Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish Announces Run for State Senate, 29th District

Mayor Hal Parrish talks with a district resident in Old Town Manassas.[/caption]Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish (R) announced his campaign for Virginia’s 29th State Senate District in an online video posted to his website, Thursday.

Parrish will run for the seat occupied by Sen. Chuck Colgan (R), who has serviced 10 terms. He will run against Democrat Atif Qarni.

In a video posted on his campaign website halpariss.com, Parrish said if elected he would work to bring more jobs to his district and to fix Northern Virginia's transportation problems.

A lifelong resident of the City of Manassas and owner of Manassas Ice and Fuel Co. (MIFCO), a family business that has operated in the area for over 90 years, Parrish has been an active member of the greater Manassas community and Prince William County. Since the campaign’s filing with the Virginia State Board of Elections last week, a broad coalition of elected officials and community leaders have already endorsed Parrish’s campaign.

Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish talks about his background in his campaign video.[/caption]According to the Parrish campaign, the following elected officials and community leaders are endorsing parrish:

10th Congressional District Representative Barbara Comstock

House of Delegates Majority Whip Jackson Miller

Delegate Rich Anderson

Prince William County Chairman At-Large Corey Stewart

Brentsville Supervisor Jeannine Lawson

Coles Supervisor Martin Nohe

Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan

Prince William County Sheriff Glen Hill

Manassas City Council Member Sheryl Bass

Manassas City Council Member Ian Lovejoy

Manassas City Council Member Mark Wolfe

Manassas City Council Member John Way

City of Manassas Republican Committee Chairman Sharon Ashurst

Youth for Tomorrow CEO Gary Jones, Ph.D.

Mayor Parrish speaks with a future constituent.[/caption]In a statement, Rep. Barbara Comstock said, “Mayor Hal Parrish is a respected and effective leader who has always displayed a passion to serve his community. He understands the issues at hand, and I have no doubt he will use his leadership skills in Richmond to bring effective, common sense solutions to the table that work for the residents of the 29th District.”

"Working with Hal over the years, I know that he will serve the people of the 29th District with the same passion he's served the Manassas community,” said Prince William County Chairman At-large Corey Stewart. “He brings the experience and leadership needed to advocate for the needs of the people of Prince William County, and I am proud to join him in support of his campaign."

“I am proud to receive the support of this impressive coalition of leaders from throughout Prince William County and Manassas,” Parrish said. “During tough times, we went to work and turned our challenges into opportunities, and I am proud to continue working with them to do the same in Richmond. That’s why I’m running for State Senate.

“The hardworking families and taxpayers we represent are continually asked for more but yet get less from Richmond. If we are going to make Prince William County competitive, we need to ease the tax burdens on our citizens and small business owners. We need to create new jobs and should be providing incentives for emerging industries to do business in Prince William. And we need to build a foundation for future success by investing in our transportation systems, schools, and infrastructure. This is just the start of a conversation I look forward to having with the citizens of the 29th District.”

Most of the article was derived from a release.