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Virginia has closely watched state Senate primary

| Jun 07, 2023, 01:39:40 PM | AP
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On a recent Monday afternoon, Virginia state Sen. Joe Morrissey got a warm reception as he made his way up and down a neighborhood in Petersburg, knocking on doors, touting his credentials and asking residents for their votes in the upcoming Democratic primary. Voters say Morrissey is a familiar face as he spoke with them on front porches and in driveways in this hardscrabble city south of Richmond that makes up a sliver of the blue-leaning state Senate district where he and challenger Lashrecse Aird are competing in one of this year's most closely watched nomination contests. Morrissey, a veteran lawmaker and twice-disbarred attorney, has survived an extraordinary series of personal and political controversies in his decades in public office while also enjoying a reputation as an effective grassroots campaigner and criminal justice reform advocate who takes care of bread-and-butter issues for constituents. But his primary battle with Aird is testing the limits of that support. Morrissey is contending with a redrawn Senate district and political pressure over his centrist voting record on abortion at a time when Virginia Democrats are trying to fend off new restrictions backed by the state’s Republican governor. He also faces a bitter public dispute with his decades-younger estranged wife, who says Morrissey physically abused her, charges that Morrissey denies. Aird, a former member of the state House of Delegates who lost a 2021 re-election bid, is seeking to make the case to voters that Morrissey should be ousted largely for his position on abortion, which she argues constrains women's rights and endangers their health. Morrissey is a rare Democrat who identifies as pro-life though he supports some access to abortion. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Morrissey both endorsed the position that the decision to have an abortion should be between a woman and her doctor and the position that the procedure should be banned after the point at which a fetus can feel pain. He says he generally supports exceptions in cases of rape or incest. He defended his perspective in a lengthy combative exchange, saying he could not envision himself supporting the governor's proposed 15-week ban because he hasn't seen any empirical evidence to suggest that is the point at which a fetus begins to feel pain. “My opponent is a one-trick pony — let me just talk about abortion, let me borrow a half million dollars from my billionaire friend in Charlottesville, let me flood the airwaves with that and let me try to steal a state Senate seat," Morrissey said, referencing the backing Aird has received from the advocacy group Clean Virginia, which was founded by a wealthy investor. Aird, who describes herself as pro-choice has maintained throughout the campaign that it's not the place of the government to make decisions about abortion, even later in pregnancy. “If you know Joe, then you know that he also has just not been doing everything he said he was going to do when he got into this position of power in the Senate,” Aird, 36, told Tonisha Kinney of Henrico County as she canvassed this week. Aird, who works in higher education administration, has also touted her legislative work on criminal justice reform and economic development. She's pitched herself to voters as “principled” and “dependable” while avoiding the specifics of Morrissey's history. Among his past scandals was his resignation from the House after entering an Alford plea in 2014 to a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, his 17-year-old receptionist at his law firm. For a time, Morrissey — then in his 50s — spent his days working at the General Assembly, but his nights in jail as he served a work-release sentence. The former governor pardoned him last year. Morrissey and Myrna Morrissey later married and had three children together. But the two are currently separated and in the midst of legal disputes, including a divorce proceeding. Morrissey vehemently denies the allegations that he physically abused his wife.

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