Candidates for Virginia House of Delegates, District 59: Democrat Connie Brennan

Connie Brennan is using her community involvement and healthcare background as the basis for her campaign for the 59th District Virginia House of Delegates seat.

Brennan is campaigning against Republican Matt Fariss and Independent Linda Wall. The candidates seek to replace retiree Watkins Abbitt Jr., who has held the 59th seat in office for 25 years.

Brennan involved herself in committees ranging from a poverty agency to the Jefferson Area Board of Aging, where she is currently active. She also worked on the Nelson County Child Care Center Board, the Sexual Assault Resource Agency and the Planning District 10 Workforce Council. She served on the Dental Advisory Board and volunteered in her community criminal justice system, Brennan’s campaign website said.

Brennan is in her 10th year as a member of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

“I’m the kind of person that if I don’t know something then I have to volunteer to be on some committee that is related to that because it’s how I learn,” Brennan said. “I’ve worked for 35 years in my community on various things.”

The retired nurse practitioner wants to use her healthcare background to influence the healthcare system in Virginia. Her experience gave her insight into environment-related healthcare issues which drove her toward her stance on environmental protection.

“We have very few people in the state legislature that really have any experience with health issues, and we really need people with some expertise and some understanding of some of those issues and I have that,” Brennan said.

Brennan wants to make healthcare affordable for all. In her 28 years at the University of Virginia’s health clinic, Brennan watched people without insurance struggle to pay for their healthcare.

As far as focusing government resources, Brennan puts the most emphasis on funding for disease prevention.

“It’s quite clear that preventing disease is a much more economically sound way to deal with (costly healthcare) than trying to treat diseases when they get going,” Brennan said. “I don’t know what the answer to our healthcare crisis is but we’ve got one … and I would like to be part of looking at it at the state level.”

Brennan also seeks prevention in the area of unwanted pregnancies.

“Nobody likes abortion,” Brennan said. “I haven’t met one person that is pro-abortion. I think, really, it distracts from the real problem and that is we want to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”

The economy and job market are also of high importance on Brennan’s list of campaign issues. Brennan wants to bring jobs to the 59th District, claiming many residents commute out of district for work.

“We are definitely going to have to work very hard on making a turnaround in our economy,” Brennan said. “Of course, a lot of it stems from what happens at the national level so we’re in kind of a bind here. If we want to improve the economy, we’re going to have to attract new industries to the area and new industries that have good paying jobs so that hard working people can support their families.”

Brennan wants the government to ensure broadband internet is available to all areas of the district and wants to improve education to attract new industries to the area.

Industries she hopes to entice include tourism and alternative energy, such as bio-fuel, part-making for solar energy and wind energy.

Having three kids attend a Nelson County public school and a grandson who currently attends, Brennan places education high on her priority list. Brennan was on the Nelson County School Board for four years.

“We know that not all children learn the same way,” Brennan said. “I think we need to be sure that each and every child has the opportunity for a good educational experience and sometimes I see kids falling by the wayside.”

Brennan also wants to ensure that state funding for public schools does not diminish as she says it has been in years past.

Brennan is an advocate of making higher education available to more people through state funding and assistance.

“I think we need to take a good, hard look at trying to help fund higher education for everyone,” Brennan said. “We need to be looking at how our tax structuring is, in the state of Virginia, to look at increasing our revenues somehow or another.”

Brennan is married to John Hessselbart. She has three children, Vanessa, Jeremy and Luke, and a grandson, Oliver.

Brennan moved to Nelson County, Va. over 35 years ago.