Senate District 18 primary: Two longtime Virginia legislators face off

Senate District 18 has a Democratic primary that pits two incumbents and longtime legislators against one another: Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Sen. Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake. The newly-drawn District 18 encompasses parts of Portsmouth and Chesapeake.

L. Louise Lucas

Age: 79

Occupation: CEO of Lucas Professional Center

Education/degree: Bachelor of Science degree in vocational-industrial education, Master of Arts degree in urban affairs with a concentration in human resources planning and administration

Previous elected office: Portsmouth City Council, Virginia Senate District 18

Website: senatorlouiselucas.com

If elected, what would be your top statewide priority and how would you get it done?

Protecting and defending public education by working to defeat egregious legislation that weaken its foundation; continuing to seek ways to attract and retain teachers; increase funding for state mandated programs.

What is the biggest concern for constituents in your district and how would you address it?

Access to quality healthcare for all populations by continuing to identify avenues to reduce disparities in healthcare outcomes; continued support of Norfolk State University/ Old Dominion University schools of public health; providing support to local health systems programs and service to strength access quality healthcare; supporting Medicare expansion programs especially for seniors.

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Lionell Spruill, Sr.

Age: 76

Occupation: Retired phone technician for Bell Atlantic (now Verizon)

Education/degree: A graduate of Carver High School, earned his college degree from Pacific Western University, and proud recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Norfolk State University.

Previous elected office: Elected to the Chesapeake City Council in 1988, elected to the House of Delegates in 1994, elected to the State Senate in 2016.

Website: https://spruillforsenate.com/meet-lionell/

If elected, what would be your top statewide priority and how would you get it done?

My top statewide priority is to introduce a constitutional amendment to automatically restore the voting rights of non-violent felons who have served their time.

For the last decade, both Republican and Democratic governors have believed that once you have served your time, your right to vote should be restored automatically. The current administration has taken the commonwealth a step back and is now restoring people’s rights on a case-by-case basis. I believe this issue is too important to be decided and changed by a governor, and that the people should be able to vote on whether voting rights be restored automatically. I’ve spoken with so many Democrats, Independents, and Republicans who believe that the fair thing to do is to restore these rights once their time has been served.

What is the biggest concern for constituents in your district and how would you address it?

Everywhere I go, whether I’m knocking on doors or if I’m at a community event, the biggest concern that people in my district tell me is protecting a woman’s right to choose.

With Roe v. Wade gone and with Republicans chomping at the bit to make abortion illegal, so many people in Virginia are afraid that their right to choose will be taken away. I’ve always stood up to Republicans on this issue and I have a 100% rating from Pro Choice Virginia, so I will continue to fight for women to be able to choose and block each and every bill that Republicans put forward that tries to take this right away.