Rosalyn Randolph Dance (born February 10, 1948) is an American politician, 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 Vir ...

from 2014 until 2020. She was a member of the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses 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, was mayor of

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458 with a majority bla ...

from 1992 to 2004, and is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Virginia Department of Elections. Dance is a member of the Democratic Party. (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. 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, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on March 22. The 63rd district is southeast of

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

, made up of the city of Petersburg and part of Hopewell, plus parts of Chesterfield, 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. 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 politician, businessman, and former lawyer who won election to both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly from districts including Richmond or surrounding Henrico County, Virgi ...

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 women 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 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly 20th-century Virginia politicians

Early life

Electoral history

See also

References

External links