In a tight race for the 11th District State Senate seat, incumbent Creigh Deeds, who recently won the Democratic nomination, will run against paralegal and historian Phillip Hamilton when Virginians head to the polls Nov. 7. Here’s where the candidates stand on key issues in this election cycle, including gun control, reproductive healthcare and education policy.
Deeds’s platform includes prioritizing mental health reform by building community capacity for care, protecting access to abortions, promoting gender equity and enacting gun safety reform. Deeds has been serving the Commonwealth for nearly 22 years, both in the House of Delegates and in the State Senate, where he remains today.
Hamilton, the Republican candidate, supports a platform that includes limiting gun control legislation, banning abortion after 15 weeks with some exceptions and imposing term limits for politicians. Hamilton currently works as a historian and paralegal.
Following the University’s shooting last November, which took the lives of three University students, gun control remains a heavily debated topic this election cycle.
Hamilton said he supports less stringent gun control under the Second Amendment in order to help law-abiding citizens looking to protect themselves.
“The Second Amendment isn't just for self defense — it isn't just for hunting and things like that,” Hamilton said. “It's also for empowering the people against a tyrannical government.”
Hamilton questioned the basis of a bill proposed earlier this year by Sen. Deeds, Timothy Longo, chief of University Police Department and vice president for security and safety, and other University officials, saying any individual looking to kill people already disregards the law.. The bill would have banned firearms on university campuses but ultimately was not passed.
On the topic of gun control, Deeds said that every right has limits. Deeds said he applies this same logic to the Second Amendment, and argues that there should be a limit on the kind of firearms individuals should be allowed to own.
"Nobody needs an assault weapon," Deeds said.
Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade June 2022, access to reproductive healthcare proves another heavily contested topic. Deeds said he’s proud that abortion remains legal in the Commonwealth, and he believes that everyone should have equal and easy access to abortion and other healthcare.
“People have to have control over their own bodies,” Deeds said.
Hamilton is in favor of heavier abortion restrictions, and he said he believes that individuals under the age of 18 should not have access to abortions without parental consent.
“Why is it that someone who's under the age of 18, not a legal adult, [is] able to have an abortion — parental consent is not just a recent phenomenon,” Hamilton said. “This has been going on for decades.”
Additionally, Hamilton expressed support for Governor Glenn Youngkin’s idea of a 15-week abortion bill, which is part of Youngkin’s conservative agenda going into November’s election. This bill would outlaw abortion after 15 weeks, except in cases of life-threatening emergencies. Currently, abortion is legal for up to 26 weeks and six days in the state of Virginia.
“A fetus or baby is not just a clump of cells,” Hamilton said. “It's a person and we should be doing everything we can to protect life, liberty and property under the social contract.”
Hamilton also said he believes that individuals under the age of 18 should not be allowed to make the decision to transition genders, regardless of legal guardian consent. If elected, Hamilton said he hopes to push legislation that will ban minors’ access to transgender healthcare and implement criminal consequences for doctors and healthcare professionals that disregard the proposed ban.
On the subject of education policy, Hamilton said he believes that books with graphic content and themes of gender identity should be removed from schools if they do not have a proper content warning.
Across the country, state legislatures have seen increased attempts to ban books in public schools. Texas was the state with the most attempts to ban books in 2022, with 2,349 titles coming under question.
In contrast to Hamilton, Deeds said he believes that schools should be safe spaces for children to read diverse books and explore diverse topics. This includes topics such as gender and sexuality. He said the state government shouldn’t micromanage which books are available to students.
Additionally, in a candidate forum April 10 hosted by the U.Va. Center for Politics and Charlottesville Tomorrow, Deeds mentioned that Gov. Youngkin’s transgender policies in schools are harmful and can lead to mental health issues in children. Deeds said he believes that these policies — such as using bathrooms in line with assigned gender — do not have a place in schools.
The general election will be held Nov 7 and students can vote at their local polling place. Early voting began Sept. 22 and continues until Nov. 4.
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