VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Election Day is less than a month away and it's an important one for Virginia — all 140 seats in the state's General Assembly are at stake. This is also Virginia’s first election since legislative district maps were redrawn using 2020 census data.
The new 96th District for the Virginia House of Delegates encompasses much of central Virginia Beach to the city's Southwest border. Voters there will choose between three candidates who all have Virginia Beach roots.
Incumbent Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler, the Democratic candidate, is going head-to-head with Republican candidate Mike Karslake and Independent candidate Nicholas Olenik.
VOTER GUIDE: Virginia's 2023 elections are coming up. Here's a look at races, candidates, voter registration info and more.
Convirs-Fowler taught in Virginia Beach schools, owns a real estate brokerage firm and is raising her three children in the city.
"My district and my community needs and deserves a leader who really will represent them in Richmond," she said.
Karslake owns local business Providence Computers, is devoted to his faith and has two daughters and four grandkids.
"We moved here in 1985, so that makes it about 38 years," he said. I'm very passionate about schools.”
Olenik has worked in finance and owned his own business, and he has a daughter. "I believe our localities should have a choice of three, left, right and middle," he said.
Convirs-Fowler said voting rights and education are two of her top priorities. She's focused on finding solutions for student learning loss from the pandemic.
"I am working on a task force that would at least be a minimum of ten years, nonpartisan, that can identify those issues and then reassess constantly," Convirs-Fowler said. "And put in place measures to help local school systems and the public school system in general in Virginia."
Education is also a big focus for Karslake, but he said taxes are top of mind, too.
"Costs for Virginians," Karslake said. "We have inflation, so what can we do about the gas tax, what can we do about property tax, what can we do about various taxes that effect the people in my district.”
Olenik wants to create term limits for all elected officials. And he's focused on access to mental health resources.
"I believe alternative therapies such as animals and maybe cannabis should be available to our veterans to help," Olenik said. "As long as 22 plus veterans a day are dying of suicide we should be able to do anything we can to help them get better.”
Each candidate urges District 96 voters to show up to the polls. And they hope to score your vote come November 7.
“I will serve as long as I am needed," Del. Convirs-Fowler said. "And my district comes first, no matter what I believe.”
"A big concern for me is that we have liberty and we have freedom but we don’t lose those things," Karslake said.
"I believe our two-party system is broken, and nobody has ever said they voted for the lesser of three evils," Olenik said.
13News Now is meeting with all the candidates running to represent Hampton Roads in the Virginia General Assembly — here's our 2023 voter guide with a table of contents listing and linking to all our coverage.