Republican Stacey Davenport beat Democrat incumbent Scott Miles in the race for Chesterfield County commonwealth’s attorney following a campaign that pitted Davenport’s more traditional law enforcement approach against Miles’ progressive policies of criminal justice reform.
More than 50 candidates for state and local office will appear on ballots in Chesterfield on Nov. 5, but perhaps no race will have as much direct impact on the county as this year’s commonwealth’s attorney contest. After being elected last fall to complete the remaining year on the four-year term of longtime commonwealth’s attorney Billy Davenport, who retired in 2018, Democrat Scott Miles has been busy reforming the office: dialing back prosecution of low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors, pursuing fewer felony convictions for drug possession charges, eliminating cash bail
If Democrat Scott Miles wins Tuesday’s race for Chesterfield County commonwealth’s attorney, breaking a three-decade lock by Republicans, the defense attorney and former public defender plans to immediately usher in progressive reforms that could fundamentally change how criminal justice is administered in Virginia’s fifth-largest locality.