Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announces run for Virginia governor in 2025by Associated Press
Monday, December 4, 2023 8:51 am
Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney announced Monday that he will run for Virginia governor in 2025.
In a campaign video announcement, Stoney said he wants all Virginians to have a fair shot at success.
“That’s why I’m running for governor. For families like mine that just need an opportunity. For kids like me who will thrive in school if they just get the right chance,” he said. “And for parents like my dad who work multiple jobs and still struggle to live a secure, middle-class life.”
Stoney was the first in his family to graduate high school and college. He served as the first Black Secretary of the Commonwealth and is now in his second term as mayor. In the video announcement, Stoney touts his efforts to improve residents’ lives by improving the city’s finances, improving roads, building new schools and reducing the poverty rate.
In the Democratic primary, Stoney will face Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer who has cultivated an identity as a bipartisan consensus builder over three terms in Congress, who announced her bid for governor last month. ...
MoreHe reminds me of Newsom who, after destroying his own state, would want to be president. I haven't been to Richmond for a couple of years, but I suspect Mayor Stoney has done all the damage he can and wants to go someplace more important. Of Stoney's announcement video,
Richmond.com notes:... Martz reports that the video cites Stoney's accomplishments as mayor that have less to do with big economic development projects that failed — such as a twice-rejected proposal for a casino resort or the failed Navy Hill redevelopment of downtown — than nuts-and-bolts improvements in the city's finances, repair of roads and sidewalks, a reduction in poverty, and increased investments in schools and affordable housing.
"We brought down Confederate statues that don't reflect our values and built up schools that do," he said in a reference to the city's removal of monuments to the Confederacy after nightly protests that erupted in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and targeted the statues as symbols of entrenched racism. ...
He fixed some sidewalks and tore down statues. The man's a visionary!!
