Jim Mitchell has launched an energetic campaign to unseat Ken Cuccinelli, who has served in the state senate for just one year. Mitchell is a moderate, as are most residents of the district. The community, like Mitchell, values the importance of public schools in the community.
Mitchell will address the practical problems faced day to day by his constituents, problems like overcrowded schools and spot transportation improvements.
No one who knows Cuccinelli is indifferent about him. His approach in the Senate has alienated many, even in his own party, making him less effective as a legislator.
For many members of the General Assembly from Northern Virginia, tax restructuring is an opportunity to allow for revenue growth in the future, even if the first year is "revenue neutral." But Cuccinelli refuses to allow for this as a possibility. Revenue neutral is a ceiling, he says. It is an approach that will choke local schools and roads and deny adequate services to Virginia's neediest citizens.