{"id":8011,"date":"2013-10-21T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=8011"},"modified":"2013-10-20T23:04:38","modified_gmt":"2013-10-21T03:04:38","slug":"16th-district-house-race-update-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/21\/16th-district-house-race-update-2\/","title":{"rendered":"16th District House Race \u2013 Update #2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for our second look at the region&#8217;s 16th District House of Delegates race. Let&#8217;s see what has changed&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>For reference, here&#8217;s our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/24\/16th-district-house-race-update-1\" target=\"_blank\">first look at the race<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Recap: Incumbent Don Merricks is not running for re-election. Two newcomers, Republican Les Adams and Democrat Elizabeth Jones are running for the seat.<\/p>\n<p>Notes since last update for each :<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Adams<\/strong>: Adams is running an error-free campaign so far. He&#8217;s got plenty of money to make it to the finish line.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Jones<\/strong>: Jones&#8217; campaign is falling apart quickly. Her latest statements can be summarized by &#8220;Republicans are causing the problems in the USA. My opponent is a Republican, therefore he&#8217;s part of the problem.&#8221; She also failed miserably with an advertisement trying to link Adams to pro-uranium mining. Adams was able to brush it off quickly and this made Jones look quite ridiculous.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thoughts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jones had a decent potential to make this race slightly competitive but has totally blown it by sticking to generic Democratic taking points.<\/li>\n<li>The horrible hit-piece mailer from the state Democratic Party really wasn&#8217;t thought over very well and Jones didn&#8217;t help herself at all by trying to defend it.<\/li>\n<li>Adams is on cruise control now and seems to have been in that pattern since the campaign started. For a first time candidate, it&#8217;s amazing to see how smooth he&#8217;s been.<\/li>\n<li>Jones has never picked up any traction except from her core base. That&#8217;s a mistake that first-time candidates easily make.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The race was Adams&#8217; to lose from the start and he&#8217;s done nothing to do that. I&#8217;m disappointed that Jones regressed to name-calling and hasn&#8217;t presented her viewpoints in a positive way. There&#8217;s absolutely no reason to change our rating on this race, so it will stay &#8220;<strong>SAFE \u2013 Adams&#8221;<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for our second look at the region&#8217;s 16th District House of Delegates race. Let&#8217;s see what has changed&#8230;<\/p>\n<p> [&#8230;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"16th District House Race \u2013 Update #2","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64,22,26,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-henry-county","category-opinioncentral","category-pittsylvania-county","category-politicscentral","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pwqFk-25d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7916,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2013\/09\/24\/16th-district-house-race-update-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":0},"title":"16th District House Race &#8211; Update #1","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"September 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We're going to slide back into the election season as we take a look at a race that has no incumbent. Incumbent Don Merricks decided to not run for re-election because of the need for him to manage his own business. The Southside region will lose a good and influential\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Henry County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Henry County","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/henry-county\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8069,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/31\/endorsement-les-adams-for-16th-district-house-of-delegates\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":1},"title":"Endorsement: Les Adams for 16th District House of Delegates","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"October 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Les Adams has done everything that's needed to show us that he'll make a good Delegate in Virginia's General Assembly. When Don Merricks decided not to run for re-election, SouthsideVA lost a good man in the House of Delegates. Les Adams stepped up and won the Republican primary in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Endorsements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Endorsements","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/politicscentral\/endorsements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14331,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/10\/27\/endorsement-marshall-adams-edmunds-for-delegate\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":2},"title":"Endorsement: Marshall, Adams, Edmunds for Delegate","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It's one week before the general election and it's also the start of a week filled of SouthsideCentral political endorsements. We're going to get started with the easiest ones. Let's talk about the region's Virginia House of Delegate races. They're all unopposed. 14th District Delegate Danny Marshall, 16th District Delegate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Endorsements&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Endorsements","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/politicscentral\/endorsements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5438,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/30\/9th-district-house-race-update-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":3},"title":"9th District House Race \u2013 Update #1","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"September 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The 9th District includes Floyd County, Franklin County and the northwest part of Pittsylvania County. Let's take a look at this race. Charles Poindexter is running for re-election for the first time and he's facing a candidate from the Independent Green party. >>> Charles Poindexter (R): In his first term,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;OpinionCentral&quot;","block_context":{"text":"OpinionCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/opinioncentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9852,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2014\/08\/16\/5th-district-congress-race-update-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":4},"title":"5th District Congress Race &#8211; Update #1","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"August 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"It's baaaaaack! It's that time again where we have to choose our representative for the U.S. House. Let's look at the field and see where we're standing in our first update for the season. Election Day is Tuesday, November 4th (80 days away from this publishing day). Here's the candidates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;PoliticsCentral&quot;","block_context":{"text":"PoliticsCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/politicscentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"sclogo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/sclogo.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":94069,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2019\/11\/04\/endorsements-the-lightning-round\/","url_meta":{"origin":8011,"position":5},"title":"ENDORSEMENTS: The Lightning Round","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"November 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"There's no excuses. I'm just running out of time. Let's get our endorsements on record for Tuesday's election... and let's do them fast. 16th District House of Delegates: Challenger Dustin Evans is a good guy, but he needs more civic experience to be taken as a serious challenger here. Les\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;SouthsideCentral&quot;","block_context":{"text":"SouthsideCentral","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/southsidecentral\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/sclogo200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8012,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8011\/revisions\/8012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}