Democratic candidates in tomorrow’s 39th District firehouse primary fielded several questions during a packed public forum tonight (Monday), with topics ranging from the primary’s scheduling to affordability, right-to-work and more.
Del. Elizabeth Bennet-Parker (D-5), former Del. Mark Levine (D-45) and Charles Sumpter participated in the forum at the Charles Houston Recreation Center, while former Vice Mayor Amy Jackson was unable to attend.
The forum was livestreamed by Network NOVA and moderated by Michael Lee Pope, a journalist and podcast host at the Virginia Public Access Project. Candidates were each given two minutes to answer questions.
The forum kicked off at 7 p.m. Bennett-Parker left after 7:45 p.m. to care for her daughter and was unable to answer all questions due to the scheduling conflict.
“I am upset that I have to leave early, but I thank you all for your understanding of those circumstances,” she said.
Quick primary scheduling
After opening statements, Pope began the forum with a question addressing the primary’s own fast-paced timing — something that all three candidates lamented, after Alexandria Democrats announced the firehouse primary around 11 p.m. Friday night.
“There has been a lot of discussion about, ‘why is this so fast, why do we only have a couple days?’ and Virginia law actually is very constricted as to what can be done,” Pope said. “I’m curious about what the candidates think about Virginia election law in terms of this election and how quick things had to be. Would you like to see any changes, maybe, to Virginia election law?”
Sumpter answered first, saying the primary’s timing was a “travesty of democracy, that we found this out when we did.” He advocated for extending Virginia’s allotted time before a primary by 30 days.
“Things happen, people resign, people pass away. Senators get new jobs. That happens, but this is extremely undemocratic,” Sumpter said. “Every door that I knocked on, no one knew there was an election. I barely knew, and I’m connected.”
Bennett-Parker described the timing as “pure chaos” and something that has disadvantaged voters, volunteers and candidates. She also said the law, while inconvenient, prevents voter disenfranchisement — something she said is important to the 39th District’s values in order to “fight back against Trump.”
“I imagine that the original intent of [the law] was to make sure that residents were not disenfranchised during the legislative session, when we pass and consider thousands of bills that affect everyone’s daily lives,” she said.
Ultimately, she said she would need more time to consider potential law changes.
Levine answered next, stating he agreed with both Sumpter’s and Bennett-Parker’s perspectives on the topic. He explained three policy proposals on the topic, which he said were detailed on his Facebook page.
“This is insane. It is wrong, it is undemocratic, it’s unfair,” Levine said. “Elizabeth is right that voters shouldn’t be disenfranchised. We have to take both into account.”
His proposals set forth different protocols to address the illness and death of a lawmaker or a lawmaker’s resignation. He also floated an idea for lawmakers to select a close “acting delegate” to take over in their absence.
The affordability question
Next, Pope asked candidates, “What’s on your affordability agenda?”, referencing topics like the Equal Pay Act and affordable housing.
Bennett-Parker said she has “a number of bills coming up in this legislative session related to affordability,” including a housing preservation bill that is included in incoming Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger’s affordability agenda.
She also said affordable child care and prescription drugs are priorities, and talked about joint legislation she has worked on to bring drug costs down.
“At the same time, I’m interested in how we pay for some of these things, and I am very interested in tax reform,” she said. “I have passed bills and am carrying more bills this year to make sure that the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.”
Levine said he previously voted in favor of the Equal Pay Act, “voted for every single increase in minimum wage,” and worked to lower the cost of insulin while supporting unions.
He also shared a previous proposal to allow health care patients to “shop around” and see operation costs ahead of time from various health care providers, and said he is interested in lowering the cost of college.
“It has to do with, frankly, getting rid of some of the administrators we don’t need and making sure that the students have it,” Levine said.
Sumpter said “affordability was always on our mind” as he grew up in public housing in New York City.
“One of the things I’ve always thought about, coming from New York originally, was rent control, and being able to control caps on the amount that rents can go up, or at least align it to the consumer price index,” Sumpter said, while also suggesting rent payment plans.
Sumpter said he’d “love to get rid of the Dillon Rule to allow localities to do the things that they need to do … especially when places like Northern Virginia are putting so much of our tax dollars down state that we don’t get back.”
Lowering utility costs
Afterward, Pope asked candidates what they intend to do to lower power bills in the state.
Levine said he has never taken any funding from Dominion Energy and is most concerned about data centers.
“They’re the ones who are coming into our communities, and they’re raising our electric bills,” Levine said, later adding, “if they want to come and they want to use Northern Virginia’s terrific infrastructure, they want to use the smart people that live up here that make technology, they need to pay all the increase of everything they cost.”
Sumpter, who works for World Wildlife Fund, said this is an issue that is “near and dear to my heart.”
“It’s also not something that just be solved one day in one legislative session,” he said. “This is something that take a more longer-term strategy, and one of the things I’ve been focusing on is creating a climate core of students and young people across the state that’s state-funded, that will get students involved in understanding climate change, and understanding how to have clean energy, and that there are jobs involved in that.”
He added that “the state needs to stand up” against Dominion tax hikes.
Bennett-Parker said she has never taken funding from Dominion and added that “we are in a climate emergency.” She described past and present related legislation she has worked on.
“I’m introducing a bill this year to require Virginia to adopt energy efficiency standards for new buildings in our building code,” Bennett-Parker said. “That’s been a priority of the environmental community.”
She also mentioned legislation that would ensure data centers are properly charged, and “while not directly related,” advocated for the state’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to address climate and bringing costs down.
Right-to-work in Virginia
Later in the evening, Pope asked candidates about their thoughts on the state’s right-to-work law, which prohibits employers from requiring union membership as a condition of employment.
“It is about a topic that we’ve heard a lot of people talking about, but the General Assembly has yet to vote on this,” Pope said. “There is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jennifer Carroll Foy to repeal the right-to-work.”
Sumpter said he supports Foy’s bill and said “although companies have seen record profits over the last couple of years, workers have not.”
“I think we need to do it. It’s way past time to do it,” Sumpter said.
Bennett-Parker, who identified herself as a previous labor union member and “strong supporter of unions,” said she has strongly supported repealing right-to-work.
“I will continue to do it going forward, and previously, I have a lot of other support for labor initiatives,” she said.
Levine said he disagrees with the term “right-to-work,” instead calling it the “right to freeload.” He spoke about how unions help provide a “path to the middle class.”
“It’s not about working,” Levine said. “It’s about the ability for non-union workers to take the benefits of union workers while destroying the union at the same time.”
Student journalists and New Voices
Pope also asked candidates about a New Voices bill and a previous Alexandria City School Board proposal “that would take retaliatory action against student journalists if they wrote for local news outlets like Alexandria Times, ALXnow — that their journalism privileges could be revoked.”
“What are your thoughts on the Virginia General Assembly taking action to prohibit school boards from engaging in retaliatory censorship?” Pope asked.
This question was asked after Bennett-Parker left the forum due to a scheduling conflict.
Levine said he was “horrified” at the thought of student censorship. He said kids have “every right” to criticize their school and that he supports New Voices.
“That is wrong,” Levine said. “We’re fighting a Trump administration that is constantly trying to censor us. It is changing our media. Changing CBS. Walter Cronkite is spinning his grave because they’re trying to make everything into Fox News. And I know Fox News. I’ve been on Fox News.”
Sumpter praised youths’ creativity and ideas and said “we should never retaliate against student journalists.”
“Absolutely, we support this to make sure students have the ability to tell their stories in the way they want to,” he said.
ICE in Alexandria
Toward the end of the night, Pope asked candidates: “What are your thoughts on the Alexandria Sheriff working with immigration officials?”
This question was asked after Bennett-Parker left the forum due to a scheduling conflict.
Sumpter said the sheriff should not be “assisting ICE officers who are here in Alexandria without a warrant — and a judicial warrant by that, not administrative warrant.”
“I would look at ways to ensure that there are protections in the state, that there are ICE agents who come out, that they have to have a judicial warrant, obviously, have to be unmasked,” Sumpter said. “Obviously, we look at ways to stop deputizing police officers to be able to do ICE functions.”
Levine, who hosted a “monthly meetup” with Sheriff Sean Casey in November, said he has been “working on this issue since the first Trump administration,” referencing a bill he created with Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3).
“The reason when Arlington County and Fairfax County do not cooperate with ICE is because my law made it possible,” Levine said. “I’m proud of that, but there are 131 sheriffs, including Sheriff Casey in Alexandria, who I think are wrong and who are cooperating with ICE and shouldn’t be.”
Levine added that he has “been working for several months [to secure a commitment] from the Alexandria police to unmask ICE, to require them to ID themselves before arresting anyone, or they’re going to be arrested themselves.”
How to vote tomorrow
Tomorrow’s primary will offer four different polling locations across Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County. Polls are open from 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Aurora Hills Library, 735 South 18th Street, Arlington
- Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, 5005 Duke Street, Alexandria
- Charles Houston Recreation Center, 901 Wythe Street, Alexandria
- John Calvin Presbyterian Church, 6531 Columbia Pike, Annandale
Voters must live and be registered to vote in the 39th District and bring identification to their polling destination.
