Two Danville City Council members are vying to be the next state delegate representing the 49th House District. Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, announced in February that he would not seek reelection for the position that he held for nearly 25 years.
Democratic candidate Gary Miller has been on the city council since 2008 and has served twice as vice mayor, from 2014 to 2016 and again from 2020 to 2024.
A cardiologist and small-business owner, Miller has advocated for expanded health care access in the region. He served on the Virginia Board of Medicine from 1997 to 2001 and has been a counselor to the Medical Society of Virginia since 1997.
Republican candidate Madison Whittle is a small-business owner in Danville who has been on the council since 2016. During that time, he has advocated for a lower cost of living for residents, including lower real-estate taxes, meals taxes and utility costs.
The Danville native founded his property management company, MJRW Inc., in 1988, and he is the owner and developer of several residential and commercial properties in the city and other areas in the region.
Both candidates have seen a dramatic economic transformation in Danville — and the larger region — during their time in local government.
Miller and Whittle both said they want to see this growth expand to the rest of the 49th District, citing jobs, economic development and housing as priorities. Miller also emphasized health care access and education as top issues in the 49th.
The 49th House District encompasses the city of Danville, a southeastern portion of Pittsylvania County and the southern portion of Halifax County, including the town of South Boston.
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To see who’s on the ballot in Danville and where they stand, visit the Danville page in our Voter Guide. To find out who’s running in other localities, start on the main page of our Voter Guide. Early voting is underway.
Regardless of the race’s outcome, the elected candidate will have to transition from working with other independents in an intimate local government setting to representing a larger swath of localities alongside members of the opposite political party.
“It’s going to be a shift,” Miller said. “But when you’re working against each other, you’re not getting anything done. I’m not going to Richmond to help the Democratic Party, I’m going to help all of Southside.”
Miller said that the close collaboration between Danville and Pittsylvania County on many economic development efforts — outside of political affiliation — can be a model for the broader region.
“We all need to band together,” he said. “If you combine the population of Halifax, Danville, Pittsylvania County, there’s a lot of people. … Republicans are going to have to work with Democrats and vice versa.”
Whittle said that he’d take inspiration from Marshall, who served in the state legislature for almost a quarter of a century. He also said he’d rely on residents of the district’s localities, who best understand their communities’ issues.
“I want to get the job done that’s the best for the 49th,” he said. “I’ll listen to the people. … It’s a bigger swath of territory, but you take it one day at a time, one job at a time.”
Both candidates have been traveling outside Danville to visit the other localities in the district, they said.
“I’ve been to South Boston more times in the past six months than I have in 30 years,” Miller said. “I’ve seen what they need, and I think I could help there.”
Miller said that Danville’s revitalization can be mirrored in other localities in the 49th District, such as South Boston, which has seen partial redevelopment of its downtown area.
Whittle said he lived most of his adult life on a farm in Pittsylvania and regularly attends the county’s fire commission meetings. And he said he’s familiar with the Halifax community because of his membership at the Virginia International Raceway there.
He said he often hears about public education’s importance when he travels to Halifax.
Both candidates mentioned education as a priority for the district, each citing Danville and Pittsylvania’s recent 1% sales tax increase, approved by a voter referendum, to fund capital improvement projects at schools.
“Education is the cornerstone of economic growth,” Miller said. “We’ve had industries actually not come here in the past after looking at the schools.”
Miller and Whittle both said that the 1% sales tax increase has been beneficial to the region, and they’d like to see it replicated in other localities.
Right now, only nine localities in Virginia have this option. The General Assembly passed a bill this year to extend the local option statewide, but Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed it.
Both Miller and Whittle said they would support trying again to pass this law. And Whittle said he thinks even more decisions about how to allocate funding should be in the hands of local voters.
Democratic candidate for governor Abigail Spanberger has said she’d sign such a bill; Republican Winsome Earle-Sears said, “I’m open to reviewing this on a case-by-case basis, making sure it aligns with our values of fairness, transparency, and local control.”
Danville’s recent focus on housing should also be a model for other localities in the 49th District, which needs additional housing across all income levels, Whittle said.
Ultimately, Whittle said he’s running because he felt called to it.
“I love working on city council,” he said. “But with Del. Marshall stepping down, having this opportunity to run and work in another facet of government, I felt it’s what I needed to do.”
Miller said he’s running to “save rural health care in Southside.”
Federal Medicaid cuts are going to hit rural areas particularly hard, he said, and the state will have to “find the money” to protect health care access in rural areas. He said he’s been to Richmond to lobby for increased Medicaid expansion numerous times in the past.
Early voting is currently underway.
“Go vote if you haven’t voted already,” Miller said. “I voted on Friday, and it took me five minutes. … Vote early, because sometimes things come up on Election Day and you just don’t get there.”
Read more about Miller’s and Whittle’s stances on individual issues in Cardinal News’ Voter Guide.