Lee Carter announces run for Virginia Governor

Delegate Lee Carter (D-50), the self-avowed Democratic socialist who has represented Manassas City and Bristow in the Virginia General Assembly since 2018, announced his run for governor on New Year’s Day.

Carter, 33, announced in a video posted to social media. A vote for me is a vote for the rest of us,” Carter can be heard saying in the video.

His announcement comes on the day his bill to require a $50 cap on the cost of a 30-day supply of insulin became law. The legislation was signed into law on July 1, 2020.

This year, as he has done in the past, Carter has filed bills that aim to repeal Virginia’s 70-year-old Right to Work law that provides someone who does not have to be forced to join a union to get a job. Other bills aim to abolish the death penalty and make it a crime to wear a mask while harassing someone.

Carter also wants to lower penality for defacing monuments, a Class 6 felony with a punishment of up to five years in jail and a $2,500 fine, down to a misdemeanor with a maximum $1,000 fine.

The Virginia General Assembly will reconvene for its 2021 session on Wednesday, January 13. The shortened session will last 30 days.

Carter is the second Democrat from Prince William County to toss their hat into the ring for governor. Jennifer Carroll Foy, who stepped down from her House of Delegates seat she’s held since 2018, representing the 2nd House District in eastern Prince Willaim County and northern Stafford County, started crisscrossing the state on a bus tour in Summer 2019 in anticipation of her gubernatorial run.

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe is running, along with current Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax. State Senator Jenifer McClellan (D-71, James City County) rounds out the crowded fields of Democrats who are all headed for a Primary Election this summer.

As governor, Ralph Northam’s term will end on December 31, as the state’s constitution prohibits him from seeing a second term.

Carter made headlines this past summer during a riot that occurred just outside his House District, at the intersection of Sudley Road and Sudley Manor Drive. During the May 30, 2020 incident, Carter confronted police, who eventually used tear gas on him and other protestors to bring order to the unlawful assembly.

A total of four Prince William County police officers were injured, one with a severe head injury that had to be treated at a local hospital. Five people were arrested.

The next day, Virginia Republicans called for Carter’s registration.

Following the riot, during a special session of the General Assembly last fall, Carter’s attempted to carry a bill that would require police officers to show a name tag to anyone who demanded to see it or face a term of not less than 20 years in prison, or a fine up to $100,000. The bill died in committee.