State candidates make their pitches to voters at Accomack County forum

Candidates in contested races for Virginia Senate and House of Delegates had three minutes each to make their case to a packed room at a candidate forum in Accomack.

Incumbent Rob Bloxom, a Republican, is facing Democratic challenger Phil Hernandez in the Nov. 5 election for the House of Delegates 100th District.

Incumbent Lynwood Lewis, a Democrat, faces Republican challenger Elizabeth Lankford in the race for the Senate 6th District seat.

All four spoke at a Sept. 19 forum in Onley hosted by the Women's Club of Accomack County, along with candidates for Accomack County offices.

Lynwood Lewis

"My priorities are, as they always have been — as I tell people, the three most important things the state government does and the local government does  — education, education and education," Lewis said.

Another of his priorities is health care.

"I was pleased to work with the National Federation of Independent Business this year and support their efforts to offer locally cost-effective alternatives on the insurance market" in Virginia, he said.

He also helped pass legislation that enabled Accomack and Northampton counties to create review panels for opioid deaths, he said.

Supporting agriculture and the seafood industry also remain a priority for Lewis, who noted the Virginia Farm Bureau and the Seafood Council both have endorsed him.

Finally, resiliency to sea-level rise is another priority, said Lewis, who co-chairs with Delegate Keith Hodges, the Sea Level Recurrent Flooding joint sub-committee in the General Assembly.

"We have been fortunate enough to have some very significant pieces of legislation passed in the last few years," he said.

Lewis also noted his involvement as a legislator with the development of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and with the expansion of broadband infrastructure on the Eastern Shore, and his seniority in the legislature, noting, "that will mean a lot of leadership opportunities come January of this year."

Elizabeth Lankford

Lankford, a graduate of James Madison University and Onancock resident, owns Blue Crab Bay Company in Melfa.

"I got into this race, first and foremost, as a business owner," she said, noting that the Eastern Shore "might have a low unemployment rate, but we have a high poverty level — and that's what I want to tackle in Richmond, making sure that we can bring back middle-class jobs in the area and also retain our talent."

Lankford said her opponent, Lewis, co-sponsored "one of the most radical abortion bills that I've ever seen."

She also said Lewis "has been for giving illegal immigrants in-state tuition, and he is for every tax increase that you can imagine."

"I want to represent our Eastern Shore, our businesses and our values," she said.

Rob Bloxom

Bloxom cited his father's advice as one reason he chose to run for the House of Delegates.

His father, Robert S. "Bob" Bloxom, served multiple terms as a member of the legislature since 1978, and subsequently was appointed by Gov. Mark Warner as Virginia's first Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry.

"My father told me when I first started ... 'If you can help somebody, it's a good day — and in this job, you can help a lot of people,'" Bloxom said, adding he has found it to be true.

"It has been very gratifying," he said, citing efforts to help create jobs on the Shore.

"I don't think there is a delegate in Richmond that promotes their area as hard as I do," he said, adding, "The amount of infrastructure, state investment, that we've gotten over the past five years ... has been unprecedented."

Bloxom cited his role in state investment in the Wallops area, "to the tune of probably about $50 or $60 million."

"When I first took office, the economic impact was about $700 million. Today, the economic impact of Wallops is, like, $1.3 billion," he said, noting new companies coming to the Wallops area including Rocket Lab.

"We are also looking at other infrastructure on the Shore — it's not just Wallops," he said, noting developments including the railroad and broadband, among others.

"I was born and raised here; I chose to raise my family here, so I understand the needs of the Shore," Bloxom concluded.

Phil Hernandez

Hernandez, an attorney born and raised in Hampton Roads and graduate of the College of William and Mary, said he has knocked on thousands of doors in the district since he entered the race in February.

"I'm knocking on areas that sometimes are neglected by areas in Richmond," he said, adding, "It's true  — the Eastern Shore is left off too many maps, and I think sometimes they are left out of conversations, too, about decisions that really matter to this community."

He said the 100th District is unique, including the two Eastern Shore counties along with part of Norfolk.

"You've got to work really hard to show up in every corner of the district — make people feel seen and heard and valued in what is a two hour drive from Norfolk all the way up to Chincoteague," he said.

Hernandez noted he is the son of a single mother and was the first person in his family to go to college."

Hernandez said public education is a priority for the 100th District.

"It's no secret in this area, in Accomack County, that teachers are literally driving across the border into Maryland for higher teacher pay. That, to me, is unacceptable," he said.

He also talked about school buildings in the district "that are crumbling, because the state hasn't been investing robustly enough."

Health care is another issue about which Hernandez said he is hearing a lot when he knocks on people's doors — "talking to people who are retired who had to come out of retirement because they can't afford their prescription drugs, and also, it's an issue for veterans," he said, noting the long distance Eastern Shore veterans have to travel to go to a Veterans Administration facility for health care.

"This an area where the state government and the federal government really need to work closely, hand in hand, to make sure that ... our veterans don't have to drive two hours and pay a $20 toll just to get the health care that they rightly deserve," he said.

Hernandez also spoke about the environment.

"That's part of what makes this area so special," he said, adding, "The Eastern Shore is a treasure, surrounded by water, but we are also an area where sea level is rising faster than anywhere else on the East Coast."

Virginia needs to better address resiliency in view of that, according to Hernandez, who noted both the Navy and the Port of Virginia are doing so.

"That's an area where I think the state needs to step up its game," he said.

Voting deadlines

The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 5 election is Tuesday, Oct. 15. If a voter has recently moved, address updates also must be made by then.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. The Voter Registrar's Office must receive absentee ballots by Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m.

The deadline to cast an absentee ballot in person is Saturday, Nov. 2.

Eastern Shore voters will have another chance to hear from the candidates — including being able to submit written questions for candidates to answer — at a series of three forums Citizens for a Better Eastern Shore is sponsoring in October — one evening each for Accomack County candidates, Northampton County candidates and state legislators in contested elections.

• Oct. 8, 7-9 p.m., Nandua High School, Onley. Accomack County Elections: Treasurer, Board of Supervisors for Districts 5 and 7, School Board Districts 4 and 7
• Oct. 9, 7-9 p.m., Nandua High School, Onley. Member House of Delegates: Rob Bloxom and Phil Hernandez. State Senator: Elizabeth Lankford and Lynwood Lewis
• Oct. 17, 7-8:30 p.m., Occohannock Elementary School, Exmore. Board of Supervisors District 4: David L. Kabler, Sr. and L. Dixon Leatherbury.

The forums will be live-streamed on WESR 103.3 FM www.shoredailynews.com Listen Live and also archived afterward.

For more information, go to www.cbes.org or call 757-678-7157.

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