Ballots from the Historic Triangle to Prince William County in Northern Virginia will be considered in November’s election for the same U.S. House of Representatives seat, and that, according to a longtime Lafayette High School government teacher running a write-in campaign for the seat, is the problem.
Chris Hailey has taught government-related courses at Lafayette for almost 22 years. The non-partisan campaign for the 1st District seat was born not to win the seat but instead to educate people about three pieces of electoral reform he thinks can help shatter the perception of a single vote not making a difference: ending gerrymandering, reforming the electoral college to better reflect the popular vote, and increasing access to identification cards for voters.
“Your vote is only wasted if you know no matter what you do, you can’t make a difference,” Hailey told a crowd of supporters gathered for a small campaign event in the backyard of a house in James City County’s Rolling Woods neighborhood. “I’m telling you a vote for this campaign can make a difference.”
That difference, he said, can be made by removing politics from the drawing of political districts, something practiced by both major political parties. It can come to fruition by getting rid of the winner-take-all system in 48 states where electoral votes — which are used to elect the president — are given to the presidential candidate who wins the state’s popular vote instead of by congressional district, which would boost the voices of voters who live in states that regularly vote against their political interests. It could also be made by providing free and easy access to photo ID cards for voters across the country.
“We need to do a much better job of coming together around things we can all agree on instead of being so deeply divided as we have been over the last several years in particular,” Hailey said.
To help spread his message, Hailey has organized a small staff of former students like Campaign Manager A.C. Tierney, a soon-to-be sophomore at Ithaca College in New York.
“If you’ve never heard of anything related to electoral reform, read up on the issues,” she said. “The issues he’s talking about are really important.”
Tierney and a few others are organizing a social media campaign as well as some more campaign events before Election Day on Nov. 4. Absent from the ranks of his volunteers are current students, as Hailey believes it would be unethical for them to actively participate.
Several of the attendees at Wednesday’s campaign event were either former students or parents of former students, and they all said the same thing: Hailey is a good teacher, and his trio of issues are worth talking about.
“He’s very energetic,” said Mary Whitley, who worked with Hailey at Berkeley Middle School. “He has a very strong connection with the students. He makes them feel comfortable enough in the classroom to discover who they really are. My son really enjoyed his class.”
John Clary, whose son took a class from Hailey, said he hopes the campaign “wakes a few people up” about gerrymandering.
“If he can get young kids to vote, that’s great,” Clary said.
Ann Brown-Hailey, the candidate’s wife, said they have received affirmation from former students all over the country and in the community.
“We’re getting a lot of questions everywhere we go,” Brown-Hailey said, “everywhere from church to yoga class.”
Hailey gave his first political speech at Wednesday’s event.
“Does my vote count? Of course,” Hailey told the crowd. “The question is whether it matters, and that’s not so easy to answer. The reason I’m running is to bring attention to the issues that make people ask those questions.”
Hailey is running against a trio of candidates who will appear on the ballot in November: Republican Incumbent Rob Wittman, Democrat Norm Mosher and independent Glenda Gail Parker. They seek to represent a congressional district with the Historic Triangle and Poquoson in its southern-most reaches. The district encompasses the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck and spills into Fredricksburg and lands north to Prince William County.
Find Hailey’s campaign website here.
