This transfer of power in Virginia matters more than others I’ve seen

For the first time in my life, I watched a new Virginia governor take the oath of office–not only because my schedule was mercifully free and allowed me to camp out on the couch at noon Saturday, but because the stakes for my state’s leadership are much higher now.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) begins her term as Virginia’s 75th governor at a much different time for the commonwealth and the nation than the last time a Democrat was sworn in as governor in front of the Capitol designed by Virginia’s second governor, Thomas Jefferson.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D) had to deal with the lies, cruelty, bigotry, and incompetence of Trump 1.0, but Spanberger faces even more of that–compounded by Trump’s newfound enthusiasm for trying to punish particular states he deems disloyal.

At its lightest, this takes the form of clumsy, oafish attempts to yank federal funding, threaten federal investigations or undo federal approvals of projects. In Virginia, we’ve seen such examples as the unsuccessful attempt to intimidate George Mason University president Gregory Washington out of office and the groundless bid to stop construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project that a federal judge turned aside Friday.

At its worst, the entire country has witnessed the murderous thuggishness of ICE agents in Minneapolis who seem to take tactical inspiration from the secret police of Third World dictatorships.

And over the last year, the two elected officials in Virginia best positioned to contest these abuses of power, former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) and former Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), either did nothing or cheered them along. Youngkin in particular appeared to think that his heel turn from maintaining a measured distance from Trump to embracing so much of a MAGA agenda would set him up well in future elections; the choices of Virginia voters in November suggest that is a delusional hope.

Hours into her term, Spanberger put some distance between herself and Youngkin’s smiling mediocrity: One of the first 10 executive orders she signed rescinds the EO of her predecessor that had directed state law-enforcement agencies to divert their time and resources to assist ICE operations.

That is a good start, and I expect more from the first Democratic governor I’ve seen take office with a Democratic majority in both houses of the General Assembly. These elected representatives have a great deal of work ahead, starting with unfinished business from the last four years in Richmond and now including finding ways to repair the damage that Trump has inflicted on our state.

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Some pointers for Virginia Democratic primary voters

Virginia has a primary election happening next Tuesday with contested races for two statewide slots on the Democratic Party ballot, but you might not know it from the coverage of the dominant newspaper in Northern Virginia. And especially not if you read the Washington Post looking to find out what sets apart the candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Unless my reading and Google searches have missed something, since early voting began May 2 the Post has run only two pieces that rate as voter-guide material: a basic election overview published May 2, then brief bios of the six LG candidates published May 26. That’s not a knock on the skills or work ethic of Post journalists like my former editor Greg Schneider; they have a lot of work to do, and their bosses seem to have their own coverage priorities.

But whatever the cause, I’ve had to turn elsewhere to research my choices. For attorney general, it’s a one-or-the-other pick between former state Del. Jay Jones (Norfolk) and Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor, but for lieutenant governor there are six candidates: lawyer and union leader Alex Bastani, state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (Richmond), Prince William County school board chair Babur Lateef, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (Virginia Beach), former federal prosecutor Victor Salgado, and former Richmond mayor Levar Stoney.

(For non-Virginians who haven’t followed these races: Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger is the sole Democratic candidate for governor, and current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is the only Republican candidate for that office. And with talk-radio host John Reid and current Attorney General Jason Miyares unchallenged for the GOP nominations for LG and AG, there’s no statewide Republican primary this year.)

• The most useful non-paywalled voter reference I’ve found for the contested Democratic races comes from Cardinal News, a nonprofit newsroom covering Southwest and Southside Virginia. For their voter guide, they asked candidates for each office the same set of questions, and you should find their answers on such issues as gun regulation and the environmental footprint of data centers illuminating.
• WAMU put together similar resources for the two AG candidates and the six LG candidates, asking a few different questions of these job applicants. I found the answers of the would-be lieutenant governors to the Washington public-radio station’s query on housing costs to be particularly informative.
• Another public broadcaster, Richmond-based VPM, posted interviews of LG candidates Hashmi, Lateef and Stoney as well as AG candidates Jones and Taylor that are worth reading.
• For an electability assessment from a student of campaigns with a remarkable record of predicting General Assembly elections, see the evaluation by up-and-coming political analyst Chaz Nuttycombe of what the three leading LG candidates–Hashmi, Rouse and Stoney–could bring to a statewide ticket alongside Spanberger.
• Since Virginia allows unlimited direct donations by companies to candidates, you should check their top donors to see if the names and sums listed there suggest undue leverage for any one firm–or person or interest group. The Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit, maintains a database that you can easily browse through, with pages covering the candidates for attorney general and lieutenant governor.

I hope the above resources help you come to your own choices–or at least that this post reminded you that there’s an election happening next week.

#AbigalSpanberger #OldDominion #Virginia #VirginiaAttorneyGeneral #VirginiaDemocraticParty #VirginiaDems #VirginiaGovernor #VirginiaLieutenantGovernor #VirginiaPolitics #VirginiaPrimary #WinsomeEarleSears

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