Brewer, Hayes win

Published 10:34 pm Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Suffolk saw more than 50-percent turnout in Tuesday’s elections, which featured statewide races as well as House of Delegates contests and a few local seats.

Suffolk has 56,348 active registered voters. About 28,553 voted in the race for governor, giving the city slightly better than 50-percent turnout.

The city voted for the Democratic ticket for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, helping to give them the edge at the statewide level. Ralph S. Northam, Justin E. Fairfax and Mark R. Herring were successful against Edward W. Gillespie, Jill H. Vogel and John D. Adams, respectively.

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Two House of Delegates seats that represent Suffolk were contested. Republican Emily M. Brewer, a downtown Suffolk wine shop owner, won by more than 20 percentage points over Democrat Rebecca S. Colaw, a lawyer with an office in downtown Suffolk. The two were contesting the open 64th District seat, where Delegate Rick Morris did not seek re-election.

“I am excited and ready to serve the people of the 64th,” Brewer said by phone late Tuesday. “I am looking forward to being their listening ear and working hard for constituents in the district.”

Colaw said she was grateful for the support she received but hoped a Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandered districts is made soon.

“I want to thank all the people that voted for me,” she said. “I’m very grateful for all the support I received in this campaign. I’m very hopeful the Supreme Court rules on gerrymandered districts … so that they don’t disenfranchise individuals that are power-packed into certain districts.”

In the 77th District, Democrat Cliff Hayes Jr. won handily over Green Party candidate Jeff B. Staples.

“We’re grateful to the voters of the 77th House district, for them having confidence to re-elect me and send me back to Richmond on their behalf,” Hayes said. “We’ll do everything we can to work 110 percent to represent the values of this district.”

“We definitely gained a foundation for the future,” Staples said. “I really am proud of the people that came out and volunteered and contributed. I’m proud of the campaign altogether. We did a really good job given what we had to work with.”

Also for the General Assembly, 76th District incumbent S. Chris Jones, a Republican, was re-elected unopposed, as was 80th District incumbent Matthew James, a Democrat.