Happy New Year 2023

Happy New Year to you and to others who are a part of your life. As we take time as is customary to celebrate on New Year’s Eve and the first day of the new year, I hope you will join me in offering thoughts and prayers for those who have challenges in so many ways and in committing ourselves to do what we can to help others find happiness and satisfaction in the new year.

If you share my enthusiasm in being involved in civic affairs you are likely to love the new year, especially if you include the election of public officials as part of your involvement. Although the election of president is another year away, the jockeying among presidential wannabes will be in full force. It is clear that our current president wants to serve another term and is deserving of it. The former president is fading in support and may be on the verge of receiving the long overdue legal consequences of his dishonest and unethical actions. There continues to be strong rumors that the current governor of Virginia may divert his attention from the current job he has held for less than a year to offer himself for the bigger job as president.

At the state and local levels, ballots will include a long list of offices to be filled. All the elective positions in the General Assembly will be on their respective ballots—100 members of the House of Delegates and 40 members of the State Senate. Among the incumbents are a number of members who may be retiring but are not likely to make an announcement until after the 2023 General Assembly session in order to not make themselves lame ducks.

The upcoming elections will reflect the redistricting that has occurred since the last election. Part of the redrawing of district lines to reflect shifts in population of the last decade is a renumbering of districts. The redrawing of district lines for General Assembly seats was carried out under a constitutional amendment passed by the voters. It took the task from elected members drawing their own districts and gave it to the Supreme Court that used nonpartisan masters to draw the lines without regard to partisan affiliation. The results have been quite interesting. In the House of Delegates there are at least ten districts and in the Senate seven districts that have more than one incumbent living in the district. If all incumbents want to continue to serve, someone in these districts must move, or they must run in a primary against each other.

At the local level numerous county supervisor or city council members as well as school board members depending on the rotation of their terms of office will be on the ballot. To figure out what will be happening where you live, follow your local news sources, or check the website www.vpap.org. Get the new year off right by becoming involved in electing the persons who will represent you. There will endless possibilities in 2023.