Just one year after electing a new Brookland District representative on the Henrico Board of Supervisors for the first time in three decades, voters will be asked to make another selection.

Harvey Hinson has stepped back into the role of interim supervisor. (Photo courtesy Henrico County Board of Supervisors)

Courtney Lynch, whose election last fall gave Democrats their first majority on the board in decades, resigned from her seat effective June 30 after public clashes with county officials and fellow board members. At the last meeting she attended — accompanied by her 8-year-old son, Brady — on June 26, interactions with her colleagues appeared cordial and there was no mention of her imminent departure.

“I was honored to have the opportunity to serve," Lynch says via email, "but I realize the role was not a fit for me.”

On July 10, the board voted to hold a Nov. 6 special election to replace Lynch and turned again to Harvey L. Hinson, a retired deputy county manager, to fill the seat in the interim. Hinson served for nine months after longtime Brookland District supervisor Richard W. Glover died in February 2017.

As of mid-July, two Republican candidates had emerged: Henrico School Board member Beverly Cocke and Dan Schmitt, president of RMC Events, an event staffing firm.

For the Democrats, Danny Plaugher, the executive director of Virginians for High Speed Rail, is planning another run after unsuccessfully challenging Glover in 2015 and losing the nomination to Lynch last year, and Justin House, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist in Chesterfield County and chief operating officer at Trinity Baptist in Richmond, also announced his candidacy.

Beverly Cocke (Photo courtesy Beverly Cocke)

Cocke says that if she's elected, it would be the first time for a School Board member to move to the Board of Supervisors. During her two terms on the School Board, on which she twice served as chairwoman, she gained familiarity with the county's budget. Since 1996, when Glover appointed her to the Keep Henrico Beautiful Committee, she has served in a variety of other roles, such as the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission.

"I'm not a politician, really," she says, noting her previous community activism as a Girl Scout leader, PTA president and school volunteer, Sunday school teacher, and Henrico Christmas Mother.

Dan Schmitt (Photo courtesy Dan Schmitt)

"I had not planned on running [for the Board of Supervisors] until Ms. Lynch resigned," Cocke says. At that point, I thought, 'Enough’s enough. We need to have a voice, and we need to have a proven leader.' "

Schmitt says he considered running for the seat in last year's special election, but the timing was not right for him. He says he's motivated to seek public office by love for the community. In addition to operating his business for the past 19 years, he serves as president of the Glen Allen Youth Athletic Association and represents Henrico on the Capital Region Airport Commission. Schmitt says he would like to follow Glover's model of community engagement.

"For 30 years we had a wonderful, engaged, ever-present leader," Schmitt says. "He was legendary for driving up and down the streets and talking to people. It could be in Hardee's having a cup of coffee ... you don’t realize what you have until it’s not there."

Danny Plaugher (Photo by Ricky Blanco)

Plaugher says he sees Henrico as a county in transition, and he wants to continue efforts to modernize the county through initiatives such as expanded public transit, building more sidewalks and ensuring that pay for teachers, firefighters and police officers is competitive with other localities.

"There has been some progress on those priorities that originally got me motivated to run in 2015," he says. "Now … I want to continue moving things forward."

House's bid for the Brookland District seat is his first entry into politics, but he emphasizes his church and community leadership as the immediate past chairman of the Henrico Too Smart 2 Start Coalition, a nonprofit that works to reduce youth substance abuse and works closely with businesses, parents, Henrico public schools and mental health services.

Justin House (Photo courtesy Justin House)

Like many in the county, House says, he was shocked by Lynch's early resignation from the Brookland seat. After Glover had represented the district for nearly 30 years, House had been excited to see a change. He hopes to recapture the excitement that led to Lynch's election last fall.

"I want to make it clear that I would be committed to the task," he says. "Longevity would be, I feel, an important factor and that level of trust. ... I want to be transparent, return calls [and] be present, but also keep the lines of communication open." Job creation and youth involvement and safety would be focus areas for him, he says.

Republicans plan to hold a party canvass, or firehouse primary, on Aug. 16 from noon to 7 p.m. at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. Democrats have scheduled an assembled caucus on Aug. 11, also at the Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. Doors open at 10 a.m., and voters must be in line by 11 a.m. to participate.

Both parties face an Aug. 17 deadline to certify candidates.

Tuckahoe District Supervisor Patricia O’Bannon, a Republican, says she’d like to see a fiscal conservative on the board: “Whoever runs, I hope it’s someone who has an interest in finance, understands the county government, knows the community and is well-liked in the community.”

It's also important for a candidate to know what he or she is getting into, O'Bannon says. "When you’re a supervisor, you’ll get that 2 a.m. phone call. It’s a minimum of 30 hours a week. I think that’s part of what people don’t tell you when you run for office. It takes over your life – It becomes a huge part of your life."

Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson, a Democrat, says he'd like to see another Democrat in the seat, but a change in the board's composition won't stop the momentum on issues such as public transportation, education funding and health services.

“I think the general perception of the public was that things were going to change because we had a Democratic majority on the board,” he says. “The truth is, things were already moving forward. Having a colleague on the board helped move them along quicker.”