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Schuyler VanValkenburg

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Schuyler VanValkenburg
Image of Schuyler VanValkenburg

Democratic Party

Virginia State Senate District 16
Tenure

2024 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

1

Predecessor
Prior offices
Virginia House of Delegates District 72
Successor: Lee Ware

Compensation

Base salary

$18,000/year

Per diem

$213/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 7, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

University of Richmond

Personal
Profession
Teacher
Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal Facebook

Schuyler VanValkenburg (Democratic Party) is a member of the Virginia State Senate, representing District 16. He assumed office on January 10, 2024. His current term ends on January 12, 2028.

VanValkenburg (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Virginia State Senate to represent District 16. He won in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Biography

VanValkenburg was born in Johnstown, New York. He received his B.A. from the University of Richmond. His professional experience includes working as a teacher for Henrico County Public Schools.[1]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

VanValkenburg was assigned to the following committees:

2020-2021

VanValkenburg was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

VanValkenburg was assigned to the following committees:


The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2023

See also: Virginia State Senate elections, 2023

General election

General election for Virginia State Senate District 16

Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated incumbent Siobhan Dunnavant in the general election for Virginia State Senate District 16 on November 7, 2023.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Schuyler VanValkenburg
Schuyler VanValkenburg (D)
 
54.7
 
44,803
Image of Siobhan Dunnavant
Siobhan Dunnavant (R)
 
45.1
 
37,000
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
157

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 81,960
Candidate Connection = 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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Schuyler VanValkenburg advanced from the Democratic primary for Virginia State Senate District 16.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Siobhan Dunnavant advanced from the Republican primary for Virginia State Senate District 16.

Endorsements

VanValkenburg received the following endorsements.

2021

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2021

General election

General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 72

Incumbent Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated Christopher Holmes in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 72 on November 2, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Schuyler VanValkenburg
Schuyler VanValkenburg (D)
 
53.0
 
19,710
Image of Christopher Holmes
Christopher Holmes (R) Candidate Connection
 
46.8
 
17,427
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
63

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 37,200
Candidate Connection = 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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Schuyler VanValkenburg advanced from the Democratic primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 72.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 72

Christopher Holmes defeated Thomas Gardner in the Republican primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 72 on June 8, 2021.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Christopher Holmes
Christopher Holmes Candidate Connection
 
70.4
 
1,078
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Thomas Gardner
 
29.6
 
454

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 1,532
Candidate Connection = 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.

Campaign finance

2019

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2019

General election

General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 72

Incumbent Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated GayDonna Vandergriff in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 72 on November 5, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Schuyler VanValkenburg
Schuyler VanValkenburg (D) Candidate Connection
 
53.3
 
16,345
Image of GayDonna Vandergriff
GayDonna Vandergriff (R)
 
46.6
 
14,312
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
33

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 30,690
Candidate Connection = 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.

2017

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2017

General election

Elections for the Virginia House of Delegates took place in 2017. All 100 house seats were up for election. The general election took place on November 7, 2017. A primary election took place on June 13, 2017. The filing deadline for primary election candidates was March 30, 2017. The filing deadline for non-party candidates and candidates nominated by methods other than a primary was June 13, 2017.[2] Schuyler VanValkenburg (D) defeated Edward Whitlock III (R) in the Virginia House of Delegates District 72 general election.[3]

Virginia House of Delegates, District 72 General Election, 2017
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Schuyler VanValkenburg 52.83% 16,655
     Republican Edward Whitlock III 47.17% 14,869
Total Votes 31,524
Source: Virginia Department of Elections
Races we watched
Races to Watch-2017-badge.png

Ballotpedia identified 13 races to watch in the Virginia House of Delegates 2017 elections: four Democratic seats and nine Republican seats. Based on analysis of these districts' electoral histories, these races had the potential to be more competitive than other races and could possibly have led to shifts in a chamber's partisan balance.

This district was a Race to Watch because the incumbent did not file to run for re-election and the presidential candidate of the opposite party won in 2016. In 2015, incumbent Jimmie Massie (R), who was first elected in 2007, was unopposed in his bid for re-election. In his five elections for the Virginia House of Delegates, Massie only faced competition once—his first election in 2007. He declined to run in 2017. District 72 was one of 51 Virginia House districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election. Clinton carried District 72 by 5.4 points. Republican Mitt Romney won the seat in the 2012 presidential election by 8.7 points. As of 2017, District 72 covered parts of Henrico County.

Democratic primary election

Schuyler VanValkenburg ran unopposed in the Virginia House of Delegates District 72 Democratic primary.[4]

Ballotpedia will publish vote totals here after they become available.
Virginia House of Delegates, District 72 Democratic Primary, 2017
Candidate
Green check mark transparent.png Schuyler VanValkenburg

Republican primary election

Edward Whitlock III defeated Ernesto Sampson Jr. in the Virginia House of Delegates District 72 Republican primary.[5]

Virginia House of Delegates, District 72 Republican Primary, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Edward Whitlock III 67.22% 4,140
Ernesto Sampson Jr. 32.78% 2,019
Total Votes 6,159

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Schuyler VanValkenburg did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

2021

Schuyler VanValkenburg did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Candidate Connection

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

Expand all | Collapse all

1. Improving Virginia's education system. 2. Redistricting reform (anti-gerrymandering) and improving access to the ballot. 3. Ensuring affordable, accessible health care for all Virginians.
As a government and civics teacher for over a decade, I am deeply passionate about ensuring that all people have the opportunities to succeed through access to a good public education, a government that represents all people for who they are, and a democracy that is healthy and vibrant.
I look to two groups of people as models for public engagement: politicians and visionaries like James Madison and Abraham Lincoln who laid down the values that we strive to uphold in our quest for an ever more perfect union. The second group are civil rights icons, like John Lewis, A Phillip Randolph, and Dorothy Height, who fulfilled the promise of those ideals.
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner
Thoughtfulness, pragmatism, a strong moral compass, and a willingness to recognize what you don't know.
Dogged work ethic, intellectual curiosity, and a desire to uplift others.
Engaging with the community, understanding the pressing issues for Virginia and Henrico, and a willingness to listen to all voices.
That I fought to make Virginia a place where everyone could succeed, that I represented our core American values of equality and decency, and that I was an optimistic leader who sought to bridge divides in the name of making Virginian lives better.
Fall of the Berlin Wall, nine years old.
Grocery store clerk, fifteen years old, for four years.
Thanksgiving, because people come together to celebrate family and friends.
Akhil Reed Amar's The American Constitution: A Biography.
My bookshelves, for obvious reasons.
Billy Eilish "Bury a Friend," because my 9 and 11 year old daughters won't stop playing it in the car on the way to school.
No, it's more important that you have passion to serve your community.
Transportation, the neglect of our public education system over the last decade, economic development, making sure Virginians have good paying middle class jobs.
They should work together where they can, but play the critical role of being a check and balance upon each others power in the government.
It's one of the most important parts of the job, because it helps you build bridges to create bipartisan legislation that leads to better outcomes for Virginians.
An independent citizen-led commission with criteria that precludes partisan data from being used.
As a teacher, I think education is one of the most urgent areas the states has to address. And as a government teacher, I think elections and democracy are the foundation of governance.

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.

2017

VanValkenburg’s campaign website highlighted the following issues:[6]

“

Economic Opportunity

I believe in creating an economic environment that creates opportunity for all. Our legislature has spent the past eight years pursuing policies which promote the economic livelihood of the few here in Virginia, and the interest of key campaign contributors. We need to - and can - fix our tax and infrastructure policies to support middle-class families instead.

  • Updating the tax code. Due to a dysfunctional General Assembly tax breaks for special interests are costing the state $2.3 billion a year.
  • Promote infrastructure spending, in tandem with the national government to help bring quality jobs to all Virginians.

Improved Healthcare

Virginia has done very little in recent years to ensure the ongoing health of our citizens, squandering important opportunities to extend coverage and services.

  • Virginia needs to expand Medicaid under the opportunities available under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion will fix the devastating coverage gap in Virginia, improve children's health, and even give more options to our veterans.
  • We need to treat addiction as a disease rather than criminalizing it. Embracing modern techniques for recovery, financial help for recovery programs, and smarter legal structures and systems will keep Virginia from enduring the most devastating consequences of the opiate addiction crisis.

Democracy and Civic Engagement

As a teacher, I have seen the transformative power of knowledge and democratic engagement. One of the core values of my campaign is broadening the dialogue and encouraging more members of our community to have a voice in the political process at every level. This includes lowering barriers to voting, ending gerrymandering to create competitive districts where candidates must really pay attention to their constituents, and reigning in abuses of the campaign finance system,

  • End all barriers to voting, including discriminatory Voter ID laws, extending voting times, and easing precinct lines.
  • Create a campaign finance system that emphasizes fairness and transparency while also being actively enforced.

Education

I believe in extending access to high quality education through student loans and tuition price freezes, an expansion of pre-K access, strengthening our standards and professional resources in K-12, and lowering class sizes.

  • The creation of a Student Loan Authority to help ease our citizen’s student loan crisis
  • Provide the funding and programs to create a ten-year plan to gradually increase pre-K education for all Virginians
  • Promoting a k-12 budget that prioritizes small class sizes, professional and well-paid teachers, and a curriculum suited for the 21st century.

Equality

I believe that Virginia has been and should be a bold symbol of American values of egalitarianism - every person, regardless of religion, sexuality, gender, or race should have the same legal rights, opportunities, and social status as everyone else.

  • Fight any attempt to pass “bathroom bills” or “religious freedom bills” that attempt to discriminate against the LGTBQ community.
  • Fight for reform in the criminal justice system.
  • Push back against any attempt to infringe on women’s health programs while fighting to end the gender pay gap.
  • Promote child leave policies that allow mothers and fathers to balance family and work.

Community Development

Virginia's state government can do more to help its counties and cities build infrastructure, fund crucial projects, and strengthen local programs on the ground.

  • Fight to ensure that the state lives up to its budgetary promises. There is currently a $600,000,000 shortfall in the education budget for localities.
  • Work to ensure that the Richmond metropolitan region has the funding and communication necessary to promote our economy. This includes local projects like revitalizing Lakeside Avenue and fixing the traffic on Sadler Road.

[7]

”

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Schuyler VanValkenburg campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2023Virginia State Senate District 16Won general$5,441,829 $3,475,970
2021Virginia House of Delegates District 72Won general$1,248,797 $941,611
2019Virginia House of Delegates District 72Won general$904,963 N/A**
Grand total$7,595,589 $4,417,581
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Endorsements

2017

In 2017, VanValkenburg’s endorsements included the following:

  • NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia[8]
  • Run for Something[9]
  • People for the American Way[10]

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Virginia

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Virginia scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019


2018




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External links

Candidate

Virginia State Senate District 16
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    Officeholder

    Virginia State Senate District 16
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ schuylervanvalkenburg.com, "Biography," accessed August 30, 2017
    2. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "Candidacy Requirements for the November 7, 2017 General Election," accessed March 21, 2017
    3. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 November General Unofficial Results," accessed November 7, 2017
    4. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 June Democratic Primary," accessed July 6, 2017
    5. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections, "2017 June Republican Primary," accessed July 6, 2017
    6. ↑ schuylervanvalkenburg.com, "Issues and Values," accessed August 30, 2017
    7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    8. ↑ NARAL, "2017 Endorsed House Candidates," accessed August 31, 2017
    9. ↑ Washington Post, "Democratic group endorses seven candidates under age 35 in Virginia delegate races," June 27, 2017
    10. ↑ People for the American Way, "Next Up Victory Fund Endorses in Virginia," August 29, 2017

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Joseph Morrissey (D)     		Virginia State Senate District 16
    2024-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -
    Preceded by
    -     		Virginia House of Delegates District 72
    2018-2024    		 Succeeded by
    Lee Ware (R)


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