Del. Wendell Walker, R-Lynchburg, and his House District 52 challenger, Risë Hayes, share a story common to many Lynchburg residents.
They both moved to the Hill City from out of state to attend Liberty University; they both started their families in Lynchburg after graduation, knowing that they had found a city that feels like home; and they both credit Liberty with shaping the way they see the world and their role to lead it.
But when asked to describe Lynchburg and what it needs from its elected officials, the 73-year-old Republican and the 30-year-old Democrat’s stories diverge.
Walker, who was first elected to represent the district in 2019, sees Lynchburg as a city of hard workers and strong community partners who can put their minds together to overcome any challenge — with “common sense politics” that limit government involvement.
That outlook was sparked in 1975, Walker said, when he moved from Georgia to Virginia to attend what was then Liberty Baptist College. The school had been founded just four years before, and Walker worked and traveled alongside Jerry Falwell Sr. as he built the Liberty empire from the ground up.
“We had to live by faith, because Liberty was nothing at the time,” he said. “Those were humbling days that taught us to work hard to live out our vision.”
Hayes arrived at Liberty University in 2014 from her home in Arizona. Most days of college, she only ate one meal because that’s all she could afford, she said. She met other young adults who struggled to pay rent and keep the lights on, even though they were promised that a bachelor’s degree would lead to a stable job and future. She graduated feeling like “government could do better” to intervene on behalf of underserved people who struggle to make ends meet.
“If anything, I would say Liberty really influenced my views on how religious control in government doesn’t benefit all people,” she said. “I am choosing to fight for everyone in this community, whether you are Christian or atheist; Black, white; straight, LGBTQIA.”
Despite their different perspectives, Walker and Hayes face the same voting pool: one that is young and Republican-leaning, with an above-average poverty rate and proportion of Black residents when compared to other Virginia localities.
On the map, House District 52 covers all of Lynchburg and a part of Campbell County. About 91% of the district’s voters are registered in Lynchburg, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Below, Cardinal News dives into the stats that define House District 52 and the platforms that Walker and Hayes are pushing in relation to them. For more information on the candidates’ campaigns, visit Cardinal News’ voter guide.
Lynchburg is full of young people. Candidates see employment opportunities and labor laws as central to supporting them.
Lynchburg has a median age of 28, which makes it the fifth youngest locality and youngest major city in Virginia, according to Census Bureau data.
Over the past four years, the Lynchburg metro added 3,312 people between the ages of 25 and 44 to its population, according to census data. That’s nearly double the 1,849 who moved to the Roanoke metro in the same time window.
The key to keeping Lynchburg’s current young people in the city and attracting new ones to move in is workforce development, Walker said.
“One of the biggest needs that we have out here is training,” Walker said at a candidate forum hosted by Lynchburg’s Voters League in September. “When it comes to the workforce, there’s a lot of job opportunities here in the area, so the workforce training has been a very important part of my life.”
Walker worked in the field of workforce development for 21 years and served on the Virginia Workforce Development Board from 2022 to 2024 to determine best practices for training programs. He said workforce development at all levels — from connecting high school students with employers to strengthening apprenticeship and internship programs — gives young people confidence that they can find and maintain a fulfilling career in Lynchburg.
“The conversation should be simple: ‘What are you interested in pursuing? We’ll make it happen here,’” he said.
Workforce training is only successful if there are jobs available, Walker said. There are, thanks to the state’s right-to-work law and Republicans’ emphasis on growing business opportunities in Virginia, he added. He’s committed to protecting both if he’s reelected.
It’s all part of a feedback loop that must be preserved, he said: a business-friendly environment stimulates economic growth and attracts new investment, which creates more jobs for the young people that Lynchburg wants to keep at home.
Hayes agrees that strong employment opportunities are key to supporting Lynchburg’s younger generation. But she is in favor of repealing the right-to-work law, saying that what workers need to thrive are unions that will fight for fair pay, hours, benefits and safety.
Hayes said the law’s racist history “alone should be enough to repeal it.”
The early advocates of right-to-work laws advertised them as essential for maintaining racial disparities in the Jim Crow South and “prevent[ing] workers from challenging the prerogatives of racist” employers, according to the American Constitution Society.
About 26% of the residents of District 52 are Black, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. That’s slightly above the state average Black population of 19%.
“Every time we say we’re making an effort to get rid of racial disparities, if we’re not also addressing laws that were built with racism in mind, then we are only talking. We’re not actually making active efforts,” Hayes said.
If elected, Hayes would also plan to support workers by removing employers’ right to at-will firing, or the power to fire an employee at any time, for any reason. Employers should be required to provide a document that clearly states why an employee needs to be fired to prevent “arbitrary and unfair” terminations, she said.
Hayes said supporting young workers must go beyond workforce development and extend to holding employers accountable for treating workers with respect. She speaks from experience of navigating the job market as an openly autistic person, she said.
“I have a bachelor’s degree and I don’t have a job, and that was never sold to [my generation] that way,” she said. “I’ve experienced discrimination because of my disability. I know how important it is to take care of people that are suffering under the current system.”
Lynchburg leans Republican. Candidates determine what that means for campaign strategy.
The last time the District 52 seat was up for grabs in 2023, Walker took home 10,574 votes, or 54.5% of the total votes. His challenger, Democrat Jennifer Woofter, walked away with 8,825 votes, or 45.5%.
The red lean sets Lynchburg apart from other Virginia localities with young median ages. Younger voters are less committed to the Republican Party than older voters, regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas, according to a 2024 report from the Pew Research Center.
In Virginia, five localities have a median age under 30, according to census data. In the 2024 election, four of them provided a blue wave for Kamala Harris, with the highest margin in Williamsburg, which cast 71.1% of its votes for the Democratic candidate.
Lynchburg was the only city in the under-30 category that voted for Donald Trump in 2024. It also holds a six-to-one Republican majority on its city council and has reelected Walker since he first won the district seat in 2019.
On the backdrop of those patterns, the Democratic Party of Virginia did not target Lynchburg as a district that could be flipped from red to blue. The party gave five-figure financial contributions to 15 delegate candidates and four-figure contributions to five others, according to campaign finance data from the Virginia Public Access Project. Hayes did not receive any funding from the state party.
“It is frustrating to not have state support, especially in a district that I believe is a swingable district,” she said.
Hayes started her campaign with $4, she said, and has raised a total of $40,906 throughout the election cycle, according to campaign finance data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
Walker has raised $163,049 in the current election cycle, bringing his total since 2019 up to $557,955.
The funding gap has encouraged Hayes to think critically about where and how to campaign, she said. She made her plan by looking at how 2023’s votes fell: the Democratic candidate for delegate lost to Walker by 538 votes in Lynchburg but 1,211 in Campbell County, according to results from the state Department of Elections.
“Because of that, I actually prioritized the Campbell County part early on in my race,” she said. “In the past, [Democratic candidates] have sort of ignored that part, saying ‘It’s not worth it. You can’t win any voters over there anyways.’ So I wanted to show them that their vote matters, but also that I was listening to their voice.”
Walker has been involved in Republican politics for more than 40 years, he said at the forum, including being the chairman of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee and leading the 6th District Republican Committee. In his campaign, he’s letting his experience speak for itself, he said.
In his time as a delegate, he’s served on the Finance; Health and Human Services; General Laws; Privileges and Elections; and Transportation committees. Each has taught him unique lessons that he can now apply when talking to legislators across the aisle and on his side of it, he said.
In the 2025 legislative session, Walker sponsored 19 bills. Six, or about one-third of his proposals, were enacted. Across all 3,512 pieces of legislation introduced in 2025, about 21% were enacted, according to the state’s legislative information system.
Walker said he’s proud of his record, which “comes down to knowing how the legislature works and listening to constituents.”
Hayes said that while she doesn’t have government experience like Walker, she’s campaigning on the idea that she has lived experiences that many of her voters share.
“I’ve experienced a lot more in my lifetime than other people will ever experience. I’ve experienced homelessness. I’ve experienced poverty,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that people don’t always think about as experience, because it’s not on a job, but there’s so many things in life that teach you lessons.”
Lynchburg has a high poverty rate. Candidates focus on lowering the cost of living.
About 17% of Lynchburg residents live below the poverty line, according to census statistics presented by Data USA. That’s higher than the state average of about 10% and the national average of 12%.
Walker said the energy sector presents the biggest cost-of-living concern, with increased energy demand projected to be “felt in a painful way” on everyday families’ electricity bills.
If reelected, Walker’s solution is to help the state invest in a diversified energy portfolio that includes power from natural gas, renewables and nuclear technology. Pulling together multiple energy sources should keep the grid resilient as energy demands continue to rise, he said.
For Hayes, rent is the biggest cost of living concern — especially for a population as young as Lynchburg’s that is renting and not buying their homes, she said.
About 49% of the housing units in Lynchburg are occupied by their owner, while the rest are rented, according to Data USA. Lynchburg’s homeownership rate is slightly less than the national average of 65%.
If elected, Hayes said she would introduce a bill that would allow localities to set rent caps to prevent over-inflation and stop the “greed crisis” among landlords. She also wants to require more frequent property examinations to hold landlords accountable for poor conditions.
At the September panel, Walker and Hayes also addressed concerns about the rising costs of food and healthcare that are coupled with projected declines in federal funding for programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Walker said, “We can help meet those needs on a volunteer basis, without the government.” He said food pantries, community health clinics and other nonprofits are already doing impressive work to provide food and healthcare to underserved communities, and he’s confident that all Lynchburg residents can be cared for if everyone works together.
Hayes said government aid is crucial when it comes to helping low-income families pay for basic necessities. In the face of decreasing federal funding, she said the state will have to come up with creative ways to fill the funding gap. One idea, she said, is to start making data centers pay more in taxes and put that money toward a healthcare fund.
Lynchburg is a city for families. Candidates want to strengthen the education system.
According to census data, only five localities in the Southwest and Southside Virginia regions are recording more births than deaths per year. In 2021, Lynchburg recorded 178 more births than deaths, more than the other four localities — Appomattox (4), Radford (7), Roanoke (34), and Lexington (45) — combined.
As a result, K-12 education is a top priority for both Walker and Hayes.
Walker advocates for an education system that empowers parents just as much as it does students. He said at the September panel that he supports expanding parental choice in education so parents can choose whether public, private or homeschool is best for their children.
Last year, he introduced a bill that would create an alternative schooling tax credit of up to $5,000 a year to reduce the financial burden on parents who choose not to send their children to public school. It stalled in the House Finance Committee in February.
Walker said, when it comes to improving the education system, “the key isn’t just spending more money” but rather building a network of support outside of schools. He called on parents and church and nonprofit leaders to provide the mentorship and tools that “every child deserves to succeed.”
Hayes agreed that school funding should change, but not in the way Walker proposed.
“Public school dollars belong to public schools,” she said at the forum. “I believe that as we continue to siphon resources away, we are damaging communities that cannot afford private schools or do not have the resources to homeschool their children.”
To fight for increased funding for local schools, Hayes advocates for amending the state’s current education funding formula.
In Virginia, school divisions receive funding based on a “Standards of Quality” formula that estimates how many staff positions are needed for each school division and how much those positions cost, according to the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. The formula — which takes into account staff who perform various instructional and administrative functions — results in Virginia school divisions receiving less funding per student than the 50-state average and the South Atlantic regional average.
Hayes said at the forum that, if elected, she would work to change the formula so all students could receive equal funding no matter where they live. The current formula “does not adequately account for higher needs students,” including those who live in poverty, according to the audit and review commission.
After the forum, the Lynchburg Voters League endorsed Hayes “because she puts workers, tenants, and students first, will fight for fair school funding and affordable housing, and brings the lived experience and independence Lynchburg needs in Richmond,” Desmond Mosby, the league’s president, wrote in a statement.
