Sen. Joe Morrissey’s newest rival is founder of country’s largest Black-owned media company

Though they were once allies in promoting a casino in Richmond, Urban One founder and chairperson Cathy Hughes and Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, are now at odds as the state senator has pivoted toward pushing the Virginia General Assembly to let Petersburg choose whether it wants a casino instead.

“I hope you all understand that Joe Morrissey is a very shrewd politician,” Hughes said in a community meeting in Richmond earlier this month. “Very soon, however, I see myself as David, and with the power of God I’m going to kill a giant.”

Hughes, who says she recently moved to the Richmond area, accused Morrissey of forsaking many of his constituents for political reasons after he foiled her company’s plans to hold a do-over referendum in Richmond this November.

But Morrissey says her anger at him is misguided, alleging that she and her son, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins, are upset with him because Petersburg would not immediately select the media conglomerate as the developer for a casino there.

“If she wants to throw me under the bus, fine, let her do that. But she must necessarily throw her son under it, too,” because he had considered relocating the nearly $600 million One Casino and Resort project to Petersburg after last year’s failed referendum bid in Richmond, Morrissey said in an interview. “I did the right thing and said, ‘No, we’re going to get the best casino operator. … There’s no backroom deals. The best quarterback starts Sunday afternoon.”

The rivalry between Morrissey, one of Virginia’s most colorful politicians, and Hughes, the founder of what is billed as the country’s largest Black-owned media company, is beginning to bud as Virginia Senate elections loom next year.

Morrissey, who currently represents parts of Richmond and Petersburg after defeating Sen. Rosalyn Dance in 2019 for the Democratic nomination, has said he intends to move and run next year in a newly redrawn district that does not include Richmond.

The 13th Senate District includes Petersburg, Hopewell, Prince George County, Charles City County, Sussex County and Surry County and parts of eastern Henrico and northern Dinwiddie counties.

Former Del. Lashrecse Aird, a Democrat from Petersburg, announced in March that she will run for the Senate seat next year.

The Supreme Court of Virginia adopted the legally required legislative district adjustments in December after the completion of the 2020 U.S. Census.

In the ensuing months, Morrissey pushed a bill to amend the state casino law to let Petersburg residents vote on permitting a casino. A Senate committee killed the legislation, but Morrissey later succeeded in getting a state budget amendment passed that prohibited Richmond from holding another referendum this November so the state can first study the potential economic impact of a casino in Petersburg.

Acknowledging that Morrissey has been popular among Richmond voters for decades, despite multiple controversies throughout his career and a misdemeanor conviction stemming from his relationship with a 17-year-old girl he later married, Hughes earlier this month told a room of approximately 100 people in Richmond that he was letting them down. She went on to say he and community leaders who support him should be held accountable.

(Former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam pardoned Morrissey on the conviction in January.)

“We are not going to sit by and watch all of you be deprived of something that this city desperately needs and wants,” she said. “He won’t be representing you next year.”

Ravi Perry, chairman of the political science department at Howard University, said that Hughes moving to Richmond and her direct involvement in the election would likely have an impact.

“She leads the conglomerate of companies that has the largest broadcasting [network] to Black communities across the entire country,” he said. “When she speaks, African Americans listen. Joe Morrissey should be concerned about that because most of his constituents are African American.”

The Richmond casino referendum failed last year after getting 49% of the votes.

Supporters of the project have clamored for another roll of the dice because it lost by a narrow margin of about 1,500 votes. The result was divided largely along racial and geographic lines. Neighborhoods closest to where the casino would have been located in South Richmond, which are predominantly Black, voted overwhelmingly for the project. More affluent, mostly white communities north of the James River voted against it.

That the project failed to pass came as a surprise to many, as Urban One and its partners in the project had spent $2.6 million campaigning for it. There was little organized opposition, as a loose coalition that included progressive activists, a Democratic party strategist, a longtime area businessman and a conservative lobbying group collectively spent approximately $250,000 to challenge it.

In an interview with reporters earlier this month, Liggins said he did meet with Morrissey and Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham after the election to talk about potentially relocating the casino project there. Liggins said he was interested, but that Morrissey and other officials told him they would want to consider several development bids if state lawmakers allow the city about 30 minutes south of Richmond to hold a referendum.

“We already had a project that was set and slated to go [in Richmond],” Liggins said. “So when Richmond said that they wanted a second opportunity, we supported the fact that they wanted that and said, ‘Yeah, we’ll continue to be loyal and support that.’”

Liggins also said he felt that there is nothing untoward about localities selecting preferred developers, noting that three of the five cities the state authorized to hold casino referendums did not use a competitive process to choose their developers.

With the next assembly session and a party nomination contest around the corner, Morrissey said Hughes is supporting Aird to defeat him.

Aird said Friday that she has never met Hughes or received any support from her for the upcoming election. As for her stance on allowing a casino in Petersburg, she said she is waiting for the state study on the projected economic impact.

“Petersburg seems pretty divided” on the matter, she said. “I think the citizens are interested in seeing the report as well.”

Veteran Richmond political commentator Bob Holsworth said he thinks that Aird is already a serious challenger to Morrissey, and that support from Hughes and Urban One could make the contest even more competitive.

And while Morrissey advocating for a casino in Petersburg could help endear voters to him, Holsworth noted that Aird’s pro-choice stance on abortion and Morrissey’s willingness to support increased restrictions could be another significant issue for voters.

Still, Holsworth said Morrissey has a long history of being a “formidable grassroots figure” who has defied political leaders and rarely lost an election.

“You see this on the other side of the spectrum with Donald Trump. Their supporters tend to be very loyal, and they tend not to be impacted too much by negative publicity,” he said. “He’s proved to be very resilient.”

Morrissey said he does not believe that Hughes supporting Aird would make the race more competitive.

“I don’t care if Cathy Hughes gives her $5 million,” he said. “I’m going to do what I’ve always done; take my message to the voters and let them know this is what I’ve done for you, this is what I’m doing right now, and this is what I’ll do in the future.”

He also said he is confident that the assembly will pass legislation in the next session that will allow Petersburg to vote on the casino.

“My respectful advice is that they put together an excellent proposal” to build a casino in Petersburg, he said of Urban One. “I’m not going to hold Alfred and Cathy’s criticisms against them.”