Rosalyn Randolph Dance (born February 10, 1948) is an

American politician The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bic ...

, who served in the

Senate of Virginia The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the lieutenant governor of Virg ...

from 2014 until 2020. She was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

from 2005 to 2014, and was mayor of

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Din ...

from 1992 to 2004. Dance is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. (campaign/constituent website)

Early life

Dance was one of 11 children. She dropped out of high school, but went on to earn several higher degrees.

Electoral history

Dance was elected to the Petersburg City Council in 1992. In 2001, the 63rd

district incumbent, Democrat Jay DeBoer, retired after 18 years. Dance, then mayor of Petersburg, ran for the seat as an independent but lost to the Democratic nominee, funeral director

Fenton Bland Fenton Lee Bland Jr. (born March 7, 1962) is an American mortician and former Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates. Successful in his first bid for office in 2001, he was subsequently reelected. But he resigned in 2005 after p ...

. On January 25, 2005, Bland pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud; he resigned the 63rd district seat the next day. Dance received the Democratic nomination and was chosen to replace Bland in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

on March 22. The 63rd district is southeast of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, made up of the city of Petersburg and part of Hopewell, plus parts of

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, Dinwiddie and Prince George Counties. Dance was reelected multiple times, the last in November 2013. Dance served on the House committees on Appropriations, General Laws, Health, Welfare and Institutions, and Privileges and Elections. Dance served in the

, where she represented District 16, having won a special election on November 4, 2014, to fill the seat once held by

Henry L. Marsh Henry Leander Marsh III (born December 10, 1933) is an American civil rights lawyer and politician. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Marsh was elected by the city council as the first African-American mayor of Richmond, Virginia in ...

. In 2019, Dance sponsored a bill to gradually increase Virginia's minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 per hour by 2021. Later that year, she ran for reelection to her state senate seat, but was defeated in the primary by disbarred attorney

Joe Morrissey Joseph Dee Morrissey (born September 23, 1957) is an American Democratic politician, businessman, and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico ...

References

External links

* (campaign finance) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance, Rosalyn R. 1948 births Living people Democratic Party Virginia state senators Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Women state legislators in Virginia Virginia State University alumni Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Mayors of Petersburg, Virginia People from Chesterfield, Virginia 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Virginia city council members Women city councillors in Virginia 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians