With a hefty war chest, aggressive media campaign and the backing of her political siblings and the retiring incumbent, Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant of Henrico County won a closely contested and often contentious four-way primary to secure the Republican nomination in the 12th Senate District.
Siobhan Dunnavant, Vince Haley, Bill Janis and Ed Whitlock are competing for the Republican nomination to run for the 12th District Virginia Senate seat in the Nov. 3 general election. Each responded to the Citizen's candidate questionnaire, and their answers appear below.
The most competitive legislative primary in the region might be in the 12th Virginia Senate District, where four Republicans with distinct footholds in party politics are vying to fill the suburban Richmond seat occupied by retiring moderate Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico.
Retiring Sen. Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico today endorsed Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant as his successor in the June 9 GOP primary. Stosch, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is retiring in January after 33 years in the General Assembly. “I know Siobhan Dunnavant well and admire her abilities and willingness to sacrifice her personal life for us and our families by serving in the Virginia Senate," Stosch said in a statement.
The commonwealth has three elected Stolles - and Siobhan Dunnavant would like to make it four. Dunnavant is an obstetrician/gynecologist and the sister of Virginia Beach Sheriff Ken Stolle, Del. Chris Stolle (also a physician) and Beach prosecutor Colin Stolle.
Several candidates seeking to succeed local veterans in the Virginia Senate are off to a brisk start in their first-quarter fundraising, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. In Senate District 10, Daniel A. Gecker, one of three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to run for the seat of retiring Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, reported $230,250 in contributions between Jan. 1 and March 31.
Henrico County Dr. Siobhan Dunnavant is throwing her stethoscope into the already crowded ring of Republican primary candidates vying to fill the 12th District Virginia Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Walter A. Stosch. But Dunnavant — an obstetrician/gynecologist and West End mother of four who also runs a small health care business with her husband — is not a newborn in the Republican political nursery.
Nearly three weeks after announcing his bid for a seat in the state Senate, Hanover County Supervisor Wayne T. Hazzard has withdrawn as a candidate for the Republican nomination. In a letter to constituents, Hazzard said he would instead seek a second term as supervisor in Hanover’s South Anna District. He was elected chairman of the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 14.
Wayne Hazzard, South Anna District representative and chair of the Hanover County Board of Supervisors, said the best solutions to problems lay at their root, and that is his motivation for announcing his candidacy for the 12th District Virginia Senate seat. When Sen. Walter Stosch announced he would not seek re-election, Hazzard said he saw an opportunity to make a difference at the level where many local mandates originate: the Virginia General Assembly.
The onetime campaign manager for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s 2012 presidential bid has joined the race to succeed retiring Sen. Walter A. Stosch, R-Henrico. Conservative lawyer and Gingrich ally Vince Haley formally kicked off his campaign Monday, saying voters need “a new generation of conservative leaders to represent them in Richmond.”