A Virginia state senator, Ben Chafin, has died from problems of Covid-19.
Ben Chafin, a Republican state senator from Virginia, has died of problems of Covid-19, the State Senate’s Republican Caucus confirmed on Friday night. He had been receiving treatment at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond for 2 weeks, his household stated in an announcement.
Mr. Chafin, 60, was first elected to Virginia’s Senate in 2014. Before his time as senator he served as a member of Virginia’s House of Delegates. He was additionally the proprietor and operator of a cattle farm in Moccasin Valley, within the state’s southwest.
“Ben was deeply and wholeheartedly committed to the commonwealth, and especially to the people of Southwest Virginia,” stated Thomas Ok. Norment Jr., the State Senate’s Republican chief.
In 2018, Mr. Chafin was one in every of 4 Republicans who efficiently supported the growth of Medicaid in Virginia when his get together managed the Senate.
“Doing nothing about the medical conditions, the state of health care in my district, just wasn’t the answer any longer,” he stated on the Senate ground.
That similar yr, he sponsored a invoice to permit weapons in church buildings in response to a mass capturing on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, wherein greater than two dozen individuals have been killed. The invoice stalled within the House.
Mr. Chafin grew up engaged on his household’s farm and had a part-time job at an area meatpacking plan whereas in highschool, in keeping with his Senate web site. He and his sister grew to become the primary members of their household to graduate from faculty, and he went on to earn a legislation diploma from the University of Richmond School of Law.
Gov. Ralph Northam provided his condolences to Mr. Chafin’s household on Friday, saying in an announcement that he “will always be grateful” for Mr. Chafin’s “courageous vote to expand health care for people who need it.”
“This is sad news, to begin a new year with the loss of a kind and gracious man,” Mr. Northam stated. “May we all recommit to taking extra steps to care for one another.”
Local information shops reported that Mr. Chafin’s household is not going to have a proper burial service. At his behest, they stated, the household is requesting meals financial institution donations “in lieu of flowers and other acts of kindness.”
