As Virginia‘s 2023 primary approaches, Republicans are drawing attention to the state’s rising crime rates, blaming the increase on Democrats‘ lack of legislative measures that would strengthen punishments and alleviate police reform restrictions.
The Virginia State Police released its annual crime report for 2022 last week, showing a 4.9% increase in crime statewide for the number of violent crimes from 2021. Violent crimes include murder, sex offenses, robbery, and aggravated assault.
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Vehicle thefts increased significantly by nearly 22%, following a nationwide trend of spikes in motor vehicle theft and property damage — but a decrease in violent crime — that began in 2022 in the aftermath of the pandemic and continued into 2023.
In Virginia, the value of all the vehicles stolen was over $201 million, per the report.
The state police’s report recorded 621 homicides in 2022, which was a 10.5% increase from the 562 homicides reported in 2021. Offenders and victims tended to be younger men ages 18 to 34, with men in that range making up 42.7% of homicide victims and 52.2% of offenders.
When it came to murder and non-negligent manslaughter, most homicides were committed using a firearm. Six homicides were recorded as a result of poison or drugs.
Republicans are using the crime report to blast Democrats ahead of the 2023 election, when Democrats are protecting a thin majority in the Senate, and Republicans are defending their narrow majority in the House.
Virginia’s split General Assembly has made it difficult for Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) to enact his conservative agenda, particularly when it comes to introducing tough-on-crime legislation. In January, state Senate Democrats blocked a bill backed by Youngkin that would have made adjustments to charging drug dealers.
Under the now-failed bill, drug dealers would have been charged with felony homicide charges — essentially second-degree murder — if a user died of a drug overdose. The bill died in committee along party lines. The House of Delegates passed its companion bill, but every Democrat voted against the bill, with the exception of two Democratic delegates who were absent.
The Republican State Leadership Committee said in a press release following the crime report’s release that the increase in crime “sheds light on Democrats’ failed policies.”
“The fact that Virginia Democrats say they want to make our communities safer is not only ironic, but it’s a complete fabrication of the truth. If Democrats really wanted to make our Virginia communities safer, then they wouldn’t have voted down legislation to strengthen penalties on drug dealers, or prevent police officers from doing their jobs effectively,” RSLC deputy communications director Mason Di Palma told the Washington Examiner. “Meanwhile, Virginia Republicans are the only ones focused on reducing crime and the crime crisis caused by Joe Biden and national Democrats.”
The Republican State Leadership Committee launched a five-figure digital ad campaign in February against seven Democratic incumbents who are on Tuesday’s ballot: state Dels. Rodney Willett, Nadarius Clark, Clinton Jenkins, Schuyler VanValkenburg, and Danica Roem, as well as state Sens. Aaron Rouse and Monty Mason.
Republicans have also pointed to the bill passed in 2020 by the Virginia General Assembly that included more than a dozen police reforms, including measures banning chokeholds, limiting no-knock warrants, and creating stricter criteria to qualify for the need to use force. Democrats plugged the policy changes as a step in the right direction to making communities safer.
GOP lawmakers have attempted to appeal several, but not all, of the reforms during the 2023 session. In January, the Republican-led House voted in favor of removing provisions that prevented pulling people over for some minor traffic offenses. It was referred to the Democrat-controlled state Senate Judiciary Committee in February but has not gained traction since then.
“The most frustrating aspect is the fact that, you know, they’re passing these bills [in the House], and they’re just not even committee hearings in a lot of these cases. They’re getting shot down immediately. Because Democrats are playing politics here,” Di Palma said.
“You have one chamber saying, ‘You know, we’re not going to do this because we don’t want to give these people a win,'” he continued. “You can’t come out and say that you want to make communities safer and then just blatantly play politics.”
The Virginia primary election is on Tuesday, with every seat in the General Assembly up for election this fall. A historic level of turnover, about 30%, is expected due to the new political maps that placed about half of the state’s 140 lawmakers doubled or tripled up in new districts, according to the New York Times.
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Many delegates are running for Senate to avoid battling their House colleagues in the primary, with some even challenging members of their own party. In Northern Virginia, state Sen. George Barker is facing his first primary challenger, Democratic Fairfax County School Board member Stella Pekarsky, in more than a decade.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee and Virginia Democrats for comment.
