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FROM A BACKGROUND IN ACTIVISM AND COMMUNITY SERVICE...
Nadarius Clark is a working-class community activist, organizer, and Delegate in the Virginia General Assembly. He comes from a military family with a background in business entrepreneurship. He grew up in a strong faith community and attends Zion Community Church in Northern Suffolk.
Born in Norfolk, he attended I.C. Norcom High School in downtown Portsmouth. He worked his first job at the age of 14 at his local 7-Eleven. He went on to college and graduated from Virginia Union University, an HBCU in Richmond, where he studied the fine arts and was the head drum major of VUU’s “Ambassadors of Sound” marching band. After a house fire destroyed his family’s home in 2015 they rebuilt in the Churchland community in Portsmouth, where Nadarius’ mother, Annette, and father, Tony, still live.
Nadarius Clark began his activism after a KKK march in 2016 disrupted classes on Nadarius Clark’s HBCU campus. Following this, Nadarius co-founded the charter chapter of Generation Now Network, an organization committed to faith-based activism, advocacy, and education. As a student leader at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in 2017, Nadarius rallied with leaders of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike, and he went on to lobby in Washington D.C. for comprehensive expansion to Medicare and Medicaid. Nadarius further participated as an activist and organizer of the Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond and Hampton Roads following the murder of George Floyd.
The experiences of 2016 lead Nadarius to become a profoundly engaged advocate for equity. Particularly in the areas of healthcare, housing, and education. Nadarius went on to organize with the non-profit Virginia For Our Future, The Outreach Team, Freedom VA, Portsmouth Mayor Shannon Glover, and the Virginia Democratic Party to help elect Congressman Bobby Scott, Senator Tim Kaine, and President Joe Biden.
...TO THE YOUNGEST DEMOCRAT EVER ELECTED TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES.
In 2021, Nadarius won a historic primary against a long time incumbent to become the first African American Delegate to represent the 79th district, and the youngest Democrat ever elected to the general assembly in its long, 400 year history. He was recognized by The Nation magazine as one of 2021's most significant victories for progressive leaders in America.
In the general assembly, Delegate Clark has championed causes for equity and justice across a wide policy range. From taking on the debt collection industry, to addressing maternal mortality in the Black community, and fighting to protect a woman's right to choose, Delegate Clark has, and always will, put the working class families of Hampton Roads first.
As a working-class Delegate, outside of the legislative session Nadarius works for Gateway Services in Suffolk as a mental health counselor. He works to help those with mental illness across Hampton Roads identify the best ways to live with their diagnosis and achieve personal goals such as finding gainful employment, secure housing, and building a support network.
