VIRGINIA BEACH – State Sen. Frank Wagner, a Republican from Virginia Beach, announced on Thursday, March 7, that he will not seek reelection to the 7th District seat he has represented since 2001.
Including time in the House of Delegates, Wagner has served in the Virginia General Assembly since 1992. Two years ago, he launched an unsuccessful bid to become the Republican nominee for governor.
“It has been one of the highest honors of my life to serve the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Wagner said in a statement announcing his retirement. “I want to thank the citizens of Virginia Beach and Norfolk for giving me that privilege of serving them in Virginia’s legislature.”
Wagner is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who came to Virginia Beach in the 1980s while in the Navy. He serves on the finance, rules, and rehabilitation and social services committees, and he chairs the commerce and labor committee.
“I just hope that I have left our state a little better off for me having served,” Wagner said in his statement. “However, the time has come to turn my seat over to the next generation to continue to make Virginia a better place for all of us to live and raise our families.”
The district includes western Virginia Beach and northeastern Norfolk. At least three candidates are eying the seat. Democrats Susan Hippen, a retired Navy master Chief, and Kim Howard, a retired Navy officer, are running, according to The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
And, a day after Wagner announced his retirement, Carolyn Weems, who represents the Bayside District on the Virginia Beach School Board, announced she also will seek the seat.
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