Richmond Crusade for Voters Wants Casino Revote

Posted on: May 1, 2023, 03:58h. 

Last updated on: May 1, 2023, 04:34h.

Richmond’s Crusade for Voters, a nonprofit organization that works to elevate the political influence and voting strength of Blacks in the Virginia capital, says efforts to relocate the city’s casino opportunity are unjust.

Founded in 1956 during the civil rights struggle, the Richmond Crusade for Voters came in response to a statewide referendum on public education that saw Blacks outvoted by a 4-1 margin. The referendum sought to prevent local governments and their public schools from being allowed to block integration.

Less than 50% of Black voters in Richmond voted during the January 1956 referendum. Since then, Crusade for Voters has rallied Blacks to bond together to raise their collective voice on the state level.

More white, affluent neighborhoods north of the James River voted strongly against the casino project, which targeted vacant land just off Interstate 95 adjacent to the Philip Morris headquarters. The casino site is southeast of the city’s downtown area.

Casino Backstory

Richmond city officials were tasked with fielding gaming resort proposals from interested developers after state lawmakers qualified the capital to mull a casino. The city’s Casino Evaluation Panel fielded six bids, with tenders coming from the Bally’s Corporation, The Cordish Companies, Golden Nugget, Wind Creek Hospitality, Pamunkey Indian Tribe, and Urban One.

The city ultimately went with Urban One, a Black-focused media conglomerate. Urban One pitched One Casino + Resort in conjunction with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E), a gaming firm with a lengthy history of managing casinos. The One Casino pitch additionally included about 50 local investors, most of whom identified as minorities.

One has a large group of diverse investors, providing opportunities for minority ownership and including representation across Richmond,” Urban One officials said in 2021. “One is about lifting people up and building wealth within the Richmond community.”

After Richmond’s 2021 casino referendum was voted down 51-49%, efforts commenced to relocate the city’s gaming opportunity to nearby Petersburg. The Richmond City Council wants to conduct a second gaming referendum this November.

Protecting Opportunity

White turnout during the 2021 referendum was said to be better than Black turnout during what was the state’s gubernatorial. The Richmond City Council believes a more coordinated message about the possible benefits that Urban One’s casino would deliver the region would entice more Blacks to vote in support of the gaming question.

“We don’t want the right to vote on this to be taken away,” Richmond Crusade for Voters 1st Vice President Marty Jewell told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Jewell is a former Richmond city councilor.

This is the first and only time such a budget measure has ever been passed to deny residents of a city their right to vote, especially a majority-Black city,” Jewell added.

House Appropriations Chair Del. Barry Knight (R-Virginia Beach) is leading the budget crusade to block another Richmond casino vote. State budget negotiations are dragging in Richmond because of a stalemate between Democrats and Republicans over how it’s best to go about cutting state spending by $1 billion, something Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is demanding.