RICHMOND, Va. – The Virginia Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would eliminate Lee-Jackson Day as a statewide holiday, instead giving that designation to Election Day.
FILE – This June 27, 2017, file photo shows the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee that stands in the middle of a traffic circle on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Va. A study released Monday, June 4, 2018, by the Southern Poverty Law Center shows about 110 Confederate monuments have been removed nationwide since 2015, when a racist shooting at a black church in South Carolina energized a movement against such memorials. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
The bill, SB 601, was introduced by Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth and was passed with a vote of 22-18.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam expressed his support for making Election Day a holiday during his State of the Commonwealth address in early January.
According to WTVR, Lee-Jackson Day is celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day each January and honors Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
The House of Delegates version of the bill has not yet been voted on. It was introduced by Del. Joe Lindsay of Norfolk.
