Hrovat aims for Dem nod

Story by Chris Graham

Two prominent local Democrats have already endorsed the Republican incumbent – but Will Hrovat isn’t worried about stepping to the plate with the count showing him in the hole oh-and-two.

“I definitely feel like I am going to have to shore up my support – my base here in the Democratic Party. And I believe that we as get here and just convey our message to them and to the general public, I think that they’ll grow in their confidence of who we are and what we’re going to bring to the campaign and to Richmond if we get there,” said Hrovat, who announced last week that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination to run for the 24th District seat in the Virginia Senate, in an interview today conducted for the “New Domionion” Internet radio podcast..

The nomination is set to be decided at a May 29 mass meeting – but if no other candidates prefile for the meeting by a Thursday deadline, the meeting will be called off, and Hrovat, 53, of Churchville, will be declared the party nominee.

About those two strikes already working against him – Augusta County Board of Supervisors member Tracy Pyles and Rockingham County Board of Supervisors member Mike Breeden have both endorsed incumbent Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger in his battle for the 24th District Republican Party nomination with Buena Vista businessman Scott Sayre.

“I think a lot of what we want to do in Richmond would just lend itself to the Democratic Party and what they’re doing and what they would like to continue to do in Richmond,” Hrovat said of Pyles and Breeden and other local Dems who have sided with Hanger in his intraparty battle.
“They just need to get to know me a little bit – and what we’re going to be standing for. And I think as we get our message out there, hopefully they’ll convert to our side,” Hrovat said.

Hrovat is a 25-year veteran at Dominion Power who entered the race because “I’ve sensed for some time that we’ve been heading in the wrong direction – and that direction kind of takes the approach of business as usual.”

“I feel like we’re really not focusing on our future and the future generations – and we just need to look at them and where we’re going to be leaving them with,” Hrovat said. “I feel like our parents had left us with good opportunities when they turned it over to us – and I want to make sure that we’re doing the same thing for our children and their children.

“The people that I’ve talked with, not just in the last couple of months, but over the last couple of years, I’m sensing that there’s a frustration and a lack of confidence in where our state leaders and our national leaders are taking us in regards to working families, especially. I feel like we’re struggling as working families to make ends meet, we’re asked to do more with less – and my desire would be to bring a balanced voice to Richmond that would be more sympathetic toward the struggles of the working family and represent them,” Hrovat said.

Hrovat has lived in Augusta County for four years – moving to the county from nearby Highland County, which is also located in the 24th Senate District, where he had lived for 20 years.

Hrovat has been involved in Boy Scouts and Weekday Religious Education – which would seem to lend some credibility to his claim that he is more “an old-style Southern Democrat in a lot of ways.”

“I have some conservative values – I’m probably more moderate in some cases than others have been in the past. My faith is definitely a driver to who I am as a person – and hopefully that will communicate some confidence to the voters here in the Valley,” Hrovat said.