Norfolk councilwoman Angelia Williams Graves running for open state delegate seat

Norfolk Councilwoman Angelia Williams Graves said she wants to run for the east Norfolk state delegate seat that will soon be vacated.

The district has been represented since 2014 by Joe Lindsey, a long-time lawyer who was recently appointed to a judgeship in Norfolk’s General District Court.

Lindsey has to step down from his job as a delegate in order to serve as a judge, leaving the 90th District seat vacant for the remaining year of his two-year term. A special election is expected sometime in early January.

Graves, a member of the Norfolk Democratic Committee, officially announced her candidacy for the 90th House District seat Monday. Ultimately, each party will nominate a candidate for the special election.

Graves has spent the past decade serving on Norfolk’s City Council and was unchallenged for reelection to the Superward 7 seat earlier this year. If elected to the statehouse, she’d vacate her council seat with three years remaining in the term.

The 90th district is made up of much of east Norfolk – the area Graves already represents on City Council.

The district leans heavily Democratic, though that lean was reduced by newly drawn district lines that went into effect in 2019, according to information from the Virginia Public Access Project.

Still, whoever gets the Democrats' blessing would be heavily favored to take the seat.

Lindsey, a Democrat, won the seat in a roughly 80-20 landslide against Republican challenger Marcus Calabrese during the 2014 special election and has been unopposed for the last three elections for the seat, including in 2019 under the new map.

Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com