2021 Candidates

Elizabeth Bennett-Parker is the Vice Mayor of Alexandria and the Democratic nominee for Delegate in the 45th House District.

As Vice Mayor, she serves as a member of the Alexandria City Council and is the youngest woman elected to Council in Alexandria’s history.

Born in Alexandria to two Naval officers, Elizabeth is dedicated to serving her community. She co-leads Together We Bake, a nonprofit job training and personal development program for under-served women.

Elizabeth is the founder of Fruitcycle, a business fighting the tragic paradox that, while one in six Americans experience food-insecurity on a daily basis, 40% of our food is thrown into landfills.

Before launching Fruitcycle, Elizabeth worked for the National Governors Association, where she served as governors' liaison to Congress, federal agencies, and the White House on issues related to transportation, economic development, and health.

She was selected as one of Alexandria’s 40 under 40 in 2017. She has served on the Alexandria Community Criminal Justice Board and the Commission on Employment, as well as the boards of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture, Agenda:Alexandria, and the United Way Regional Council for Alexandria. She is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington, Emerge Virginia and the Alexandria City Academy.

Elizabeth served as a Fulbright Fellow, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University, and earned a Master's from the University of London.

She and her husband, Stephen, live with their rescue cat, Julep and dog, Nori, thanks to the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria.

Patrick Hope is a Member of the Virginia General Assembly as the Delegate from the 47th District of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is running for re-election to a seventh term. Delegate Hope currently serves as Chair of the House Public Safety Committee and also sits on the House Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee and the House Courts of Justice Committee. He is a health care attorney with over 20 years of experience working for Virginia and has been recognized by numerous organizations for his success in passing complex legislation focusing on the expansion of services to vulnerable populations, especially older adults and people with disabilities. 

Patrick serves on numerous Virginia commissions, including the Joint Commission on Health Care, which he chairs, the Behavioral Health Commission, which he serves as vice chair, the Substance Abuse Services Council, and the Disability Commission.

Patrick was born in San Antonio, Texas. A high school graduate of Castle Hills First Baptist School in San Antonio, Patrick received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from St. Mary's University in San Antonio ('93), then received his Master of Arts degree in Congressional Studies from The Catholic University in Washington, DC ('96), and then received a Juris Doctorate degree from The Catholic University Columbus School of Law in Washington, DC ('01).

After spending several years working on Capitol Hill for Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE) and Representative Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX), Patrick worked for various health care organizations advocating for the improvement of patient access to medical care. He currently is the Executive Director of the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance. He also is an Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Patrick also has a very strong record of community leadership. Patrick was the founder and first president of the Buckingham Community Civic Association (2003-2009) and chaired the Arlington County Community Services Board (2005-2008). He also was co-chairman, Arlington Implementation Task Force to End Homelessness (2008-2010), and Commissioner for the Arlington County Commission on Aging (2002-2007).

In addition, Patrick belongs to numerous organizations and causes: Arlington County Bar Association, Arlington Historical Society, Friends of Clarendon House, Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance, Arlington Committee of 100, Leadership Arlington (2010), and Arlington Kiwanis and South Arlington Kiwanis. Patrick serves on the Board of the Arlington Historical Society and the Arlington Committee of 100.

Patrick lives with his wife Kristen and their three daughters – Emma, Patty, and Lilly – in the Buckingham community of Arlington. They have lived in the Buckingham neighborhood since the year 2000.

Rip is Chair of the House Democratic Caucus, a leadership role in which he works with Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and Majority Leader Charniele Herring to promote the goals of House Democrats. Rip served two terms as the House Democratic Caucus Campaign Chair, during which time he led the Democratic Party’s effort to gain seats and win back the majority in the House. He became Campaign Chair in 2017 and oversaw the strategy that led House Democrats to pick up a whopping 15 seats. He reprised his role as Campaign Chair during the 2019 cycle in which Democrats made history by taking back both the House and Senate. As a Delegate, Rip has fought every year to encourage the growth of Virginia's clean energy and energy efficiency sectors, promote access to the ballot box, protect and advance LGBTQ rights, and de-politicize the redistricting process. Speaker Filler-Corn appointed Rip to serve as Chair of the powerful Labor and Commerce Committee’s Energy Subcommittee, a role in which he used his experience legislating in the energy space to help shape the way Virginia moves forward on these crucial issues. He also serves as Chair of the Finance Committee's Third Subcommittee which considers bills related to corporate and individual income tax. Additionally, Rip serves on the Rules Committee and Courts of Justice Committee.

During the 2020 session Rip introduced the historic Virginia Clean Economy Act to advance the Commonwealth's clean energy sector and promote energy efficiency and a lifesaving "Red Flag" law to curb gun violence before a single shot is fired, among other significant pieces of legislation. Rip worked diligently with stakeholders and his colleagues to ultimately ensure that these landmark bills became law.

Rip and Beth, his high school sweetheart, have four children, all of whom graduated from our public schools. Rip graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He is a partner in the law firm Bean Kinney & Korman, P.C., in Arlington."

Alfonso Lopez is a lifelong Democrat and activist with nearly 30 years of federal and Virginia legislative experience on issues critical to the people of Arlington and Fairfax counties. He has served as an Obama Administration political appointee, Kaine Administration cabinet-level appointee, and a five-term member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the people of the 49th District. Alfonso also serves as the Majority Whip of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus.

As the son of a formerly undocumented father from Venezuela, Alfonso has been a leader in advocating for the rights of the immigrant and New American communities in Virginia. Since his first campaign for the House of Delegates, Alfonso’s signature issue has been expanding educational opportunity to undocumented and mixed-status families in Virginia like his own. In 2021, Alfonso continued his work championing the Virginia Dreamers agenda by introducing and passing legislation expanding financial aid eligibility to undocumented Virginia students.

Alfonso has represented the 49th District in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2012, which is one of the most diverse in Virginia. Since becoming a Delegate, Alfonso has successfully championed legislation creating the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, establishing the Small Business Investment Grant Fund, allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote, creating the Virginia LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, and raising the cap on nonresidential solar net metering in Virginia. 

Alfonso is also a lifelong environmentalist and is helping lead the fight to protect our environment for future generations. He has strongly supported the growth of Virginia’s clean energy industries so that we can build a new Virginia economy. In 2015, he founded the Virginia Environment and Renewable Energy Caucus in the Virginia General Assembly and served as its founding co-chair. In 2020, Alfonso served as one of the chief negotiators of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, a landmark bill that put Virginia on the pathway to a 100% carbon-free economy for the first time.

In 2018 Alfonso also fulfilled an ambition—seven years in the making—to create the Virginia Latino Caucus, the first legislative caucus representing Virginia’s Latinos in the General Assembly's history. The Caucus deals with issues within the Latino, immigrant, and New American communities from in-state tuition to driver's licenses to at-risk student funding. He currently serves as the Caucus Co-Chair.