Meet The Candidate: Mark Levine For Lt. Governor, Delegate

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Mark Levine, 55, is running in the June 8 Democratic Primary in the lieutenant governor's race. He's also running for re-election to represent the 45th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Alexandria Vice-Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is challenging Levine in the 45th District race, which covers Alexandria and portions of Arlington.

The primary will decide which Democratic candidates will be on the ballot for the Nov. 2 general election. Early voting for the Democratic primary is already underway.

Patch asked each of the candidates running in the Democratic primary to fill out the following profile:

Candidate's Name

Mark Levine

Age (as of Election Day)

55

Position Sought

Delegate (45th), Lieutenant Governor

Party Affiliation

Democrat

Family

I'm single and have no children.

Education

• Harvard College (A.B. magna cum laude, macroeconomics)
• Université de Neuchâtel, (Fulbright Scholar in Switzerland)
• Yale Law School (J.D.)

Occupation

Member, Virginia House of Delegates (45th District), 6 years. Formerly Legislative Counsel to Congressman Barney Frank.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Member, Virginia House of Delegates (45th District), 6 years

Campaign website

LevineforVirginia.com, MarkforDelegate.com

Why are you seeking elective office?

We face a nationwide crisis of confidence in our elected government. Trumpism has fueled conspiracy theories. I think the best way to restore that confidence is to take what I’ve done as a Delegate and expand it with conversations all across Virginia. To build trust takes effort, and it takes time. That’s why I’m running to transform the office of Lieutenant Governor from a two-month-a-year office to a full year-round job, giving me time to personally visit and pay attention to every one of Virginia’s 133 localities.
In the event I don’t become Virginia’s next Lieutenant Governor, I’m running to continue to serve the 45th District through re-election to my fourth term. I’m proud of my accomplishments there. I’m the chair of two important subcommittees, Public Safety and Constitutional Amendments. I’m a former Deputy Whip. I introduced 47 bills last year — the second-most of any delegate — and passed half of them into law.

With my seniority and long history of competence both in progressive and bipartisan priorities, I’m confident, however I serve Virginia, whether as Lt. Governor or as Delegate, I will continue to lead the fight on common-sense gun reform, affordable health care, fighting climate change, giving working people a hand up, transparency, and protecting equal rights under the law.

The single most pressing issue facing Virginia is the crisis confidence in government, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Citizens need to know their elected officials are listening to them, telling the truth, and working with them to find practical answers to pressing problems. I’ve described what I intend to do about it above and below.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Over the past six years, I have had the honor of representing the people of Alexandria, Arlington, and Fairfax as one of the most transparent and accessible members of the General Assembly. As the Founder of the Virginia Transparency Caucus, I led the charge to open up our government to the public, by ensuring that all votes are recorded and all meetings are live streamed and archived online.

With Mark’s Monthly Meetups, I have been regularly available to answer questions and address citizen concerns for the last six years. I don’t answer emails with form letters. I tell constituents in particular why I agree or disagree with them. I explain in detailed newsletters every bill I write and why it passed or has not passed yet. Many of my constituents tell me my newsletters are the single best source of news they get on the General Assembly. I tell it like it is. I don’t mince words.

I also tend to take on hard assignments, the ones many of my colleagues don’t attempt because they consider them “impossible.” My opponents for Delegate, like my competitors in the Lieutenant Governor race, cannot match my penchant for detail, my energy, or my significant role in defensive legislating.

As your elected official, I provide: (1) the responsiveness to hear and understand a problem, (2) the imagination to determine a workable creative solution, (3) the passion to get folks behind this good idea, and (4) the necessary expertise to see it through to completion.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

I'm the incumbent Delegate running for re-election. I'm also running in an open race (without an incumbent) for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

How do you think local officials performed in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?

The public health and economic crises caused by COVID represented an unprecedented challenge for local governments. Some things were done well. Others were not.

I think we responded well to hospital capacity, personal protective equipment, aid to struggling businesses, and preventing evictions.
I think we did not respond well to the needs of workers, whether it was sick leave or unemployment pay. Schooling our youth presented a particularly difficult challenge: there’s only so much you can do virtually, and we had to also make sure that virtual capability was available to all regardless of economic circumstance.

In some categories, we started off on the wrong foot, but my advocacy helped to improve the process to make it better. Nursing home and congregate-care settings were at first non-transparent great virus spreaders, but with my help, we got a handle on this about halfway through the pandemic. Similarly, testing and vaccination began unevenly but ended competently, in part because of my advocacy. I also played an important role in encouraging early mask mandates. Finally, I’m proud my advocacy helped reduce the unequal treatment of our citizens by advocating that struggling communities get testing and vaccines at the same rates as the more wealthy neighborhoods I also represent.

I also was one of the first members of the General Assembly to hold vaccine town halls (one in Alexandria, one in Arlington, and one in Fairfax) to give constituents a detailed understanding of exactly what to expect from the vaccines, who would have priority, and how they would be scheduled. My efforts reduced some community anxiety and made the process happen more smoothly.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

My stance on the issues is too long for this profile but described in detail on my website at LevineforVirginia.com.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I’m very proud of past accomplishments. Here are just a few examples:
When my sister was murdered by her husband, he took her children aged 6 and 2 and fled. The law said that domestic violence wasn’t a factor in custody decisions. To reunite my family, I had to change the law, and I did. I wasn’t an elected official at the time, but I unanimously persuaded Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature that wife beaters are not good dads. The law was changed, and it brought my niece and nephew home, as well as protecting countless families victimized by violence. In Virginia, I have not only passed this law but brought 24/7 support to survivors of sexual violence, domestic violence, and child abuse in the form of hotline, health care, therapeutic, and forensic care.

I managed to come out as gay at a time when it was illegal to have a gay relationship. Rather than accept my fate as a second-class citizen, I set out to change the world’s view of gay people, beginning with marches on Hollywood to encourage better depictions and continuing with my founding one of the earliest marriage equality organizations in the nation. I wrote the nation’s first full-marriage-equality bill, and although it didn’t pass, I later wrote DC’s successful same-sex marriage law. I instituted civil disobedience marriage protests and culminated by writing the most comprehensive LGBT civil rights law in Virginia history.

Working for Congressman Barney Frank, I persuaded then-Senator Hillary Clinton to change her vote on then-President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative. My work led the U.S. Senate to defeat government-sponsored religious discrimination.

When I founded the Transparency Caucus, both Republicans and Democrats initially scoffed at the idea I could change centuries of Virginia tradition by requiring recorded votes and public access to committee and subcommittee meetings. When I couldn’t get it done through the legislative process, I circulated a letter and reached out to every one of the 140 delegates and senators to sign on. With the help of the press, we achieved more than 2/3 support in both House and Senate, which was enventually enough to get even the then-Republican majority to institute transparency.

In 2019, as Deputy Whip (aka “Caucus Goalie”), I played the key role in killing or amending seven bills that would otherwise have passed uncontested into law.

In 2020, I introduced 47 bills, the second most of any Delegate and passed half of them into law. To read details on every one of these bills, see my 20-page constituent service letter at MarkforDelegate.com.

I also led the way in common-sense gun violence prevention legislation, introducing more than a dozen bills and spearheading dramatic improvements in Virginia law. But we're not done here.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Never give up. An attempt is only a failure when you give up. Until then, it's a "not-yet-success."

There’s no fight that’s too big to win and no system too entrenched to be challenged.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.

"Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

It has been an honor and a privilege to represent the good people of Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax, and whether I continue to do so as Delegate, or as Lieutenant Governor, my community will always be my home.

I take particular pride in the history and charm of Old Town Alexandria and its waterfront. I delight in giving historical tours, and I firmly believe we must share all its history, whether good, bad, or ugly.

My passion for fighting injustice stems from personal experience. I know the pain of bad laws, and I know how good laws improve people’s lives.

My passion fuels my work. My expertise has delivered effective leadership.
While I've spent my entire life advocating for causes, I will never, ever, be a lobbyist for a for-profit entity. That's my lifetime commitment to you.