The Richmond Times-Dispatch met these potential Chesterfield County voters while shadowing workers with a Richmond-based political engagement organization called Care in Action.
LaShawn McCoy would like to see more assistance for the homeless people she encounters working at VCU Health. Glenn Coleman said he hopes the state legislature can do its part to help lower the cost of living amid rising inflation. Chisa Tatum supports affordable health care and ease of access to contraceptives.
The 6-year-old organization, which has so far backed Democrats, helped usher in more women and women of color into Virginia’s legislature in recent years and has boosted a variety of candidates in other states around the nation.
Robin Copeland and LaWeeda Darden, standing on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol on Oct. 11, show their campaign materials promoting Democrats Debra Gardner, who faces Republican Duc Truong in Chesterfield County’s House District 76, and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, who faces Republican Hayden Fisher in Senate District 15. MARGO WAGNER, TIMES-DISPATCH
Currently, 44 women serve in the Virginia legislature, 16 of them women of color.
More than half of the Democratic candidates running for Virginia’s House of Delegates and Senate this year are women, and about half of the Democratic candidates are people of color. About 17% of the Republican legislative candidates are women, and about 10% of its candidates are people of color.
Both parties are boasting more diverse slates of candidates to potentially serve in chambers that have historically been dominated by white men. Between a wave of retirements forced by redistricting and the ouster of some incumbents in summer primaries, the legislature is certain to look different in January than it has in the past.
Care in Action is not the only organization to bolster women or candidates of color — for example, EMERGE Virginia recruits and trains Democratic women candidates — but its work has played a role in the increasingly diverse candidates that voters can choose from.
Robin Copeland and LaWeeda Darden are part of a cohort of canvassers assigned to knock on doors around Chesterfield. (The organization also has teams around the state.)
When Copeland and Darden canvassed in the Chesterfield apartment complex where they met McCoy, Coleman and Tatum, they discussed Democratic candidates Debra Gardner, who faces Republican Duc Truong in Chesterfield’s House District 76, and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, who faces Republican Hayden Fisher in Senate District 15, based in Chesterfield.
Gardner is Black, and Hashmi — an India-born American — is Virginia’s first Muslim woman legislator.
“It’s a plus that they are women and women of color, because then they’re more relatable to me,” Tatum said. “So when I look at them, I feel like they possibly understand some of what my life is like.”
That doesn’t mean Tatum is voting for either of them just yet — she said she still wants to do her research.
Growing representation
According to the Center for American Women and Politics, there are currently 2,412 women state legislators, of whom 715 identify as people of color.
Pending the outcomes of the House and Senate elections this fall, Virginia could be responsible for that number going up.
But before that could happen, political organizations like Care in Action have canvassers dispatched to meet voters where they are.
Almost in unison, when asked why they canvass, Copeland and Darden said they feel a responsibility to help engage voters — particularly in election years where there’s not a contest for governor or president at the top of the ballot to inspire broader voter turnout.
“So many people just wait for president or governor election years, but it’s so important to always participate,” Copeland said. “We have elections here every year.”
“We hope to inspire them to learn more and go out to vote,” Darden added.
That’s why they make sure to remind people to have a plan — be it applying for mail-in ballots, or coordinating a trip to their polling place. When speaking with McCoy, the VCU Health employee, Darden helped her look up her polling place. Having moved to the area last November from New Jersey, she said this will be the first Virginia election that McCoy may participate in.
LaWeeda Darden helps VCU Health employee LaShawn McCoy find her polling place on Oct. 6. CHARLOTTE RENE WOODS, TIMES-DISPATCH
Canvassers with Care in Action have been hitting up neighborhoods around the state to connect with voters on a number of issues — such as health care affordability and continued access to abortion and contraception. But a pillar of the organization’s advocacy stems from support for workplace protections.
Working for domestic workers
In its inception, Care in Action became an organization to help give voice to types of workers often left out of workplace protection laws or minimum wage laws — such as housekeepers or family caregivers. Support for these workers is also a key factor in who the organization endorses or supports.
The organization says a good starting point of progress in the state is the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, which then-state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, carried. She has since gone on to become the first Black woman Virginia has elected to Congress.
McClellan’s 2021 bill includes domestic workers in employee protection laws regarding the payment of wages.
The bill was just “scratching the surface,” said Care in Action national organizing director Alexsis Rodgers, a Democrat who has run for mayor of Richmond and for the state Senate.
Care in Action’s future priorities include making sure people have access to universal paid family medical leave, increasing minimum wages, and including domestic workers and “gig” workers in discrimination and harassment protections that exist for other types of employees.
Connecting with the Latino vote
But more than boosting women candidates that align with the organization’s advocacy, Care in Action has supported women of color. A record number of Black candidates (men and women) are on the ballot this year, and Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, previously told the Richmond Free Press he anticipates that the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus will grow.
Care in Action’s Virginia state director, Yanet Limon-Amado, also sees an opportunity to connect with more Latino voters and support Latino candidates. As the current bulk of Virginia’s legislative Black caucus is made up of women, she hopes to grow Hispanic representation in the state legislature.
“We know that Black women have very strong political power,” Limon-Amado said. “But we also know when Black and brown women come together, it is even a greater political power.”
Over this summer’s primaries, the organization focused on canvassing in Northern Virginia, where Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, narrowly lost to Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William. In that Democrat-heavy district, the primary might be tantamount to election. On Nov. 7, McPike faces Republican Nikki Rattray Baldwin, a woman of color, in Senate District 29.
With Guzman losing the primary by less than 1% of the vote, Limon-Amado said there is pride in the role the canvassing work played in helping Guzman connect with more of the Senate district than had been her turf while serving in the House of Delegates.
Most other women of color candidates endorsed by Care in Action emerged from their primaries and are on the ballot this November.
Through Republicans’ Secure Your Vote Virginia and Democrats’ The Majority Project, both parties are urging voters to take advantage of early and mail-in voting.
Since early voting began last month, nearly 400,000 people have already cast a ballot. The window will close on Nov. 4 and then whoever else has not voted, but wants to, can show up on Nov. 7, Election Day.
As an “off off” election year, without presidential, statewide or congressional candidates on the ballot, overall turnout could be lower than other years. But such issues as abortion and inflation and a handful of competitive districts that offer each party key opportunities could play a role in driving up interest for those who sit out some elections.
And, of course, good old-fashioned door-knocking and conversation could contribute as well.