The three Democrats vying to succeed Ralph S. Northam as lieutenant governor head into Tuesday’s primary following a largely respectful campaign in which they made appearances together and varied little on policy.
But the styles and personalities of the three — Justin Fairfax, Susan Platt and Gene Rossi — are as diverse as the candidates.
Fairfax would be the state’s first black lieutenant governor since L. Douglas Wilder held the post from 1986 to 1990. Platt would be the first woman in the role. Rossi doesn’t come from a political background but, inspired by Barack Obama and his own health problems, decided to give it a shot after a long career as a federal prosecutor.
Fairfax nearly won the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013. Mark Herring edged him for the nomination and then won the general election and is seeking re-election this year.
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In Virginia, a lieutenant governor holds a part-time job presiding over the state Senate and breaks tie votes on most issues. But in a way, the vote for lieutenant governor can be seen as a party nominating a gubernatorial hopeful in waiting.
Fairfax, 38, spent two years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia’s Eastern District and now is a litigator at a Northern Virginia law firm. He leads Platt and Rossi in fundraising, raising more than $1 million. His biggest endorsements came from U.S. Reps. A. Donald McEachin, D-4th, and Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, and state Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
A quote from Fairfax on his website summarizes his platform: “Our top priority must be creating higher-paying jobs and economic security and opportunity. Working together, we’ll expand access to capital for small businesses, restructure student loan debt to lower the burden on families, reform our juvenile justice system, expand access to health care, and defend our constitutional rights.”
Platt, 62, a veteran Democratic operative, served as a chief of staff to then-U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., and ran the 1994 re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb, in which he defeated Republican challenger Oliver North.
Platt was moved to run by the election of President Donald Trump. Her campaign received support from comedian and author Rosie O’Donnell and locally from Mary Sue Terry, who was first elected attorney general in 1985 and remains the only woman elected to statewide office in Virginia.
With less money and a smaller staff headed by national Democratic consultants, Platt has used Twitter to take jabs at Trump, who she calls the “Bully-in-Chief,” and state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel — one of three Republicans running for lieutenant governor — who she calls “Transvaginal Jill” because of ultrasound legislation Vogel sponsored in 2012.
Platt supports the removal of every Confederate monument in Virginia. She has called on Congress to impeach Trump.
“Just within the past few hours, the Bully-in-Chief doubled down on his unconstitutional plan to ban an entire religion,” she said in a news release. “He obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, profited from foreign governments, and even gave state secrets to foreign leaders. It’s worse than Watergate, and we’ve seen enough.”
Platt is vocal in opposing two controversial proposed natural gas pipelines in Virginia and embarked on a “pipeline resistance tour.” None of the three have taken money from Dominion Energy, which has been a lightning rod in Virginia politics in recent years over its influence with politicians.
Platt had a controversy on Friday. Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the Virginia ACLU, posted on Facebook that a Platt mailer using a picture of the two of them implied an endorsement — and Gastañaga wasn’t endorsing anyone. She said Platt used the photo out of context in the campaign mailer.
Seth Bringman, a Platt campaign spokesman, said in an email the campaign apologized for the mistake.
Rossi, 60, like Fairfax, worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office but his career spanned nearly three decades and included high-level cases. He handled more than 110 federal trials.
Treating drug addiction and improving health care are among his priorities. As a prosecutor, Rossi handled the case of a doctor who was accused of prescription pill trafficking.
He decided to run for lieutenant governor in 2013 while hospitalized in Baltimore with amyloidosis, a rare disease. He had a 50 percent chance to live, and if he recovered, he decided, he’d run. While in the hospital he was inspired by the inaugural address of President Barack Obama.
“My daughter and I have something in common: we are both cancer survivors,” Rossi says on his campaign website. “Quite simply, were it not for my federal health insurance plan, we would not be alive. President Trump’s and Speaker Ryan’s true health care objective is crystal clear: Repeal and Destroy. We must do whatever it takes to stop them.”