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Character Forged by Hardship
Yvonne Rorrer, Candidate for the VA House of Delegates, District 47
The best sermon I ever heard wasn’t about heaven or hell. It was about hardship. How it shapes a person and becomes the forge where real character is made.
Think about it. The hard working people you’ve met who have backbone, decency, and compassion have all been through something hard. They have faced loss and disappointment and kept going anyway.
Now think about the ones who don’t seem to have much character. The ones born with a silver spoon in their mouths, living entitled lives and acting like the world owes them something. People who never missed a meal, never had to start over, and never sacrificed for anyone else. You can spot them a mile away, bragging about their success but quiet about all the help they had getting there.
That brings us to Yvonne Rorrer.
Yvonne is special, just like so many rural Democratic candidates across America. From Texas to Indiana, Kentucky to North Carolina, they are out there knocking on doors and running on grit and conviction. They face opponents funded by big corporations while they scrape by on small donations and a few loyal volunteers. But they keep showing up because they believe their communities are worth fighting for.
We call one generation the Greatest Generation for a reason. They were not born special. They were shaped by the times they lived through, by the Great Depression, by World War II, by the struggles that taught them strength. They did not talk about character. They lived it.
That brings us again to Yvonne Rorrer.
When Yvonne talks about why she is running, she does it humbly. But before politics, you have to understand her character. It did not come from comfort. It came from surviving what most people could not.
Yvonne faced things as a child that no one should ever have to face. Abuse, poverty, and fear. But she refused to let bitterness take root. She turned her pain into empathy and built a life grounded in service. She serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, standing up for children in the court system who have no one else. She has given her time and her heart to victims and families who need someone to lean on.
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Years ago, she shared her own story of childhood trauma in written testimony that helped lawmakers pass Jessica’s Law in North Carolina. The law strengthened penalties for sexual crimes against children, setting a minimum twenty-five-year prison sentence and lifetime monitoring for certain offenders. Yvonne’s courage to turn her pain into purpose showed who she is. A protector, not a politician.
Her life has been hammered and folded like steel, shaped by hardship until it became unbreakable. Every challenge, every loss, every setback made her sharper and stronger.
I once had a football coach who told us, “If you are in a foxhole or standing shoulder to shoulder with a teammate and get to pick one person to have beside you, you don’t ask about their religion, their skin color, or their lifestyle. You pick the one with character to have your back.”
That is Yvonne Rorrer.
Yvonne isn’t a career politician. She is a wife, a mother, and a survivor who believes in protecting what is right. Her moment came when she saw her opponent, the man who now represents District 47, vote against a bill that would strip convicted rapists of parental rights over children born from their crimes.
Let that sink in. He supported giving convicted rapists legal access to the child of their victim.
Yvonne does not have to imagine the pain that could cause. She lived it. And when she saw that vote, she knew this was no longer about politics. It was personal.
That moment called her to run. Not for power or position, but because no child should ever have to fear a system that protects predators instead of victims. She is running to protect her children, your children, and grandchildren.
Politics is new to Yvonne, but so were the bullies we all remember from middle school. The ones who made fun of how you looked or talked. The ones who mocked your family or your faith. They always had their little crowd going along, either out of fear or ignorance.
That is what too much of politics looks like today. Name calling. Labeling. Tearing down anyone who is different or brave enough to speak up.
So when you hear people try to twist Yvonne’s story or question her worth, remember those bullies. And remember what my coach said. You pick the one with character to have your back.
Yvonne Rorrer is not polished or rehearsed. She is real. A survivor. A mother. A leader. A fighter.
Her story is not about perfection. It is about perseverance. It is about character forged by hardship, and that is the kind of character we need in Richmond and across America.
Be curious, not judgmental.
Till next time, that’s the story from the ‘Back Forty’. — John W. Peace II
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John W. Peace II is a fifth-generation farmer from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he grew up on his family’s dairy, Clinch Haven Farms, and still lives today farming hay and beef cattle. He’s a proud father to Trey and Shelby Peace, and partner in life to Cathy Swinney. A Virginia Tech graduate with graduate studies at Penn State, he served as the youngest Chair of the Wise County Board of Supervisors (2004–2008). John co-owns SafeHavenServices.co and urTOPIX LLC (urTopixLLC.com), a Democratic campaign consulting firm focused on reaching rural voters that is sponsored by www.RuralAmericaRising.com PAC. He’s also a two-time Amazon bestselling author. Learn more at www.JohnWPeace.com.
