Rocky Holcomb

Holcomb served in the United States Marine Corps and for the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office. He won a special election to the Virginia House of Delegates held on January 10, 2017, to succeed Scott Taylor, who had been elected to the United States House of Representatives.[1][2] He went on to lose the November general election in 2017 to Cheryl Turpin, whom he had faced earlier that year in the special election.[3]

During the 2017 election cycle, Holcomb sparked controversy due to his associations with Scott Presler, an individual the Southern Poverty Law Center identified as a paid employee of known anti-Muslim hate group ACT! for America, who served as a campaign volunteer. [4] When a Virginia Beach resident questioned Holcomb about the relationship on his delegate Facebook page, she was blocked from the page. Holcomb later stated that he does not have a personal relationship with Pressler.[5]

During the 2019 election cycle, instead of running for re-election, Cheryl Turpin decided to instead run for Virginia State Senate. The 85th district seat now vulnerable, Holcomb announced he would run for the seat once more. [6] He was challenged by Democrat Alex Askew, who served as a staffer for Barack Obama‘s 2012 presidential campaign. Holcomb lost to Askew by a margin of 3.46% [7]