Schuyler VanValkenburg

Schuyler VanValkenburg
VanValkenburg in 2023
Member of the Virginia Senate
from the 16th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 10, 2024
Preceded bySiobhan Dunnavant
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 72nd district
In office
January 18, 2018 – January 10, 2024
Preceded byJimmie Massie
Succeeded byDestiny Levere Bolling (redistricted)
Personal details
BornSchuyler Thomas VanValkenburg
1982 (age 43–44)
Johnstown, New York, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
EducationUniversity of Richmond (BA)
Virginia Commonwealth University (MA)

Schuyler Thomas VanValkenburg (born 1982) is an American teacher and politician. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 72nd District on November 7, 2017, to replace retiring delegate Jimmie Massie. He defeated Republicans Eddie Whitlock and GayDonna Vandergriff in the 2017 and 2019 elections, respectively. In the 2023 state elections, VanValkenburg was elected over incumbent Siobhan Dunnavant in the newly redrawn 16th District.[1][2] The race was considered highly competitive for control of the Virginia Senate.[3]

Career

VanValkenburg taught at Short Pump Middle School and continues to teach at Glen Allen High School after his election to the Virginia Senate, working as a part-time legislator. A Democrat, he defeated Republican lawyer Edward Whitlock III in 2017 as part of a Democratic wave in Virginia.[4]

Committee assignments

  • Education
  • Privileges & Elections[5]

Political positions

Gambling

In January 2024, VanValkenburg filed a bill to legalize betting on college sports. VanValkenburg stated that legalizing and regulating gambling would increase safety, saying "You can ban it, but people are still going to do it."[6][7]

Housing

In February 2026, VanValkenburg sponsored a "housing near jobs" bill to allow by-right zoning for apartment buildings, townhomes, and mixed-use developments in commercial districts.[8]

Labor

In 2020, VanValkenburg filed a bill to ban non-compete clauses for "low-wage" workers, which was signed into law by governor Ralph Northam.[9][10] In 2022, VanValkenburg introduced a bill to ban non-competes for health care workers, which failed to pass.[10]

In 2020, VanValkenburg introduced a bill expand Virginia's anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) laws. VanValkenburg's bill came after SLAPP lawsuits that may have been dismissed under California's more stringent laws were filed by actor Johnny Depp and California congressman Devin Nunes in Virginia.[11] The bill, modeled after California's, would allow defendants in defamation cases to file motions to dismiss potentially-frivolous defamation suits earlier in the process and recover attorney fees if successful.[11]

Redistricting

In 2020, VanValkenburg sponsored a bill to amend the Virginia constitution and establish an independent commission for redistricting congressional and state legislative districts with the aim of curbing partisan gerrymandering.[12][13] The measure passed the General Assembly and became law after passing a ballot measure in November 2020.[14][15]

In October 2025, VanValkenburg supported a bill to amend the Virginia constitution to allow the Virginia General Assembly to redraw Virginia congressional districts mid-decade after multiple Republican-led states redrew congressional districts to benefit the Republican Party. VanValkenburg stated that the amendment was a proportional response to "opportunistic, mid-decade redistricting" encouraged by the Trump administration.[16]

Electoral history

Date Election Candidate Party Votes %
Virginia House of Delegates, 72nd district
Nov 7, 2017[17] General Schuyler VanValkenburg Democratic 16,655 52.71%
Eddie Whitlock Republican 14,869 47.06%
Nov 5, 2019[18] General Schuyler VanValkenburg Democratic 16,345 53.26%
GayDonna Vandergriff Republican 14,312 46.63%
Nov 2, 2021[19] General Schuyler VanValkenburg Democratic 19,710 53.00%
Christopher Holmes Republican 17,427 46.08%
Virginia Senate, 16th district
Nov 7, 2023[20] General Schuyler VanValkenburg Democratic 44,803 54.66%
Siobhan Dunnavant Republican 37,000 45.14%

References

  1. ^ Woods, Charlotte Rene; Kolenich, Eric (November 8, 2023). "VanValkenburg ousts Dunnavant from Senate, Willett holds House seat". Richmond Times-Dispatch. pp. A1, A6. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  2. ^ "2023 November General and Special Elections Unofficial Results". Virginia Department of Elections. November 7, 2023. Archived from the original on November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  3. ^ Moomaw, Graham (2023-10-10). "Senate District 16 race: Democrat VanValkenburg vs. Republican incumbent Dunnavant". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  4. ^ Lappas, Tom (2017-11-07). "Blue crush: Democrats celebrate key Henrico wins". The Henrico Citizen. Retrieved 2018-03-30.
  5. ^ "Legislator: Schuyler VanValkenburg". www.vpap.org. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
  6. ^ Kolenich, Eric (2024-01-15). "Gambling on Virginia's college teams could soon be legal". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2024-01-15. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  7. ^ Carpenter, Ryan (2024-02-27). "Virginia college sports betting proposal off the books for another year". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  8. ^ Woods, Charlotte Rene (2026-02-06). "'Housing near jobs' bills have cleared Virginia House and Senate". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  9. ^ Ress, Dave (2019-01-08). "Van Valkenburg: no to non-competes for lower-income workers". The Daily Press. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  10. ^ a b Vakil, Keya (July 6, 2023). "Noncompete Clauses Trap Virginia Workers. Could They Soon Be Banned?". Dogwood. Archived from the original on 2025-12-11. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  11. ^ a b Juvenal, Justin (2019-12-22). "Nunes, Depp lawsuits in Virginia seen as threats to free speech and press". The Houston Chronicle. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2019-12-23.
  12. ^ Moomaw, Graham (2020-02-06). "With a big decision coming on redistricting reform, House Democrats fine-tune their options". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  13. ^ Vozzella, Laura (2020-03-03). "Bipartisan redistricting measure advances in Virginia". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-02-11.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  14. ^ Moomaw, Graham (2020-03-06). "Virginia House passes redistricting reform measure, sending constitutional amendment to voters". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  15. ^ Moomaw, Graham (2020-11-04). "In historic change, Virginia voters approve bipartisan commission to handle political redistricting". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  16. ^ Schmidt, Markus (2025-10-31). "Virginia Senate approves mid-decade redistricting amendment in party-line vote". Virginia Mercury. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  17. ^ "Elections: House of Delegates District 72". www.vpap.org. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  18. ^ "Elections: House of Delegates District 2". www.vpap.org. Virginia Public Access Project. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  19. ^ "2021 November General". results.elections.virginia.gov. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  20. ^ "2023 November General and Special Elections". enr.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.