Senator Lewis joins General Assembly exodus

Senator Lynwood Lewis joins several members of the General Assembly who are leaving after this session.  Many are victims of the latest redistricting plan which placed veteran assembly members in competition within their districts.

Lewis was shifted to the 20th Senatorial District which moved him from a largely democratic district in Norfolk to Virginia Beach, which is more Republican and is represented by veteran State Senator Bill DeSteph.

The demographics of the 20th District did not look promising for the veteran legislator. The new district has 116,930 voting age residents in Virginia Beach, 28,872 in Accomack County, only 20,408 in Norfolk and 10,057 in Northampton County.

The Virginia Beach portion of the new 20th District voted 57.1% for Governor Youngkin and 42.2% for Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe on the 2021 election.

In addition, Eileen Filler-Corn, the first woman to serve as Virginia’s speaker of the House, said Tuesday that she will not run for re-election, continuing an exodus of senior leaders from the General Assembly. Filler-Corn told The Washington Post that she is “seriously considering” a run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2025.

Other General Assembly leaders who have stated they will not run this year are the Senate Republican Leader Tommy Norment, who defeated Senator Bill Fears in 1993 and was the Eastern Shore’s Senator for a period in the 90s. Also leaving in the Senate are Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw and John Edwards of Roanoke. Those departing on the House side include Margaret Bevans Ransone, Roxann Robinson, Rob Bell, Ken Plum, the House’s longest serving member, and Delegate Kathy Byron of Bedford.

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