Former Virginia House of Delegates member Norman Dewey “Rocky” Holcomb III announced his candidacy for the 85th House District Wednesday morning, promising to bring “strong, effective leadership” to the General Assembly on Bank Street in Richmond. Holcomb represented the district in the lower chamber of the state legislature from 2017 to 2018 after former delegate Scott Taylor won the Virginia Beach seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In a video to his supporters, Holcomb, a former marine and current chief deputy of the Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office, described how his fighting spirit began as a young child, which has fueled his work ethic in representing everyone in his community.
Holcomb said that many of the challenges faced in the statehouse are on account of “dysfunction in Washington, D.C.,” especially on the issue of healthcare.
The Virginia Beach Republican said, if elected, he will work to fix the state’s broken healthcare system, calling it a “complete mess.” He explained that he will find solutions to lower skyrocketing premiums and protect Virginians with pre-existing conditions.
“We must have leaders who will put working families first and develop commonsense solutions to today’s problems…solutions that provide accessibility to affordable healthcare while ensuring those with pre-existing conditions are protected,” he said.
Highlighting his time in local law enforcement, Holcomb is also calling for criminal justice reform in the Commonwealth.
“As a career law enforcement officer, I can speak firsthand about the need to reform our criminal justice system. Locking people up is not the only answer. We must find programs for rehabilitation and re-entry into society,” he remarked.
On his campaign website, the Republican hopeful states that he will work to grow Virginia’s economy, strengthening small businesses and create a pro-business environment based on low taxes and a balanced state budget. Furthermore, he posited that reform will be coming to Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) program while rewarding teachers for their achievements and making sure more tax dollars reach the Commonwealth’s classrooms.
Solving the state’s transportation woes and pushing for tuition freezes at colleges and universities is also a part of his campaign to provide for a better future for all Virginians.
Holcomb added that the hyper-partisan political environment that is beginning to consume much of the lawmaking in Richmond could lead the Commonwealth down a “path similar to Washington.” Following 2017’s “blue wave” that erased the GOP’s 2-to-1 majority in the House, progressive Democrats have attempted to usher in “New York-style regulations,” which included over $770 million in new tax increases that were voted down by the Republican majority in last year’s 60-day session.
“We must fight back against the extremes that want to stifle small business growth with higher taxes and more regulations that kill jobs,” Holcomb stated.
Delegate Cheryl Turpin (D-Virginia Beach), whom Holcomb will challenge, is part of the Democratic Party’s progressive left-wing that has proposed numerous job-killing economic measures. The liberal caucus has forwarded legislation that would levy taxes on, as Holcomb explained, “everything from electricity to plastic bags…and the list goes on.”
In the beginning of the 2019 General Assembly session, Turpin suggested repealing Virginia’s Right-to-Work law, which has enjoyed strong bipartisan support for over 70 years, providing employees the right to not be forced to join a union or pay membership dues as a condition of employment. Moreover, she even tweeted a photo of herself in December along with three fellow Democratic House candidates standing in front of a poster declaring “Right to Work is WRONG.”
Instead of governing on partisanship, Holcomb he said he will “fight for an agenda that represents the interests of ‘all of us’ in Virginia Beach…not just a few.” He will also ensure that Virginia upholds a “common sense government that works for everyone.”