Ronnie Ray Campbell (February 16, 1954 – December 13, 2022) was an American politician who served as a member of the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

House of Delegates, first elected in a special election in 2018. Campbell represented the 24th district comprising Rockbridge and

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Counties, parts of

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

and Augusta Counties, and the independent cities of Lexington and

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Early life and career

Campbell was born, on February 16, 1954, in

Waynesboro, Virginia Waynesboro (formerly Flack) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is a principal city of the Staunton-Waynesboro Metropolitan Statistical Area. Waynesboro is located in the Shenandoah Valley and is surrounded by Augusta Cou ...

. He received a bachelor's degree from

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. Although it is part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee, the university is governed by an institutional Board of Tr ...

in 1976, majoring in criminal science. After that, he became a

Virginia State Police The Virginia State Police, officially the Virginia Department of State Police, conceived in 1919 and established in 1932, is the state police force for the U.S. state of Virginia. The agency originated out of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehi ...

officer, working in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

Political career

Campbell spent ten years on the Rockbridge County School Board. In 2012, he was elected to the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors. In November 2018, 24th district state delegate

Ben Cline Benjamin Lee Cline (born February 29, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the 24th district ...

was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, triggering a special election for his state house seat. The local Republican party held a

firehouse primary {{Short description, Election run by a political party to select a candidate or nominee for a later general election A firehouse primary, also called a firehouse caucus or "unassembled caucus", is a term sometimes used in the United States to descri ...

to choose their nominee. Campbell won the primary by a one-vote margin, defeating Amherst County Supervisor Jimmy Ayers and two other candidates. In the December 2018 special election, Campbell defeated lawyer and activist Christian Worth by a 59% to 40% margin. Campbell was sworn into office on January 2, 2019, a week before the 2019 legislative session started.

2020–21 United States election protests

Campbell was one of three GOP delegates in Virginia that sent a letter to Vice President

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asking him to throw out the state's election results, which gave Joe Biden the win and Virginia's 13 electoral votes. The letter included two co-signers, Del. Mark Cole (R-Fauquier) and Del. Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun), requesting “a stay of any designation of Presidential Electors from our state until such time as a comprehensive forensic audit of the November 3, 2020, election has taken place to determine the actual winner.”

Personal life and death

Campbell died of cancer on December 13, 2022, at the age of 68. Campbell was succeeded in the House of Delegates by his wife

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, who won a January 2023 special election. They had five children.

References

External links

Ronnie Campbell
at the Virginia Public Access Project {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Ronnie 1954 births 2022 deaths 21st-century American politicians American state police officers County supervisors in Virginia East Tennessee State University alumni People from Rockbridge County, Virginia People from Waynesboro, Virginia Place of death missing Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates School board members in Virginia