One of Virginia’s most competitive races in this year’s House of Delegates elections is in Hampton Roads.

House District 89, which encompasses parts of Chesapeake and Suffolk, is up for grabs as one-term incumbent Baxter Ennis, a Republican, isn’t seeking reelection. Chesapeake represents nearly 70% of the overall district.

It’s one of two districts in the state that will have a Republican and Democratic primary June 17. All four candidates claim deep roots in Chesapeake — Republicans Mike Lamonea and Kristen Shannon, and Democrats Blaizen Buckshot Bloom and Karen “Kacey” Carnegie.

Campaign finance

The race is expected to be costly — Democrats already are spending thousands in hopes of maintaining a House majority and flipping a seat they lost in 2023 . Party leaders seemingly have rallied behind Carnegie as the House Democratic Caucus spent $9,436 on in-kind donations to fund a campaign manager’s salary and benefits, and Secure Progress PAC contributed $1,000.

Carnegie reports $32,460 in donations as of March 31, according to information from the Virginia Public Access Project on the latest campaign finance reports . That also includes $1,000 from Del. Cliff Hayes, $250 from Chesapeake City Council member Pat King and $150 from council member Ella Ward.

Bloom reports $18,946 in donations, mostly from smaller donors — except $10,075 from Aaron Brittain.

Republicans seem to be rallying behind Lamonea, who has raised the most — reporting $75,212 in donations, including a $25,000 loan from himself. More than half of his funds are from larger donations and donors, including $11,000 from Ennis, $5,000 from Del. Todd Gilbert, $1,000 from Sen. Christie New Craig and $500 from Chesapeake Mayor Rick West. He also was endorsed by U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans.

Meanwhile, smaller dollar donations and an $18,000 loan from Shannon’s law firm have fueled her campaign, which has raised $21,070. She received $250 from former Chesapeake City Commonwealth’s Attorney Nancy Parr.

Republican priorities

Lamonea, 53, sits on the Chesapeake School Board and is a retired special agent and executive with ICE Homeland Security Investigations. He said both roles equip him to take on his top priorities of enhancing school security, improving education and boosting public safety resources. He touted leading efforts to implement a school resource deputy program in Chesapeake elementary schools.

“I’ll continue to ensure parents have a voice in their children’s education, protect our classrooms from political agendas, expand our mental health resources,” Lamonea said. “Of course, fight for higher educational standards. And I want to work to establish a regional career center so students can pursue their passions.”

Lamonea also said he supports pushes from Gov. Glenn Youngkin to eliminate grocery and car taxes.

Shannon, an attorney at Shannon & Associates, P.C., emphasized the importance in staving off Democrats’ push for constitutional amendments for abortion access — one of her biggest priorities if elected. Shannon, 44, said constituents have told her abortion up to time of birth is too extreme, but she also said the issue requires investing resources for the women making such decisions.

“I think that sometimes as Republicans, we have not done a great job with (abortion) issue, because the reality is abortion is about the unborn child, but it’s also about the women who are carrying these children,” Shannon said. “And so I think that that (distinction) needs to be made.”

If elected, Shannon wants to prioritize lowering taxes. And as a wife of a former service member, Shannon also said she wants to be a voice for veterans. She felt compelled to run after the controversy around changes to the Virginia Military Survivors & Dependents Education Program .

“Fortunately, the right decision was made eventually, but that was certainly a lot of stress for parents and for college students who maybe hadn’t put away money and weren’t prepared to pay for college out of their pockets because they were relying on a promise that Virginia had made,” Shannon said. “And so as a military spouse myself, that was certainly quite alarming.”

Democrats’ priorities

Carnegie’s prime concerns center around lowering costs for Virginia families, which would include reintroducing a minimum wage increase, protecting Medicaid and Medicare access and lowering child care and prescription drug costs. Other priorities include improving schools, with more investments in teachers and infrastructure and passing “common-sense” gun laws.

“I’m a supporter of the Second Amendment, but I do think that we need to make sure that any individual who wants to own a gun, operate a gun, and our first responders, are properly trained,” Carnegie, 41, said.

Carnegie, an attorney at Carnegie Law Group, is used to advocating in her line of work and intends to take that same approach to Richmond if elected.

“Watching the chaos that’s happening in Washington currently with what (President) Donald Trump’s doing, what Elon Musk is doing — I felt like this one was a little bit personal,” Carnegie said. “I couldn’t stand by and just watch Chesapeake and Suffolk not have a voice in that, and not be able to stand up against that in Richmond.”

Bloom, 21, said his decision to run is fueled by his background coming from a lower-income, working-class family that dealt with health and disability issues.

“I don’t think that anybody, especially kids, should grow up and worry about denying themselves care as to not put a financial strain on the household,” Bloom said.

Bloom’s top priorities include expanding health care access, especially for veterans and for programs such as Medicaid, in hopes of eventually working toward universal health coverage. And in the face of potential federal cuts, Bloom wants to protect existing access.

Other priorities include reinstating a minimum wage increase and repealing Virginia’s “right to work” laws to expand collective bargaining capabilities across industries.

“‘(Right) to work’ really only benefits the largest, the most wealthy corporations that instead of putting money back into the communities, hoard it and keep it from going into lower cost for consumers, better quality products for consumers, or better wages and working conditions for workers,” Bloom said.