Patrick Hope: Why you should vote for me in the 47th District

Last week, we invited the two candidates running in the general election for House of Delegates race for the 47th District to write a post about why our readers should vote for them next Tuesday (Nov. 2).

Here is the unedited response from Patrick Hope:

It has been a privilege serving as Delegate to the 47th District, representing Arlington since 2010 and I would be honored to continue serving the people of this District.

As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is so much opportunity to build on the results Democrats have delivered over the last two years. In particular, I’m greatly concerned about the increase in mental illness and substance abuse. We need to significantly increase funding for community-based services to prevent children and adults from going into crisis.

Likewise, we’ve seen the devastating impact this pandemic has had on the residents of nursing homes, assisted living, and other congregate living settings. We are having a workforce shortage in all these areas like we have never seen before and we need to begin to make investments in our public and private insurance infrastructure to take care of our most vulnerable residents – the elderly and people with mental and physical disabilities.

As Chair of the House Public Safety Committee, I have overseen the passage of legislation requiring background checks, extreme risk protective orders, reinstituting the one-handgun-a-month law, and prohibiting firearms in public buildings, polling places, and the Virginia Capitol.

I believe we have a moral obligation to make our society a better and more inclusive place. It is who I am at my core. As Hubert Humphrey said “the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life–the sick, the needy and the handicapped”. I believe the government can and should take care of those most in need and as long as I represent the people of Arlington, I will continue to make good on this belief.

Maintaining our House Democratic majority and electing Terry McAuliffe, Hala Ayala, and Mark Herring, is the only way Virginia can continue to move forward. We can continue to lead the nation in tackling gun violence, protecting our environment, bringing clean energy jobs to our state, investing in our teachers and our children and so much more – but only if we go out and VOTE.

As your Delegate, I am proud of the progress we’ve made over the last two years, and I know that we have so much more work to do together. I sincerely hope to earn your vote on Tuesday, November 2nd. For more information or to contact my office, please visit my website at www.HopeforVirginia.org and visit iwillvote.com to find your polling place.