Former House of Delegates member Cheryl Turpin has filed for and been certified as a candidate in November’s Virginia Beach City Council and Mayoral election. Turpin, a long-time LGBTQ ally, will run for the Rose Hall seat.
Turpin will face off against current Rose Hall councilmember Michael Berlucchi; Gary Hubbard, who ran for the Council’s at-large seat in 2018; and C. Conrad Schesventer II, who ran for the Rose Hall seat in 2019.
The election is November 3, 2020.
“I have been very disappointed in the Council’s leadership and response to the events of the past year in Virginia Beach,” she told OutWire757. “I hope to restore some of that firm leadership and action so sorely needed right now.”
“I decided to turn my attention to City Council after their inaction following the shooting on May 31 of last year,” she said. “At that time, myself and Delegate Kelly Flower wrote a letter to every member of Council demanding an independent study but received no immediate response.”
After an outpouring of public pressure, Council voted more than a month later to hire an independent firm to conduct the investigation.
“We had to initiate that,” said Turpin.
“I also am appalled at the Council’s lack of clear action to the pandemic and the racial distress happening in our city right now,” she said. “You don’t have to make a bold, crazy statement, sometimes your presence is all that’s needed. That’s what’s lacking in City Council. Where are they?”
Turpin represented Virginia’s 85th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2020. In 2019, she was unsuccessful in her bid for the District 7 Virginia State Senate seat.
While in Richmond, Turpin was an outspoken advocate for the Equality Act and well as sweeping legislation for LGBTQ rights and protections. She also served on the Education Committee, and is a science teacher in the Virginia Beach Public Schools.
