Levar was raised in Virginia by his father, Marvin, and his grandmother, Mary; neither graduated high school, but both worked day and night to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. And thanks to a strong family, a strong education - and a Virginia that believed in his potential - Levar was able to become the first in his family to graduate high school, then the first to graduate college. After college, he moved to Richmond to begin a career in public service.

Levar rose through the ranks from Fellow in then-Governor Mark Warner’s office to become the first African American Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the youngest member of Governor Terry McAuliffe’s cabinet. As Secretary, Levar was the driving force behind restoring the voting rights for nearly 200,000 disenfranchised Virginians — more than the past seven administrations combined.

After being elected Mayor of Richmond in 2016, Levar got right to work: getting the fiscal house in order, allocating historic funding to improve infrastructure, reducing the poverty rate by 22%, raising pay for teachers and first responders, increasing funding for Richmond Public Schools by nearly 50%, and cutting red-tape so businesses could thrive. Additionally, Levar built three new schools in Black and brown neighborhoods and expanded after-school programming for all elementary and middle school students. Finally, Levar is tackling the affordable housing crisis sweeping across our nation head-on by working with partners to dedicate at least $100 million to address this challenge. 

Perhaps most famously, Levar led the removal of all of Richmond’s Confederate monuments and made instrumental changes to ensure Richmond is no longer known as the Capital of the Confederacy, but the Capital of Compassion, focusing on investing in our communities, our workers, and our children. Under Levar’s leadership, Richmond has become more inclusive and welcoming, has grown economically and culturally, and has been named the number one place to live in Virginia.