Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, isn’t formally announcing her candidacy in a newly drawn Senate District in Chesterfield County, but she’s not backing down to two Republican candidates who contend the seat is open.
Chase, serving her second term as senator for the 11th District, said she welcomes the opportunity to represent more of her native Chesterfield in the new 12th Senate District under the legislative map that the Virginia Supreme Court approved last month.
“I have no intention of retiring,” she said Monday.
Chase pushed back against comments by former Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, and businesswoman Tina Ramirez suggesting that no incumbent represents the new district, which both are seeking the Republican nomination to represent. The election will be held next year, unless a federal court requires elections in all new legislative districts this year.
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Sturtevant, who represented the current 10th District for one term before losing to Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, in 2019, called the 12th “a brand-new, newly drawn Senate district.”
“There is no incumbent, though there are folks in office who happen to live there,” he told the Richmond Times-Dispatch last week.
Ramirez, founder of a nonprofit foundation to promote religious freedom, also called the 12th “a wholly new district.”
“The formation of new lines also highlights a truth that is too often forgotten: this seat belongs to the people, not to any candidate,” Ramirez said earlier this month. “The people will decide who is the best person to represent their conservative values.”
Chase and Ramirez both had declared their candidacies last year to challenge Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, but dropped out of the race after the state Supreme Court approved a new map that moves the 7th Congressional District out of the Richmond suburbs to Northern Virginia, where it now is anchored in eastern Prince William County and the Fredericksburg area.
Ramirez finished third in a GOP primary in 2020 to challenge Spanberger, who ultimately defeated Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, for re-election to a seat that previously had been held by Republicans.
Chase dismissed Sturtevant’s suggestion that no incumbent lives in the new 12th, even though it includes her home and much of her current Senate district, as well as a portion of the old district he once represented.
“If we use that same standard, then all seats in the Senate and House are open,” she said. “I don’t believe that for a minute.”
Chase, who finished third in a race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination last year, acknowledged she plans to run for higher office again someday, but said she’s focusing on her Senate term, which is set to expire in January, 2024.
“It’s a little premature for people to start jockeying for what may be perceived as an open seat,” she said.
Chase said that she and her husband, Michael, grew up in the Bon Air area of Chesterfield, which will become part of the new 12th.
“I’m going to be able to represent more of the people I grew up with,” she said. “I’ll get to fully represent Chesterfield.”
Chase first won her Senate seat in 2015 after defeating Sen. Steve Martin, R-Chesterfield, in the party primary, but she noted that she declined to challenge either Rep. Rob Wittman, R-1st, or Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, when it initially appeared that part of Chesterfield would be in the 5th.
“I don’t challenge incumbent Republicans who are doing a good job,” she said.
Chase, who was censured by fellow senators last year for a “pattern of unacceptable conduct” and demoted in the Senate’s seniority rankings, has no committee assignments.
Chase said it is “disappointing” that two fellow Republicans — one who lost his Senate seat and the other who has never held elected office — would run against her in a new Senate district that she said mostly consists of her current district.
“They should look at the numbers,” she said. “I think they’re going to have an uphill battle.”