Thurmon Travis Hackworth (born June 5, 1975) is an American businessman and politician, serving as a member of the

Virginia Senate 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 the

5th district District 5, 5 District or 5th District may refer to: Europe * District 5 (Zürich) * District 5, Düsseldorf * V District, Turku * Districts of Malta#District 5, District 5, an electoral district of Malta * Districts of Malta#District 5 2, Distric ...

. A member of the Republican Party, he took office on April 2, 2021. Hackworth is a businessman from

Richlands, Virginia Richlands is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, United States. The population was 5,261 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield, WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578. History Located along the banks of the Clinch ...

, and serves on the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors. The members elected him chair of the board in January 2019. He won the special election to represent

Virginia's 38th Senate district What was Virginia's 38th Senate district before 2023 redistricting is now numbered Virginia's 5th Senate district in the 2023 election, with altered district lines. The Southwest Virginia district surrounding Pulaski County, Virginia, Pulaski is ...

in the

, following the death of

Ben Chafin Augustus Benton Chafin Jr. (May 18, 1960January 1, 2021) was an American politician who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from the Virginia's 4th House of Delegates district, 4th district in 2014, and in the Senate of Virginia from the V ...

, with 76% of the vote on March 23, 2021. Hackworth petitioned the

Supreme Court of Virginia The Supreme Court of Virginia is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It primarily hears direct appeals in civil cases from the trial-level city and county circuit courts, as well as the criminal law, family law and administrativ ...

to prevent the state's redistricting commission from using a new state law to draw the legislative maps. The law changed how prisoners are counted in the population, as they were previously counted at their incarcerated address, but are now counted by their last known address. The state Supreme Court dismissed the petition in an order issued September 22, 2021. In December 2021, Hackworth introduced a bill to the State Senate that would rescind requirements that schools follow

Virginia Department of Education The Virginia Department of Education is the state education agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is headquartered in the James Monroe Building in Richmond. The department is headed by the Secretary of Education (currently Aimee Guidera) ...

guidelines on equal treatment of

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

students. The bill, which faced strong opposition from trans rights advocates, was voted down in committee.

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, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hackworth, Travis Living people Republican Party Virginia state senators People from Tazewell County, Virginia 1975 births County supervisors in Virginia 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly