Last night, the 33rd Legislative District Committee met to determine the replacement for former Republican Speaker and House Leader Todd Gilbert. Gilbert had been serving in the House of Delegates since the mid 2000’s, and was seen as a legend for his ability to keep Republicans on message and was easily the most conservative Speaker in the last 100 years in Virginia.
Last night, the 33rd LDC determined that Shenandoah County resident Justin Pence would replace Todd Gilbert in the House of Delegates. The 33rd Legislative District encompasses all of Shenandoah County, all of Page County, the 1st Magisterial District of Rockingham County, and 2 precincts in southern Warren County. The 33rd House District is overwhelmingly Republican, with Todd Gilbert receiving 77%+ of the vote in November 2023.
Gilbert resigned from the House of Delegates earlier this summer, as he was appointed to be the next District Attorney in Western Virginia for the Trump administration. Because of time constraints, the 33rd LDC decided they would choose the nominee at a meeting on July 29. Running for the vacated seat were:
Justin Pence – farmer and business owner
Ashleigh Kimmons – Strasburg Town Vice Mayor
Keven Walker – head of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefield Foundation
Dewey Ritchie – Rockingham Board of Supervisors Member from District 1 (Ritchie withdrew from the race earlier this week)
Brad Pollack – former Shenandoah County District 3 Board of Supervisors Member
Pence, a former Member of the Shenandoah County Republican Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce, is both a farmer and small business owner and from a prominent family in Shenandoah County. Pence wants to protect Virginia’s farmland and cut regulations to help stimulate business growth.
Pence is a former Shenandoah County Chamber of Commerce “Citizen of the Year” for all his work in Shenandoah County. He is the President of the Valley Baseball League Woodstock River Bandits and serves on numerous other boards and commissions as well. Pence is the State Director of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation. Pence won last night’s vote with approximately 53% of the weighted LDC vote.
Vice Mayor Ashleigh Kimmons and Keven Walker didn’t win but clearly showed they both have a future in local politics. Both Kimmons and Walker are the future of the Republican Party in the North Shenandoah Valley.
To learn more about Justin Pence – go to his website at https://pencefordelegate.com/
