Category: Helmer Happenings

I have some fundamental beliefs. Our nation is a good and decent country, inhabited by good and decent people, who want to do well by themselves and their families. At our best, we are noble, with deeds throughout our history that speak to the potential for goodness — a small one among them welcoming my…

On Friday evening, we by-and-large wrapped up the Special Session called in August in response to the pandemic and demands for racial justice. As your Delegate, I have heard overwhelmingly from our community on the need for action in response to these unprecedented challenges. In response, we have held one of the longest and most…

During the 2020 session, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a historic budget, affirming our commitment to public education, first responders, our environment, and all Virginia workers, while ensuring we remain a strong Commonwealth for business. As the coronavirus crisis has impacted our Commonwealth and country, we have had to make adjustments to the budget due to…

233 years ago today, delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution of the United States and sent it off to the thirteen states, crossing their fingers for ratification. They set forth their purpose in the preamble, “to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the…

It’s been 176 days since COVID-19 was declared a National Emergency. For too many, it has meant a loss of health or life. For too many others, it’s cost them their job. For our kids, it’s meant a school year cut short and another year that is far from normal. I ran to represent us…

In March, we closed out a historic General Assembly, just as a national emergency was declared for COVID-19. Our values haven’t changed since then, but our world has. On Tuesday, I went down to Richmond for a special and extraordinary session of the General Assembly during which we will address COVID-19 and make additional efforts…

Clifton, Virginia was founded by freedmen more than a century ago. With that history in mind, the Town of Clifton hung a sign above Main Street proclaiming, “Welcome to Clifton Where Black Lives Matter.” Sunday night, vandals stole the sign in the cover of darkness. We will restore the sign in Clifton, just as today…

A few weeks ago in our district, in a town built on former plantation land by freed slaves, the Clifton Town Council raised a banner, “Welcome to Clifton Where Black Lives Matter.” In a Commonwealth where we have acquiesced to systemic racism expressed in an unequal education system; high mortality rates for Black mothers; a…

There’s something special about a bill you’ve fought for becoming a law. As a new legislator, I’m both excited and humbled that several bills I’ve championed are now officially the law of Virginia. Based on a conversation with a woman who had the courage to come forward and discuss with our office a sexual assault…

In dark times, it can be hard to find hope. This week gave us cause. Early in my Army career, a West Point classmate confided in me that he was gay. Having served honorably in Iraq, his chief fear was not being sent back to a war zone but that he would be discharged simply…