PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) — On a recent Monday afternoon, Virginia state Sen. Joe Morrissey received a warm welcome as he drove through a Petersburg neighborhood, knocking on doors, touting his credentials and asking residents their votes in the city. upcoming Democratic primaries.
“I’m with you. I always have been,” James Dennis, a 56-year-old nurse, told Morrissey.
The greeting was very similar to other houses he visited that day. Voters called Morrissey “down to earth”, “on our side” and “someone who listens”. He talked to them on front porches and driveways in this tough town south of Richmond that makes up a small part of the blue-leaning 13th District, where Morrissey and rival Lashrecse Aird are competing. His is one of the most closely followed nomination contests in a year when every legislative seat is up for grabs.
Morrissey, a veteran legislator and twice-disbarred attorney, has survived an extraordinary series of personal and political controversies in his decades in public office, while enjoying a reputation as an effective grassroots activist and advocate for reform. criminal justice that deals with bread and bread. -Butter problems for voters. But his main battle with Aird is testing the limits of that support.
Morrissey is grappling with a redrawn Senate district and political pressure over his centrist abortion voting record at a time when Virginia Democrats are trying to fend off new abortion restrictions backed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The senator also faces a bitter public spat with his estranged wife decades his junior, who says Morrissey physically abused her. Morrissey vehemently denies the allegations.
“He has a reputation as a good, strong campaigner,” Aird acknowledged. “But this time is different.”
Aird, a former member of the state House of Representatives who lost a bid for re-election in 2021, wants to convince voters that Morrissey should be ousted, largely because of his stance on abortion.
Virginia is an increasingly rare access point to abortion in the South: The state currently has no abortion ban, but limits third-trimester abortions to cases where doctors certify that life or A woman’s health is at risk. Youngkin pushed unsuccessfully this year for a 15-week ban with exceptions and recently recommitted to doing so in the future.
The prospects for any future ban will depend on the outcome of this year’s election. Every vote on the issue could matter in a near-swing state where only a handful of seats currently hold the balance of power in each chamber.
Morrissey is a rare Democrat who identifies as “pro-life,” even though he supports abortion access.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, both endorsed the position that the decision to have an abortion should be between a woman and her doctor and the position that the procedure should be prohibited after the point at which a fetus can feel pain However, he says he probably wouldn’t support the governor’s proposed 15-week ban, because he hasn’t seen any empirical evidence to suggest that’s the point at which a fetus begins to feel pain. Morrissey also says he generally supports exceptions to any restrictions on abortion in cases of rape or incest.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a human fetus does not have the capacity to experience pain until after at least 24 weeks, although some US states have restricted abortion before pregnancy based on partly in claims that pain can be felt earlier.
Last year, Morrissey co-sponsored an unsuccessful bill with Republicans that would have banned most abortions after 20 weeks. But during his campaign this year, he ran an ad noting that he never voted to restrict access to abortion. He also said he thinks Aird’s position is extreme.
“My opponent is a one-trick pony: ‘Let me talk about abortion; let me borrow half a million dollars from my billionaire friend in Charlottesville; let me flood the airwaves with this and let me try to steal a state Senate seat,” Morrissey said, referring to support Aird has received from the advocacy group Clean Virginia, which was founded by a wealthy investor.
Aird describes herself as “100% pro-choice” and insists it is not the government’s place to make decisions about abortion.
“My opponent is the only Democrat up for grabs in the Senate,” Aird, 36, told potential constituent Tonisha Kinney of Henrico County during an inquiry last week.
Aird, who works in higher education administration, has also touted her legislative work on criminal justice reform and economic development.
Morrissey is a former prosecutor-turned-defense attorney-turned-legislator who overcame a history of fistfights, contempt of court subpoenas and other scandals to win election to the Senate in 2019.
In 2014, he resigned from the House after entering an Alford plea to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a 17-year-old receptionist at his law firm. For a time, Morrissey, then 50, spent his days in the General Assembly and his nights in jail while serving a work-release sentence. Former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned him last year.
Morrissey and Myrna Morrissey later married and had three children together. But the two are currently separated and in the midst of a divorce and other legal disputes.
As Morrissey tries to hang on to his post, running an operation without an official campaign manager, he said he has the support of more than 30 local officials in his district, including six of the seven members of the Petersburg City Council. But an unusual number of Democratic members of Congress and lawmakers have backed Aird, including all of Morrissey’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate, who issued a statement condemning her “destructive” behavior.
Aird also enjoys the support of a union, abortion rights advocates and liberal advocacy groups who are helping to knock on doors ahead of the June 20 primary. And he has the support of well-connected elected officials in Henrico County, some of whom make up a key part of the redrawn majority-minority district.
As Aird drove through a Henrico neighborhood on a recent afternoon with one such supporter, Henrico Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Tyrone Nelson, a handful of voters indicated they were familiar with Morrissey’s controversies but who did not commit to the race.
Kinney told Aird that his pitch resonated, but that he had to think more about the contest.
“We know Joe, you know? So that’s the only thing,” Kinney said.
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Rankin reported from Chesterfield and Henrico counties.
