How Virginia State Delegate Chris Hurst Turned Tragedy Into Triumph
*By Christian Smith*
Chris Hurst was a news anchor in Roanoke, Va., in 2015 when his girlfriend, fellow journalist Alison Parker, was shot and killed live on-air. That defining tragedy launched Hurst's career in politics, taking him to the Virginia General Assembly.
"I knew that I needed to leave the television station, but I didn't want to leave southwest Virginia," The Democratic Virginia State Delegate said Friday in an interview on Cheddar. "I had spent 10 years here as a journalist and felt like it was a natural progression to ー instead of just reporting on the problems we see out there every day ー to actually try to come up with some of the solutions as a public servant."
The issue closest to his heart is gun control. But Hurst said he needs to have an "objective, almost journalistic approach" to the issue if he wants to get policy changed.
"It needs to be evidence-based and data driven if you're going to try and get a policy implemented," he said.
Hurst said that philosophy convinced voters to choose him over incumbent Republican Delegate Joseph Yost in Virginia's conservative-leaning 12th District in 2017.
Hurst's path to politics is the focus of NowThis's new documentary "Virginia 12th," which he hopes serves as a thank you to the volunteers who propelled his campaign to victory.
"For me it's really a tribute to all of the people who came out in support of my campaign by knocking on doors and making phone calls, and in particular college students," he said.
"Virginia 12th" is currently available on the NowThis YouTube channel.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/new-documentary-virginia-12th-tells-story-of-chris-hursts-path-to-politics-after-tragedy-struck).
Students, lawmakers and religious leaders have joined forces at a temple in Philadelphia to strongly denounce antisemitism on college campuses and in their communities, one day after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned amid criticism over her testimony at a congressional hearing.
The former New York City mayor has already been found liable in the defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who endured threats and harassment after they became the target of a conspiracy theory spread by Trump and his allies.
Donald Trump says he's decided against testifying for a second time at his New York civil fraud trial. In a social media post Sunday, the former president said he “very successfully & conclusively” testified last month and saw no need to appear again.
The president of Harvard University has apologized for her remarks at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, saying she got caught up in a heated exchange and failed to properly denounce threats of violence against Jewish students.
The House Education and Workforce Committee opened an investigation into MIT, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University after an anti-Semitism hearing on Tuesday.
The son of North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer was charged with manslaughter and fleeing an officer after a police pursuit ended in a crash that killed the sheriff's deputy.
