Wendell Walker

Wendell Scott Walker is an American politician. He is a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates who represents the 23rd district.

Wendell Scott Walker
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates
from the 23rd district
Assumed office
January 8, 2020
Preceded byScott Garrett
Personal details
Born1952 (age 67–68)
Macon, Georgia
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Patsy Walker
ResidenceLynchburg, Virginia
Websitehttps://www.walker4delegate.com/

Biography

Walker is a prominent leader in the Republican party, and has held positions in local and state committees, including the chair of the Lynchburg Republican Committee.[1]

Electoral History

He ran in the 2019 Virginia House of Delegates election for the 23rd district to succeed retiring delegate Scott Garrett.[2] He defeated Democratic candidate David Zilles with 63.84% of the vote.[3][4]

Tenure

Confederate Memorials

In early February 2020, Walker proposed a bill to remove a statue of Harry F. Byrd, a prominent Democrat who is often infamously remembered for his racist opposition to desegregation, in response to efforts from state Democrats to remove more Confederate statues in the state. Such measures were undertaken across the country in the aftermath of the Charleston church shooting in 2015 and they were increasingly facilitated with in the aftermath of the Unite The Rally in 2017. After the Democrats agreed to support his measure to remove the statue which serves as a tribute to Byrd, Walker requested that the state legislature should not consider his own bill. He said that "the reason I put that in was more of a political reason." Walker continued by saying "I think history is very important, whether it’s good, bad or ugly. I was not willing to allow the governor to have the opportunity to remove statues." Even though the Virginia House Rules Committee voted to let the bill go for the day, as opposed to removing it from consideration like Walker had requested, Virginia House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D) said that she wanted to hear Walker's own reasoning on why he wanted to kill a bill that he himself had introduced for consideration in the state legislature. Two other bills were struck as supplications of their sponsors following the introduction of Walker's bill.[5][6][7][8]

References
  1. Chumney, Richard (June 11, 2019). "Lynchburg GOP chair Wendell Walker wins Republican nomination for 23rd House seat". The News & Advance. Lynchburg.
  2. Chumney, Richard (March 26, 2019). "Longtime GOP activist announces run for House of Delegates". The News & Advance. Lynchburg.
  3. "2019 November General".
  4. McComsey, Hannah (October 21, 2019). "Wendell Walker, David Zilles campaign for Virginia's 23rd district house seat". WSET-TV. Lynchburg.
  5. Coleman, Justine (February 3, 2020). "Virginia GOP delegate tries to kill own bill to remove Democratic segregationist statue". The Hill.
  6. Friedenberger, Amy (February 7, 2020). "General Assembly notebook: Del. Wendell Walker's bill to take down Sen. Harry Byrd statue is dead". The Roanoke Times.
  7. Vozzella, Laura (February 3, 2020). "How a Republican's proposal to remove a statue in Richmond may have backfired". The Washington Post.
  8. Evans, Whittney (January 9, 2020). "Republican Calls To Take Down Statue of Former Gov. Harry Byrd". VPM News.


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