An Army combat veteran and former Iowa Board of Supervisors representative are on the ballot in the Republican primary for House District 70 as newcomers to Newport News.
Republicans Hailey Dollar and Cynthia Scaturico are running in the June 17 primary to see who will face . Simonds has served in Virginia’s House of Delegates since 2020, including two years in the District 70 seat, which which encompasses swaths of western and northwestern Newport News.
Both Dollar and Scaturico say they moved to Newport News within the last year, but Dollar has faced questions about her residency.
The Department of Voter Registration received a complaint alleging Dollar didn’t reside in Newport News, but rather in York County. The Newport News commonwealth’s attorney’s office is investigating the allegation, and a hearing will be scheduled after the primary is certified, according to Newport News Elections Director Vicki Lewis.
The latest statement of organization filed for Dollar’s campaign March 18 lists her address on Curtis Tignor Road in Newport News.
Dollar sought to register to vote in Newport News on Jan. 3 using the same address, according to a letter sent by Lewis. The city’s election department sent two letters to that Newport News address, both of which were returned as undeliverable, according to Lewis. A third notice was sent to a second property Dollar owns in York County, which was successfully delivered. Dollar told the office she lives in Newport News and spoke to the city and York County about issues receiving mail.
Dollar confirmed in an interview that she owns a property in York County and moved to Newport News in December, and added her family has strong roots in Newport News
“My family has been living in Newport News since Warwick was a dirt road,” Dollar said.
Scaturico also lived longer in York County than Newport News. The 49-year-old moved from Illinois to York County in 2014, where she lived until moving to Iowa in 2022. She came back to Virginia in June and began living in Newport News.
Unlike Dollar, Scaturico isn’t a newcomer to politics. She was previously the second vice president of the Hampton Roads Republican Women’s Club and won a bid for the Carroll County Board of Supervisors in Iowa in 2023 during a special election to fill a vacant seat. However, Scaturico landed in hot water when she acted as a designated poll watcher and visited at least two polling sites on Election Day while also running for office, the . Iowa law prohibits candidates from overseeing voting.
Carroll County Attorney John Werden opted not to prosecute Scaturico, and Scaturico resigned in June to move back to Virginia. Werden couldn’t be reached for comment due to his death in March.
Scaturico said she volunteered to be a poll watcher prior to the election, and was told by a city committee chair she was allowed to be a poll watcher despite her candidacy.
“My chair did not know, the poll workers did not know,” Scaturico said. “It was a lesson and an honest mistake.”
Dollar’s past has also come up throughout the course of her campaign. She has previously worked as an actress, model and digital sex worker. Dollar said many people look at her past to criticize it, but she uses it as a way to empathize with people that may be struggling in their communities.
“Although I face a lot of scrutiny for living my life openly, I feel that there is no better representation than someone who is unafraid to authentically be themselves,” Dollar said.
Dollar is running on life experience. The 35-year-old mother of four holds four degrees and a presidential commendation from her service in Iraq, as well as experience at the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs.She said Newport News needs a representative who relates to the daily struggles of its residents.
“In order to truly understand people and meet their needs, you need to know what the real issues are,” Dollar said. “I have real boots-on-the-ground experience with all of this.”
Scaturico is also running a campaign that seeks to appeal to blue collar issues.
“You have to have credibility, meaning that you do what you say you’re going to do,” Scaturico said. “I have been able to get those results in a professional atmosphere, and I have also been able to get those results in a political atmosphere.”
As for their platforms, Scaturico, a mother of three and Robert Morris College graduate, is primarily running on education reform. Scaturico said teachers have been overburdened with extra tasks. However, she did not specify what those unnecessary tasks were or how in the General Assembly she would seek to reduce that work.
She said she also wants to work on bipartisan issues like and work toward environmental sustainability.
“I personally would focus on things that are not partisan,” Scaturico said.
Social issues are also a part of Dollar’s campaign. Dollar said she has worked with organizations doing LGBTQ+, homelessness and suicide prevention advocacy, among others.
Dollar added she would work to ensure programs dedicated toward disadvantaged communities remain funded in spite of federal cuts, and would also work to eliminate the car tax for residents and help attract businesses to the city.
“We need to invest more heavily in social services and ensuring that people that are disadvantaged, or they’re just in a hard spot, that they’re taken care of, or we can find better avenues for them,” Dollar said.
Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virgniamedia.com
