Incumbent Working to Retain Seat so Republicans Can Take Over Virginia House

All eyes are turning to Virginia as the state heads into its off-year elections for governor and control of the Virginia House of Delegates this November. As Virginians cast their ballots this fall, Americans will get a glimpse of how people in this bellwether state feel about President Donald Trump, Republicans, and their policies.

In one such key race, Republican incumbent state Del. Ian Lovejoy and Democrat Elizabeth Guzmán, a former delegate for Virginia’s then-31st District, will go head-to-head on Nov. 5 to represent the state’s 22nd District in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Lovejoy secured over 52% of the district’s votes in the 2023 election, beating Democrat nominee Travis Nembhard. The delegate for a part of Prince William County in Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C., is running for his second term this year, citing the need to lower the cost of living in one of the most expensive places to live in Virginia.

“This session, I opposed $4 billion in new taxes and supported tax rebates to give every Virginia taxpayer a portion of their hard-earned money back,” Lovejoy told The Daily Signal. “I also co-patroned an initiative to eliminate the car tax through a constitutional amendment, but unfortunately, the majority party [Democrats] chose to kill this initiative.”

The Virginia delegate also said he is working to reduce crime and drug activity.

“I support federal law enforcement in their efforts to detain illegal immigrants who commit additional crimes and their expedited removal from our society,” Lovejoy said.

“I also supported a successful legislative initiative to hold drug dealers accountable by allowing manslaughter charges against them when their drugs lead to deadly overdoses,” he said. “After seeing what happened in our neighboring Loudoun County in my first term, I patroned successful legislation to combat the fentanyl crisis by making fentanyl education a statewide standard [in public schools].”

Regarding the rise in data centers in Prince William County, Lovejoy said he is actively working to protect communities from “the detriment of out-of-control data center sprawl.” Data centers are large facilities that manage, process, and share large amounts of internet data. They require massive amounts of electricity to run, which often requires the building of new electric grid infrastructure in the communities where they are located.

Northern Virginia is home to the largest data center market in the world, constituting 13% of all reported data center operational capacity globally and 25% of capacity in the Americas, according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Policy.

“A new issue that came out of the JLARC [Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission] study is that the data center industry will soon require infrastructure upgrades that could raise all ratepayers’ energy costs,” he said. “I have worked with necessary stakeholders to begin the work of ensuring data centers are paying their fair share and that ratepayers are not saddled with the cost.”

If reelected, Lovejoy said he would continue to regulate the data center industry and will “submit legislation that protects ratepayers” and “resubmit legislation to ensure these [data center] buildings are not built near homes, schools, or parks.”

When Guzman, a former delegate and Lovejoy’s competitor, announced her run for delegate in Virginia’s 22nd District on Jan. 21, she based her run on fighting back against President Donald Trump.

“Now, as Trump returns, I’m stepping back up. Virginia Democrats are defending a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates, and my red-to-blue race is in a district Trump lost—one of the best opportunities nationwide to win,” Guzman said in her campaign announcement. “To fight back against Trump’s attacks on our immigrant families, public schools, health care, reproductive rights, and civil service, we need Democratic state legislatures.”

Guzmán’s priorities, as listed on her website, include “reliable and efficient transportation,” “supporting veterans and military families,” and “protecting pregnant woman [sic] and reproductive freedom.” 

Regarding “commonsense gun safety,” her website notes that although she “respects the 2nd Amendment and would never do anything to impact the lives of law-abiding gun owners,” there is a need for “reasonable gun safety reforms.”

For instance, Guzmán supports “red flag laws” to permit a state court to order the temporary seizure of firearms of an individual when the court believes the person in possession of those firearms is at risk of harming himself or others.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris carried Virginia’s 22nd District by less than 2% over Trump in 2024. If this Nov. 5 election mirrors last year’s tight margins, the race for the district seat is likely to be highly competitive, with both sides vying for control.

The Daily Signal contacted Guzmán’s campaign but has not received comment as of publication time.

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