Campbell County is a United States county situated in the south central part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Located in the Piedmont region of Virginia, Campbell borders the Blue Ridge Mountains. The county seat is Rustburg. Grounded on a tobacco cash crop economy, Campbell County was created in 1782 from part of Bedford County. The county was named in honor of General William Campbell, hero of the American Revolutionary War. Campbell County is part of the Lynchburg metropolitan area. At the 2020 census, the county population was 55,696. The number of residents has grown steadily in every census after 1930, and the total population has more than doubled since that time. Lynchburg was established in Campbell County in 1786, incorporated as a town in 1805, and separated from Campbell County when it became an independent city in 1852. Lynchburg has annexed additional land from Bedford County and Campbell County through the years, most recently in 1976.
Stephen Dwayne Newman is an American politician of the Republican Party. He served in the Virginia General Assembly from 1991 to 2024, first in the House (1991-1996) and then in the Senate of Virginia (1996–2024). In 2016, Newman became president pro tempore of the Senate of Virginia. However, in the 2019 Virginia Senate election, although Newman won re-election from his district, Democrats won the majority. On January 8, 2020, Louise Lucas, a senior Democratic senator succeeded Newman as president pro tempore.
Watkins Moorman Abbitt Jr. is an American politician. He is a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
John Leslie Brownlee is an American lawyer. He was the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2001 to 2008.
The murder of Yeardley Love took place on May 3, 2010, in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. Love, a University of Virginia (UVA) women's lacrosse student-athlete, was found unresponsive in her Charlottesville apartment, and later that day, UVA men's lacrosse player George Wesley Huguely V was arrested by Charlottesville police. Huguely was tried and found guilty of Love's murder, receiving a 23-year prison sentence.
Augustus Sol Invictus is an American far-right political activist, attorney, blogger and white nationalist.
Virginia's 22nd House of Delegates district elects one of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the state's bicameral legislature.
The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and far-right militias. Some groups chanted racist and antisemitic slogans and carried weapons, Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols, the Valknut, Confederate battle flags, Deus vult crosses, flags, and other symbols of various past and present antisemitic and anti-Islamic groups. The organizers' stated goals included the unification of the American white nationalist movement and opposing the proposed removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee from Charlottesville's former Lee Park. The rally sparked a national debate over Confederate iconography, racial violence, and white supremacy. The event had hundreds of participants.
Jason Eric Kessler is an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Kessler organized the Unite the Right rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 11–12, 2017, and the Unite the Right 2 rally held on August 12, 2018.
Christopher Charles Cantwell, also known as the Crying Nazi, is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist.
Virginia's 59th House of Delegates district elects one of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the state's bicameral legislature. District 59 represents part of Appomattox and Buckingham counties, as well as parts of Albemarle, Campbell, and Nelson counties. The seat is currently held by Republican C. Matthew Fariss.
On August 12, 2017, DeAndre Harris, a Black man, was assaulted by six White men in an attack in a parking garage next to the police headquarters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. Images and video of the assault captured by photojournalist Zach Roberts went viral and became a symbol of the enmity underlying the protest.
Elizabeth Rosalina Guzmán is a Peruvian-American politician and social worker who represented Virginia's 31st House of Delegates district in Virginia's House of Delegates. She served on the House committees on Privileges and Elections and Cities, Counties, and Towns. Guzman was a Democratic candidate for Virginia Lieutenant Governor in 2021. In 2023, she ran to represent Virginia's 29th Senate district, failing to unseat incumbent Jeremy McPike by only 50 votes.
Nathan Daniel Larson was an American white supremacist and convicted felon. A self-described "quasi-neoreactionary libertarian" who unsuccessfully ran for public office several times, he was expelled from the Libertarian Party of Virginia in 2017. Larson advocated for curtailing women's rights and decriminalizing child sexual abuse and incest.
Don Leonard Scott Jr. is an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 80th district. He was minority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2022 to 2024. On January 10, 2024, he became Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates. He is the first black speaker in Virginia's history.
Barbara Dittrich is an American politician. She was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly as a Republican in 2018, defeating Democratic candidate Melissa Winker 57.6 percent to 42.4 percent. She represents District 38 which is based around Oconomowoc and Lake Mills.
Jonathan Derrick Evans is an American politician who served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates for the 19th district from December 1, 2020, to January 9, 2021.
The 2023 Virginia House of Delegates election took place on November 7, 2023, concurrently with elections for the Virginia Senate, to elect members of the 163rd Virginia General Assembly. All 100 delegates were elected to two-year terms from single-member districts. Nomination primaries held through the Department of Elections were held June 20, 2023. Democrats gained 3 seats, winning back control with a 51–49 majority after having previously lost it in 2021.
Eric Zehr is an American Republican politician from Virginia. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in the 2023 Virginia House of Delegates election from the 51st district following census based redistricting. Before serving in the state legislature, Zehr was a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors from 2013 to 2017, and chaired the local Republican Party from 2015 to 2018. He was also chair of the 59th House District Republican Committee from 2016 to 2021. In the November 2023 election, he won 69% of the votes cast and defeated not only his Democratic rival, but also former 59th district Republican incumbent Matt Fariss, who faced significant legal troubles yet ran as an Independent.