On Tuesday night, a charismatic teenager eked out a victory in a race for a county supervisor seat in southeastern Virginia.
Cameran Drew’s victory was notable not only because of his age (19) or the narrow margin of victory (10 votes), but also because of the opponent he beat: his former high school government teacher.
Drew won a seat on the Board of Supervisors in Surry County, Va., with 345 votes to Kenneth Bell’s 335.
Drew, a lifelong Surry County resident, is a 2024 graduate of Surry County High School, where he took four dual-enrollment classes with Bell, mostly focused on history and government.
The election, to represent the Dendron district, wasn’t contentious. In fact, Drew said he remained “very close” with his former teacher, fondly recalling that Bell twice took him to Richmond to shadow lawmakers. Bell, for his part, said he was “over the moon” when he found out who he would be running against.
“He’s the type of student that if teachers could have a little cloning machine in their classrooms to duplicate, he would be all over the place,” Bell said.
Surry County, with a population of about 6,500, is in a rural area of southeastern Virginia between Richmond and Norfolk. The five members of the county board serve four-year terms.
A seat opened up in July when a board member resigned, and both Bell and Drew raised their hands for an interim appointment. The board seated Bell. Drew then gathered the 125 signatures needed to get on the ballot for Tuesday’s special election.
“I saw that the youth wasn’t always taken care of or just appreciated, so I was like, ‘Hey, it’s time for me to step up,’” said Drew, who is studying business administration at Virginia Peninsula Community College in Hampton, Virginia.
He made direct-to-camera appeals to voters on Instagram, dressed in a suit and positioning himself as someone “who’s looking to move Surry forward, while retaining our rural charm,” as he put it in one post.
He also promoted some endorsements, such as one from Lashrecse Aird, a Democratic Virginia state senator.
Bell said that, because of his affection for Drew, he didn’t campaign aggressively.
Drew reported spending $2,295 on his campaign, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan group that tracks voting data. Bell spent nothing.
Bell and Drew, neither of whom ran on a party line, largely agreed on the issues and held just one joint town hall-style forum. Describing himself as a philanthropist, Drew told the audience, “It’s time to bring young minds to the table.”
The campaign centered on local issues, though some, such as affordable housing, have resonated nationally. Drew focused particularly on how to incentivize young people to stay in the area.
On election night, Drew was at a watch party for a mentor of his, Kimberly Pope Adams, who flipped a seat in the House of Delegates, helping Democrats increase their majority.
On the Virginia elections website, Drew saw that he had eked out a victory — a moment he called “surreal.” Bell called to concede. They had a pleasant five-minute conversation.
“He was like, ‘If you ever need anything from me, just let me know,’” Drew said. “He was, once again, still the supportive person he has always been.”
Bell said there was “not a sad bone in his body” that he lost.
“I have found that is not the answer people in our community want me to give,” Bell said. “I think everybody wants me to be in a depression and sad. It’s because I know Cameran and I know the quality of a person that he is. And so I can’t be sad.”