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Justin Fairfax hopes to ride voters’ energy to victory

Posted at 7:04 AM, Nov 07, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-07 07:04:54-05

RICHMOND, Va. — For Justin Fairfax it’s all about the energy and excitement of the voters. He said it’s what drives his campaign for lieutenant governor. And Fairfax has taken no chances, campaigning all over Virginia until the voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

“It’s really meeting people where they are, reaching out to all Virginians,” Fairfax said. “It’s been our platform from the very start.”

On Saturday, Fairfax spent the day with gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring at various events, meeting voters at Virginia Union University’s homecoming tailgate and at Legend Brewing Company in Richmond.

Fairfax left the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Virginia’s Eastern District in 2012 to run for attorney general a year later; a race he lost to Herring in the Democratic primary.

But now they are on the same Democrat ticket. Fairfax is running in a hotly contested race against three-term Republican Sen. Jill Vogel.

Fairfax and Herring, who is running for re-election as attorney general against Republican John Adams, also came together at a canvassing event in Bon Air on Sunday. There they met voters before they knocked on doors advocating for other Democratic down ballot candidates.

“On Ralph’s behalf and together with Justin, we want to thank you so much for all your hard work and let’s go, fight, win,” Herring said to the group of volunteers.

Herring and Fairfax also participated in the national “Pod Saves America” podcast on Sunday evening alongside Northam and Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The event was held at The National followed by a meet and greet at the Hilton hotel in which each of the three candidates addressed a crowd of supporters.

“He’s lived the American dream, and he did it because of a grandmother that helped raise him and three siblings and put all four of them through college,” Northam said of Fairfax at the event. “I just want to make a point. That’s what makes this country great.”

The issues at the forefront of Fairfax’s campaign include affordable health care, improving public education and growing small businesses.

“We need to stand up and be proud of the values that we are bringing to this debate,” Fairfax said. “Proud of us reclaiming what it means to be American, what it means to be Virginian, to be inclusive to give everyone a shot at the American dream.

“No matter where you were born, what your last name is, who you love, the color of your skin, your gender, you will get a shot to rise and achieve the American dream. It’s who we are as Democrats, it’s who we are as Americans, and we get to reaffirm those values,” Fairfax added.

Washington resident Tatiana Torres said at Sunday’s event that she’ll fight for Fairfax to win the election even though she can’t vote for him herself.

“I think it’s important that we elect leaders like Justin and the team he’s working with,” Torres said. “Because as a woman of color, he represents us and we need leaders that represent our communities and understand our needs and know exactly where we’re coming from.”

By Annie Gallo and Alexandra Sosik (Special to WTVR.com)

EDITOR’S NOTE: WTVR.com has partnered with the “iPadJournos” mobile and social media journalism project at VCU’s Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture. Students from the project reported the following story.