Early voting is underway for a statewide referendum over proposed congressional district maps in Virginia. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi spoke with eight candidates for the House of Representatives about the redistricting effort. This report is the first in a four-part series.
The proposed new district maps, if approved in the referendum and then the state Supreme Court, would likely elect 10 Democrats and one Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives. Virginia currently has six Democratic and five Republican representatives. In part one of this series, WMRA spoke with two Democratic candidates from the Roanoke area – Beth Macy and Adam Murphy.
Journalist Beth Macy, a former Roanoke Times reporter, has written three New York Times-bestselling books about communities left behind by industry and politics. Regardless of the referendum’s outcome, she’ll be running in the 6th District. Right now, that covers the Shenandoah Valley from Frederick County to Roanoke. If redrawn, it would connect Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, Charlottesville, and Roanoke with a ribbon through central Virginia. Macy referred to it as the “university district.”
BETH MACY: I feel very fond of all the colleges, and they’re a huge incubator and source of economic development in our region. Education is at the top of my platform. I talk about growing up poor and how going to college saved my life. I think we need to double the Pell Grant, we need to strengthen community college and the pipeline between our local industries and trade schools and community colleges…