September/October 2005
Election 101
Everything You Need to Know About Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates—Their Views on Hampton Roads Issues and Why They Should Take the Cake in November
By Michael Jon Khandelwal
On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Virginians will elect their next governor. Three candidates are vying for the privileged position: Democrat Tim Kaine, Republican Jerry Kilgore and Independent Russ Potts.
In the following in-depth interviews, the candidates speak to the citizens of Hampton Roads not only about the issues that concern the entire commonwealth but also the issues that affect us here in southeast Virginia.
Missionary Man
Democrat Tim Kaine
While in Honduras as a missionary for a year, Tim Kaine discovered his calling to public service. He served as a civil rights lawyer for 18 years but then entered the political arena, first on Richmond’s city council, then as mayor of the city and finally as Virginia’s lieutenant governor in 2001.
Raised in Kansas, Kaine, 47, moved to Virginia after law school when he married Anne Holton, the daughter of Lynwood Holton, the first Republican governor of Virginia since Reconstruction. The Kaines and their children—Nat, Woody and Annella—have a home in Richmond.
Frank and funny, Tim Kaine spoke with Hampton Roads Magazine from his Virginia Beach campaign office while visiting Hampton Roads for Norfolk’s Harborfest.
Learn more about Tim Kaine’s candidacy at www.kaine2005.org
What do you like most about the Hampton Roads area?
I love all the activity in downtown Norfolk, and I love False Cape State Park.
What do you see as the major challenges to the Hampton Roads area, and what are your plans to address these problems?
This should be the most active port on the East Coast; it would be great for all of Virginia. The challenge is making this happen, doing the work needed to expand the port to Craney Island but also improving the transportation infrastructure for everybody here in Hampton Roads.
What would you most like to accomplish during your term as governor of Virginia?
The four issues I’m running my campaign on are giving local governments a meaningful way to provide property tax relief to home owners, continuing to fight for investment in high-quality education, solving the commonwealth’s transportation problems for the next generation and keeping the economy of the state very strong. Mark Warner and I have put the state in the position where we have a AAA bond rating, the second fastest job growth in America and are the best-managed state in America. I want to make sure we stay on this course.
Ardent Advocate
Republican Jerry Kilgore
Turned on to politics by his family, Jerry Kilgore spent much of his passionate political career as a state and federal prosecutor—assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Scott County and assistant U. S. attorney for western Virginia. After serving as the secretary of public affairs for Gov. George Allen, he was elected Virginia’s attorney general in 2001.
Born and raised in Scott County, Kilgore, 44, has a home near Richmond with wife, Marty, and children, Klarke and Kelsey. He recently resigned as attorney general to campaign full time and is now a partner in the Williams Mullen law firm.
Optimistic with a warm smile, Jerry Kilgore spoke with Hampton Roads Magazine from his law offices overlooking the state capitol.
Learn more about Jerry Kilgore’s candidacy at www.jerrykilgore.com
What do you like most about the Hampton Roads area?
The beaches and all the water. It makes it difficult to get around, but it’s beautiful.
What do you see as the major challenges to the Hampton Roads area, and what are your plans to address these problems?
Traffic’s the major challenge for Hampton Roads—you have so much water and just a few ways of crossing it. We must have a transportation plan that moves the region forward. That’s why I want to promote regional transportation authorities that are empowered to make decisions, make sure the commonwealth is committed to spending general fund dollars on transportation. You don’t have to travel much in Hampton Roads to understand you spend a lot of time sitting in traffic. The region also has to continue to promote the port. The doubling of the size of the port is going to make the Hampton Roads region the come-to place up and down the East Coast.
What would you most like to accomplish during your term as governor of Virginia?
Work for better pay for better teachers—performance pay plan for all of our teachers, recognizing those impact teachers across Virginia. We need to reward the very best teachers in our system based upon test scores, advanced degrees, peer evaluation, administration evaluations and parent evaluations. Second, the transportation issue—we have to get Virginia moving again, whether it’s in Hampton Roads or in northern Virginia. We have to have a plan that not only pumps more money in, but also gets the projects built on time and under budget. Since going to law school at William and Mary, I can commiserate with so many in the Hampton Roads area; I think they’ve been working on that interchange in Hampton at Mercury Boulevard ever since the mid-’80s.
Sporty Senator
Independent Russ Potts
A state senator from Winchester for the past 14 years, Russ Potts may be more well known for promoting sporting events. After serving as assistant athletic director of the University of Maryland, athletic director of Southern Methodist and vice-president for the White Sox, Potts, with his company—Russ Potts Promotions—staged more sporting events than anyone else in the Western Hemisphere.
A Richmond native raised in Winchester, where he still resides, Potts, 66, and his wife, Emily, raised three daughters—Kristi, Katie and Kelly—and have one grandson, Duffy.
Gregarious and sharp, Russ Potts—a moderate Republican running as an Independent—spoke with Hampton Roads Magazine at a park on the Old Dominion University campus before attending a meeting of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
Learn more about Russ Potts’s candidacy at www.russpotts.com
What do you like most about the Hampton Roads area?
I love the Chesapeake Bay. I love to see those big Navy ships, because I’m a very patriotic person. I love the area’s vibrancy. This is a very friendly area. When I was at Harborfest, I noticed the friendliness and genuineness of all the people.
What do you see as the major challenges to the Hampton Roads area, and what are your plans to address these problems?
You have one of the most severe transportation problems in all of America, not just Virginia. When you add to that the problems that are exacerbated by the northern Virginia challenges, the commonwealth faces the most critical transportation crisis in America. We’ve gone since 1986 with no major improvements. The next challenge would be education. We have a need for 8,000 teachers in Virginia.
What would you most like to accomplish during your term as governor of Virginia?
To bring our people together, to unite and be a healer and to let us think not as Republicans or Democrats or Independents, but as one—to build upon the pride and the traditions and the heritage of Virginia. I want to be recognized as the transportation governor, the guy who had the guts, courage, vision and decisiveness to go out and fix it, despite criticism or fear of being unpopular.
For the rest of the interviews with all three gubernatorial candidates, see the September/October 2005 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine, currently available on newsstands.
