Laura Habr

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Laura Habr

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 2, 2021

Personal

Birthplace

Virginia Beach, Va.

Profession

Restaurant co-owner & operator

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Instagram

Laura Habr (Democratic Party) ran for election for Virginia Beach Treasurer. She lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.

Habr completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Laura Habr was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her career experience includes working as the co-owner and operator of a restaurant.

Elections

2021

See also: City elections in Virginia Beach, Virginia (2021)

General election

General election for Virginia Beach Treasurer

Incumbent Leigh Henderson defeated Laura Habr in the general election for Virginia Beach Treasurer on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Henderson (R)	62.4	94,398
		Laura Habr (D)	37.3	56,377
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	541

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,316
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Laura Habr advanced from the Democratic primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Leigh Henderson advanced from the Republican primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer.

2019

See also: City elections in Virginia Beach, Virginia (2019)

General election

Special general election for Virginia Beach Treasurer

Incumbent Leigh Henderson defeated Laura Habr and Ralph Parham II in the special general election for Virginia Beach Treasurer on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Henderson (R)	48.9	56,010
		Laura Habr (D)	37.0	42,382
	Submit photo	Ralph Parham II (Independent)	13.7	15,716
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	360

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 114,468
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer

Laura Habr advanced from the special Democratic primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer on June 11, 2019.

		Candidate
✔		Laura Habr

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Special Republican primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer

Incumbent Leigh Henderson defeated Clay Atkinson in the special Republican primary for Virginia Beach Treasurer on June 11, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Leigh Henderson	62.4	9,180
	Submit photo	Clay Atkinson	37.6	5,543

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,723
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Habr was endorsed by:

• U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.)
• U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Va.)
• Congresswoman Elaine Luria
• Governor Ralph Northam (D) and Pam Northam
• State Senator Lynwood Lewis (D-Virginia State Senate District 6)
• Virginia Beach Commissioner of the Revenue Phil Kellam
• Hampton City Treasurer Molly Ward
• The Honorable Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond
• Virginia Beach Police Benevolent Association Local 23
• Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter
• Greater Hampton Roads Black Democrats
• Hampton Roads Black Caucus
• BlueUprising "I Surf I Vote"
• Virginia Beach Democratic Committee

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Laura Habr completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Habr's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Laura is a longtime community leader who has worked most notably, advocating for environmental resiliency, smoking ban in restaurants, gender equality, increased LGBTQ+ rights and racial equity. Her efforts led to her selection as First Citizen in 2019 by the VA Beach Jaycees.

In 2017, she became a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Protecting the Atlantic Coast, leading the fight on the prohibition of offshore drilling while working to promote offshore wind in addition to championing environmental issues and sustainable tourism. Governor Tim Kaine chose her restaurant for his bill signing ceremony for the smoking ban in 2009. She’s a founding member of several nonprofits, a farmers market and the ViBe Creative District befitting citizens. She’s served two decades on various VA Beach City Council and Governor appointed commissions. Most recently, receiving a 2021 VA Beach Human Rights Award. She helped form a grassroots effort called “Listen, Learn, Love VB” addressing issues of systemic racism and highlighted by VA Beach native Pharrell Williams in June 13, 2020 in a social media Instagram post.

During the height of the COVID19 pandemic, she facilitated numerous small business roundtables to share recovery concerns with local, state and federal elected officials. She’s prepared on day one to serve taxpayers by bringing pragmatic leadership, customer service, and business experience to better manage the Treasurer’s office after decades of decline.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Customer Service
• Accountability
• Transparency

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Environmental sustainability benefiting both human health and the overall economy. We can do both, grow our economy and keep our communities whole and healthy.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2019

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released September 19, 2019

Laura Habr completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Habr's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Laura Wood Habr is a Virginia Beach native whose experiences running a small family business and over two decades of volunteer work have given her a unique perspective on our diverse community and insight into ways our citizens' lives can be improved. She understands their everyday struggles and wants to find ways to make interactions with the Treasurer's office more responsive, efficient, accountable and transparent. She and her husband Kal have owned Croc's 19th Street Bistro for over 25 years.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We elect our City Treasurer to protect the taxpayers' interests, not to serve the City's interests. There has not been a comprehensive independent audit of this elected office for over 40 years! This is not acceptable. My Priority One: I will immediately commission an independent third-party audit and investigation to provide a clear and objective view of office operating practices and any current defects. My Priority Two: I will utilize the audit findings in restructuring the office operating structure with efficient, accountable customer-focused processes. My Priority Three: Never let my staff forget who pays the bills for our City: the taxpayers.
• The Treasurer manages the billing, collection and investment of the City's taxes.The duties are defined in law but the management of those duties falls upon the treasurer and are subject to review by the voters. My experience as a successful business owner/operator and managing both commercial and non-profit enterprises in the private sector over the past 20 years abundantly qualifies me to manage and lead the operations of the Treasurer's Office. I have worked effectively with residents and business operators and will do the same to improve the operations and culture of the Treasurer's Office
• I will transition the disjointed legacy data management systems on which the current treasurer depends to contemporary technologies with efficient and accountable processes, and report on office operations and investment activities to provide transparency. I will provide citizens with secure access to personal accounts to confirm their status and transact their business. I will work for, and with, taxpayers to make their required experiences with the Treasurer's Office fast, fair and efficient.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The City Treasurer is a Constitutional Officer, directly elected by Virginia Beach voters and accountable to them. That means meeting their expectation: answering their questions, quickly correcting mistakes, helping them fix problems. The Treasurer is supposed to serve as an advocate for the people and keep the bureaucracy out of the way. My volunteer work has included sustainability initiatives for a clean environment to protect our clean air and water, support local farmers, artists, businesses.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2021 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

Virginia Beach Treasurer

Website

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