options open' after redistricting, while Morrissey plans next move

Fallout from the widespread changes to Virginia’s state and Congressional voting districts has begun, but it could be weeks before it concludes.

In Henrico, which is losing all eight of its current Virginia General Assembly districts and replacing them with eight others, incumbent Democrats Schuyler VanValkenburg (72nd District) and Lamont Bagby (74th District) have been drawn together in the newly shaped 80th District, creating uncertainty about what might be next for both men.

VanValkenburg hasn’t yet decided his next move, he told the Citizen Thursday.

“At this point I’m keeping all my options open – and I want to stay involved because there are a lot of issues I want to continue to make progress on, particularly in education,” he said. “But my main focus in the moment is on session, which starts in two weeks.”

Bagby, who chairs the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus hasn’t yet responded to an inquiry about his future plans, but the 80th District generally reflects his current district.

Could Bagby or VanValkenburg seek a move to the Virginia Senate instead? Henrico is gaining a third Senate seat, as redistricting moved the 9th and 12th districts out of the county and replaced them with the 16th (which will include western Henrico), the 14th (northern Henrico and Richmond) and the 13th (Eastern Henrico and a handful of other localities).

Though the changes technically would leave all three of the newly shaped Senate districts without their current incumbents, according to a Virginia Public Access Project analysis, current senators would seem to hold an upper hand in each of the new districts.

Current 12th District Senator Siobhan Dunnavant lives within the boundaries of the new 16th, while current 9th District Senator Jennifer McClellan lives within the boundaries of the new 14th.

Current 16th District Senator Joe Morrissey appears likely to run in the newly drawn 13th, as well, telling the Citizen this week “[I]t is very likely I’ll represent Henrico again, and I’m delighted to be doing it.”

Morrissey previously held the 74th House seat from 2008 to 2015.

At the federal level, the maps that were adopted this week by the Virginia Supreme Court moved western Henrico and western Chesterfield together out of the Seventh District and into the First, prompting current Seventh District Representative (and Henrico resident) Abigail Spanberger to announce that she would seek re-election from the Seventh, even though it’s shifting toward Northern Virginia. House members do not need to live in the districts they represent.

The change also prompted at least one Republican who had entered the Seventh race to drop out. Taylor Keeney, a Goochland resident, was redistricted into the Fifth, currently represented by Republican Bob Good.

In a statement Friday, Keeney said she had no desire to challenge a sitting Republican.

“Unfortunately, redistricting did not turn out as we had hoped,” she wrote. “[Husband] Carter and I, and our family, live in Goochland – that’s home. I am a big believer that you should run where you live. And so, I will not be continuing my campaign for Congress in the 7th District and do not intend to run in the 5th District against Congressman Bob Good. Now, more than ever, it is critical we elect a strong Republican majority to Congress, to retire Speaker Pelosi, and stop President Biden’s radical agenda.”