Eric Phillips is seeking the Virginia House of Delegates 48th District seat as the Republican nominee in the January 9 special election.
Phillips is endorsed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Attorney General Jason Miyares; State Senator Bill Stanley, R-Moneta; Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville; and Del. Wren Williams, R-Stuart, and locally by Henry County Sheriff Wayne Davis and Aaron Rawls, vice-mayor of the City of Martinsville.
Phillips, 47, who will face Melody A. “Mel” Cartwright, in the election, said he decided to run because he believes this is a pivotal point in the history of the area.
“There’s a lot of good things going on, we’ve got a lot of positive momentum that we haven’t had in quite a number of years. Particularly with new businesses and higher-paying jobs. Wage growth is up in our area,” he said.
Phillips said the entire region is actually outpacing the rest of Virginia when it comes to wage growth, and the decrease in unemployment. While he notes that this is in part because the region has a lot more room to grow because it was lagging behind the rest of the state, Phillips said it still represents the progress that’s being made.
“As someone who owns businesses, creates jobs, likes economic development, and serves on development boards and the Chamber of Commerce, and all the things I do, it’s a passion of mine,” he said. “I want to see it not only continue, but I want to see us take that momentum and boost it up another notch, and try to bring good things home to our area.”
One challenge he feels the area is always facing is continued workforce development and people actually taking advantage of it.
“All these additional companies and jobs that we’ve having, we also need to be able to fill them,” he said, adding a lack of housing is another issue the region, and even the nation, is facing.
Phillips said he is already working on that locally with the Martinsville Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and wants the organization to have the authority to get more involved in housing projects.
“And doing something about that at the legislative level. Because there’s not a lot of big builders anymore, there’s not a lot of people out there building entire neighborhoods,” he said.
To address this issue, Phillips said some municipal help or some funding might be needed, particularly due to the cost of infrastructure, which is the third leg of economic growth, and the area where the region is lacking.
“The development cost is really prohibitive for people to come in to do a large-scale neighborhood in our areas. A lot of guys are building one or two houses, but nobody’s going out there and speculating 30 houses because it’d cost them several million dollars before they ever start building the first house, just to get the stormwater management and all” of the other infrastructure in place, he said.
To address the issues, Phillips noted there’s a lot of money in Richmond that goes to a lot of places. He believes Southside and Southern Virginia must fight for all the grant money, budget item money, and expenditure item money whenever possible.
“They seem to find it for Northern Virginia, they seem to find it for Richmond, they seem to find it for Hampton Roads, so why can’t they find it for us,” he said.
“One of the major things that we would all be fighting for in our area, for really our whole region, is what we’re calling the Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor, which starts at the North Carolina line with U.S. 220,” he said.
A supporter of public involvement in elected office, Phillips said ultimately when an elected official is chosen, they are the representative of their area.
“I have two thoughts on that. One, you obviously want to hear from your constituents because that’s who you represent. Number two, no one person can be an expert on every issue,” he said.
Phillips said that sometimes elected officials have to explain their positions and detail why they’re doing what they’re doing and persuade others to reach the same conclusion.
“Because a lot of times on these bigger issues, people don’t have all the information. They won’t be sitting in on all the committee meetings, they won’t be reading all the reports that I may be privy to, that they may not be. So, I think public interaction is good for both parties, we get to listen to each other,” he said.
Phillips said he supports transparency, and noted “We wouldn’t have anything to hide. We would hope to be completely transparent.”
While sometimes, there may be sensitive items that can’t be discussed, such as new developments coming to an area, Phillips said he “can’t think of many things that we wouldn’t be able to be fully transparent on.”
Phillips said the area is excelling at making an economic comeback.
“I think that in workforce development, there’s a lot more training and things. I think we have all the pieces to again really take off in our area,” he said. “We’re doing really good at that, having pad-ready sites.”
Phillips is an entrepreneur who owns several businesses including two logistics companies, a construction company, a fleet service center, and a business that runs tractor-trailer goods.
A graduate of the Virginia public school system, Phillips attended both Virginia Western Community College (VWCC) and Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) before he went to Lee University in Tennessee. Post-college, he has received several certifications while training for his different jobs.
Phillips has been married to his wife, Rebecca, for more than 20 years. The couple have two sons, a daughter, and a grandson.
In his free time, Phillips likes to work, play golf, watch sports, hunt, and fish.
