Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Tavarris Spinks
Tavarris Spinks ran for election to the Richmond City Council to represent North Central 2nd Voter District in Virginia. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Spinks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Spinks' professional experience includes working as an IT project manager. He earned a bachelor's degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: City elections in Richmond, Virginia (2020)
General election
General election for Richmond City Council 2nd Voter District
Katherine Jordan defeated Tavarris Spinks in the general election for Richmond City Council 2nd Voter District on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Katherine Jordan (Nonpartisan) | 54.3 | 7,236 | |
 | Tavarris Spinks (Nonpartisan)  | 44.9 | 5,992 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 104 | ||
| Total votes: 13,332 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Ashley Jefferson (Nonpartisan)
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tavarris Spinks completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Spinks' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
In 2011 Tavarris joined other black voters filing a lawsuit against the state to contest the unconstitutional racial gerrymander of the House of Delegates map. In 2017 the Supreme Court ruled in the plaintiffs favor triggering a redrawing of House of Delegates district lines.
Professionally, he spent twelve years working as a bankruptcy specialist at Boleman Law Firm where helped folks navigate financial hardships. He is currently a project manager in the healthcare technology sector, where he oversees the development of care management software designed to streamline treatment plans for Medicaid recipients.
Tavarris has seen and experienced first hand the vast array of issues affecting this city, and he is determined to build a better Richmond that works for everyone.- Using the People's Money Wisely: Being a good steward of the people's money is one of the most sacred duties of any elected official. Tavarris will not support any increase of taxes until we can show that the revenue collected now is being used wisely.
- Fighting for Quality Public Education: Providing access to high quality education is the duty of every local government and Tavarris believes that our schools should be the pride of our community. That's why he is committed to fighting against cuts to the RPS budget and working with the School Board to ensure all students, teachers, and families are supported effectively.
- Fixing Broken Infrastructure: Building a better city means building new and enhanced infrastructure. It means making it safer and easier to get around. Pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and those using public transportation are united in the need for road and sidewalk improvements.
Smart Growth
-Work with the administration to reevaluate the tax abatement program that has allowed developers to pay little or no taxes for up to ten years.
-Fight to increase the amount of affordable housing in the city and keep communities of interest together.
-Advocate for the construction of new single and multifamily units to help stabilize housing prices in part by demanding concessions of developers: in order to receive tax abatements developers must agree to build a certain amount of affordable housing
-One-to-one replacement of any demolished public housing and keep communities of interest together.
Schools
-City Council is tasked with approving the RPS budget and Tavarris will work closely with the School Board, The Superintendent, and advocates to ensure funding is allocated effectively.
In addition to working with the School Board Tavarris will partner with the Richmond Delegation to the General Assembly to explore additional funding mechanisms from the State like the diversion of revenue from certain state sales taxes to bolster existing funding for RPS.
The daughter of a former slave, Maggie Lena Walker was born in Richmond just before the end of the Civil War, and she went on to become the first woman to own and run a bank in the United States.
Against the backdrop of Jim Crow, Walker made it her life's mission to empower Black communities through education and civic engagement, but her top priority was building Black wealth.
After opening the St. Luke Penny Saving Bank in 1903, she encouraged her community to open savings accounts and invest their money in Black-owned businesses. She focused her attention on empowering poor and working-class Black Richmonders, especially women, and lead to a significant increase in Black home ownership.
Mrs. Walker didn't have a seat at the table, so she built her own.
Creating a city in the spirit of Maggie Walker's vision means ensuring equity, justice, and opportunity for all, and that's precisely why I am running for office. Her fight for economic justice is as relevant today as it was at the turn of the century, and her legacy inspires me to continue my fight to build a better Richmond that works for everyone.
Appointments:
-City Auditor
- Assessor of Real Estate
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
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 30, 2020
| |||||||||
