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With DEI under attack, here’s how Virginia’s diverse slate of candidates talk about identity
It’s the most diverse Republican ticket in Virginia history. In her bid for the commonwealth’s top seat, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears could become the country’s first Black woman governor. John Reid, as the nominee for lieutenant governor, is the first openly gay person on the state’s ticket. And Jason Miyares, running for a second term as attorney general, was the first Hispanic man elected to statewide office in 2021. But while Earle-Sears and Reid have spoken openly about their identities, they, alongside the Republican party, have distanced themselves from diversity efforts more broadly.
Group attacks Stoney for taking money from donors who give to other Democrats
The Working Families Party is criticizing Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Levar Stoney for the donations he has received for his campaign with a digital ad. However, donors that WFP cited in its criticism of Stoney also give substantial amounts to a long list of Democrats. “These donors have funded Republicans who advance Trump’s agenda, like Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares, and even a Republican candidate for the same position,” WFP said in a news release.
VPAP Visual Paid Conferences: 2016-2024
After nearly disappearing in 2020, the number of paid conferences attended by Virginia General Assembly members and statewide officeholders has returned to pre-pandemic levels. This includes trips within Virginia, to other states, and outside the United States.
Va. agencies’ financial reporting increasingly inaccurate
Over the past several years, state agencies have increasingly been filing inaccurate and late financial reports, the office of Virginia’s Auditor of Public Accounts says. Now that the office has completed the latest round of its annual reviews, it has found state agencies needed to make $4.1 billion of adjustments to financial reports from last year, up from $2.4 billion the year before, said Zach Borgerding, the office’s deputy auditor for human capital and operations.
Republicans worry DOGE cuts will sink them in Virginia governor’s race
Republicans are increasingly worried that budget cuts by Elon Musk's DOGE could cost them dearly in November's vote for Virginia governor — an early electoral test of President Trump's policies. Virginia has one of the highest percentages of federal employees in the country — more than 5% of the state's workforce by some estimates — and Republicans' internal polls are starting to show the damage from tens of thousands of federal layoffs. The University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center has projected that 32,000 jobs could be lost in the state this year, many of them federal positions.
Judge and lawmakers question Trump administration’s plan to gut Job Corps centers
Members of Congress and a federal judge are questioning the Trump administration’s plan to shut down Job Corps centers nationwide, including the Old Dominion Job Corps in Amherst County, and halt a residential career training program for low-income youth that was established more than 50 years ago. ... Lawmakers asked Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer about the decision when she appeared before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Thursday. “Job Corps, which you know has bipartisan support in Congress, trains young, low-income people, and helps them find good-paying jobs and provides housing for a population that might otherwise be without a home,” U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott said.
Spanberger announces plan to reduce housing costs in Va.
Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger announced a plan on Friday to lower housing costs in Virginia by eliminating arduous regulatory requirements that drive up production costs and incentivizing new housing construction for first-time homeowners and middle-class families. Spanberger announced her plan at Parkside Townes, a housing development under construction in eastern Henrico County that uses a land trust model to lower costs by separating ownership of the home from the land beneath it.
Earle-Sears pushes to end car tax, and so does Spanberger
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is trying to ride a familiar Republican campaign slogan to victory in the governor’s race: no car tax. Nearly 30 years after former Attorney General Jim Gilmore, a Republican, used the slogan to reach the Executive Mansion, Earle-Sears resurrected it in a brief speech to cheering volunteers before a campaign training session in Fairfax County on Tuesday. ... Spanberger, who stepped down from Congress after three terms to run for governor, said through a campaign spokesman on Thursday that she, too, would like to get rid of the car tax by finding a bipartisan way to get it done.
A Virginia Democrat hunts for votes in rural pockets where MAGA has strengthened its grip
Democratic politics in rural Virginia are not of a bygone era, according to Abigail Spanberger. The former congressional representative, now the Democratic nominee in the race to be Virginia’s next governor, posts videos online of herself sitting in a car on an interstate highway that goes up and down the Appalachian Mountains. She has toured a small, family-owned oyster shucking and packaging operation along a quiet boat haven on the northern neck of Virginia. And last month, the nominee held a news conference at a small pharmacy in an agrarian hamlet outside of Richmond.
Federal policies could put a damper on regional summer tourism
Hampton Roads is fortunate to be a popular tourism destination each summer for visitors who flock to the beaches and enjoy the many historic attractions throughout our region. These guests fill our hotels, eat at our restaurants and represent a significant share of the region’s annual economic activity. Yet, as the summer season starts, many in the area are justifiably concerned that President Donald Trump’s hostility to foreign nations, including traditional allies, and his administration’s zealous and often ham-fisted deportation efforts will drive away tourists ...