Endorsement: James Edmunds for 60th District House of Delegates

In the last two elections, James Edmunds has had no competition. In this election, James Edmunds has an opponent but still has no competition.

Halifax County (and other areas in the 60th District) has been adequately represented in the Virginia House of Delegates by James Edmunds for the past four years. He’s had bipartisan support and is very popular in the district. His challenger this year is Farmville’s Jasper Hendricks, who has gotten his scant name recognition by getting arrested for drunk driving. As we said before in our updates, Edmunds never was seriously threatened by Hendricks in this campaign and we declared the race “SAFE – Edmunds” even before Hendricks had his Law & Order experience.

We’re giving Edmunds our endorsement because we feel he’s the much better candidate of the two, but we’re also noting that it’s time for Edmunds to make things happen in Richmond for SouthsideVA. Southside’s political influence continues to diminish as other areas of the state continue to add population. Edmunds won the seat when Clarke Hogan decided to not run again and at that time, Hogan was in the progress of becoming an influential legislator. Edmunds is well-known for his opposition to uranium mining, but after that? His main press coverage was something about voting for fox hunting. Edmunds has had four years to learn the ropes in the General Assembly, and this could be his time to start being known as a champion for Southside. He’s got the friendly demeanor that’s needed to make deals and he’s got the business acumen to know what deals to make. We hope that Edmunds starts to rise to the potential that he’s got and hope that he helps to keep SouthsideVA viable in Virginia politics.

SouthsideCentral endorses James Edmunds in the 60th District House of Delegates election and strongly encourages voters to re-elect him back to a deserved third term in the General Assembly.