Virginia State Delegate Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach) says he wants to restore the Commonwealth as a bastion of business and help bring increased equity to education throughout the state if elected as lieutenant governor in 2021.
Davis, 47, announced his second run for the position back in September and was the first Republican candidate to enter the 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election, which will take place next November.
“I had the opportunity to grow up here in Virginia and others have provided a climate that has allowed me to have a great public education, start a business and start a family, and we need to make sure that we provide that opportunity for this next generation,” Davis told The Virginia Star. “Unfortunately that opportunity, the chance at the American dream, is starting to dwindle away with the burdens that have been placed on small businesses, the economy and also the mishandling of the COVID pandemic.”
Davis added: “I think that we need to protect opportunities for the next generation for economic prosperity, level playing fields for education and the ability to protect one’s self, also for our law enforcement to provide for safe neighborhoods.”
According to Davis, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2014, the platform he will be running on has two distinct parts. The first is to make sure that all Virginians regardless of wealth, job status or skin color have an equal shot at attaining the American dream and a first-rate education.
The second part of Davis’ platform focuses on the current economic downturn and bringing Virginia back to the number one state for business and job growth, as well as creating an environment that allows small businesses and entrepreneurship to flourish.
If elected next November, Davis said he will put the people over partisan politics.
“For me, it’s the people first not the party,” Davis told The Star. “I don’t make decisions based on politics unlike some elected officials who play games with legislation. I don’t play games with people’s lives. Politics and governance for me are two separate things. You’re not elected to get re-elected; you’re elected to govern and that’s the way I’ve always viewed it.”
Davis also maintains that his desire to run for Lt. Gov., the second-highest-ranking elected official in the state, does not come from a motivation to use the position as a stepping stone to the Executive Mansion or to just sit around presiding over the Senate for four years.
Instead, Davis is interested in pushing an agenda “of job creation and equality for all,” which he knows is possible to do in the Lt. Gov. role.
Davis first ran for Lt. Gov. in 2017, losing a three-way race for the Republican nomination. Davis ended the GOP primary in distant third to State Senators Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier) and Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania), receiving just 17 percent of the vote.
For much of that campaign, Davis lived out of an RV and traveled to all different corners of state hosting events and meeting prospective voters, even while the Virginia General Assembly was still in session.
“The biggest take away from before is you can’t represent a whole state until you understand a whole state and every part of the [Commonwealth] has different opportunities and challenges,” Davis said. “The travels before allowed me to become engrossed in those differences and also make a lot of friends.”
This time around, Davis is very confident that he can win the election and still plans to visit places throughout the Commonwealth, but, given the coronavirus pandemic, his intrastate travel plans will be more limited than 2017.
“Knowing my work ethic and what I’m willing to sacrifice and what my family is willing to sacrifice for this run, I know I can win because regardless of money no one is going to out work me,” Davis said.
On the Republican ticket, Davis is joined by former state delegate Tim Hugo, veteran Lance Allen and lobbyist Puneet Ahluwalia. Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman has been rumored to be entering the race.
The Democratic candidates include: Del. Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke), Del. Hala Ayala (D-Prince William), Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-Prince William), former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Paul Goldman, lobbyist Xavier Warren as well as former NAACP President Sean Perryman.
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Jacob Taylor is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Digital Network. Follow Jacob on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
