22 Facts About Chap Petersen

John Chapman "Chap" Petersen was born on March 27,1968 and is an American politician.

Chap Petersen represented the state's 34th district, made up of the city of Fairfax and large parts of Fairfax County.

In June 2023, Petersen lost the Democratic primary for District 37 to Saddam Azlan Salim.

Chap Petersen was regarded in office as a political moderate, and broke with his party on several issues.

Chap Petersen was elected to two terms in the House of Delegates, both times defeating his predecessor, Republican Jack Rust.

In 2006, Chap Petersen was a senior advisor to Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb, who defeated incumbent Republican Senator George Allen.

Chap Petersen announced his candidacy for the 34th district seat in the State Senate, Wednesday, January 3,2007.

Chap Petersen said that "words cannot describe the anger I feel" about the flyer, and called it "shocking" that Devolites-Davis would use his personal information in such a manner.

Chap Petersen said that advertising his personal information was not in and of itself a problem, but using it in an attack ad went too far.

Devolites-Davis said in her own press conference that Chap Petersen himself published the names and pictures of his family, and showed a mailer from the Chap Petersen campaign showing pictures of his children.

Chap Petersen claimed the Petersen campaign uploaded a video to YouTube which brought up her daughter's armed robbery conviction of several years ago.

On June 20,2023, Chap Petersen lost the Democratic primary for the new 37th Senate district to Saddam Azlan Salim.

Chap Petersen is considered a moderate Democrat with a history of bipartisan cooperation.

In February 2020, Chap Petersen was one of four Democrats in the Virginia State Senate who broke party ranks to defeat an assault weapons ban.

In 2020, Chap Petersen led a lawsuit against Fairfax County when the Board of Supervisors voted to remove a monument in front of the Fairfax County Courthouse commemorating the death of the first Confederate soldier during the Civil War.

In 2021, Chap Petersen was the only Senate Democrat to vote against the legalization of marijuana for adult recreational use.

Chap Petersen responded that he never voted to increase the Virginia estate tax.

Chap Petersen co-sponsored bills, including SB 1309, intending to preserve the tax for Virginians in higher income brackets.

Chap Petersen denied ever supporting a 38 cent gas tax increase.

Chap Petersen recently explained that he supported the current law which makes it a felony to possess a gun on school grounds, but voted for a bipartisan bill, HB 2535, which gave a limited exception to parents with licensed concealed carry permits who pick up their children at school, for just school driveways.

Chap Petersen gave legal representation to the Native American Guardians Association, a group of Native Americans who are opposed to the removal of Native American mascots.

In January 2021, Chap Petersen announced he would propose an amendment to the Virginia state budget to require schools receiving state funding to allow in-person learning.