Virginia Del. Ronnie Campbell dies after cancer battle

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Virginia Del. Ronnie Campbell, a former state trooper and member of the House of Delegates from the Shenandoah Valley, died this week after a battle with cancer, the House speaker’s office announced Tuesday.

Virginia has lost a ”good man and dedicated public servant, the House of Delegates has lost a sterling voice, and I have lost a good friend,” Speaker Todd Gilbert said in a statement.

Gilbert’s statement said that just hours before his passing, Campbell had been working to see that legislation he had prepared for the session that begins in January “wouldn’t fall by the wayside.”

Campbell was first elected to his western Virginia House district that included Amherst, Augusta, Bath and Rockbridge counties in a 2018 special election.

He previously served on the Rockbridge County school board and board of supervisors.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin was among many offering his condolences, saying Campbell had served the state in “so many ways.”

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“He cared deeply about his community, the Commonwealth, law enforcement, and above all his wife, Ellen, and their family,” Youngkin tweeted.