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Federal cuts could raise Va. food stamp costs $540 million
Virginia lawmakers are getting a new lesson in national politics: when President Donald Trump and his allies in Congress talk about cutting federal spending, they also mean shifting the cost of safety net programs to states. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” that the U.S. House of Representatives passed could cost Virginia up to $540 million a year to administer food assistance for low-income residents and pay up to 25% of benefits, the state commissioner of social services told a General Assembly budget committee on Monday.
Trump looms over Virginia governor’s race: What to know on primary day
Virginians are heading to the polls in one of this year's banner election fights where President Donald Trump's name isn't on the ballot but his second-term policies are very much top of voters' minds. The most consequential of the June 17 primary races center around who will be the next governor of the Old Dominion, a state that has seen its share of the federal government workforce shrink at the hands of Trump and former DOGE leader Elon Musk.
Six Democrats battle for Virginia Lieutenant Governor nomination
As Virginians head to the polls Tuesday, six Democratic candidates are competing for their party's nomination for lieutenant governor,. Whoever wins the nomination will go up against the only GOP candidate on the ticket, Republican John Reid in November's general election. The Democratic field includes current and former elected officials, attorneys, and advocates. They're all emphasizing a range of issues from healthcare and education to housing and labor rights.
Yancey: 4 trends in the early voting that could determine who wins Tuesday’s primaries
Some things should not be lumpy. Mattresses and mashed potatoes, for instance. Some things often turn out lumpy, anyway. Mattresses and mashed potatoes — and elections. It looks as if we’ll have some lumpy results tonight in primary elections across the state. By “lumpy,” I mean some places will vote at higher or lower rates than others. That’s the case in every election. Case in point: In the 2021 governor’s race, 71% of registered voters in Goochland County cast ballots, while only 38% of those in Petersburg did. Every other locality in the state fell somewhere in between.
Can this tiny Appalachian town be a blueprint for the region’s rebirth?
Lou Wallace couldn’t bear to watch her hometown on the Wise-Russell county line continue to crumble. On a whim in the late 1990s, she called The Nature Conservancy’s Abingdon office, lamenting, “Our little town is dying. Can you help?” Instead of shunning her, a now-retired employee of the nonprofit tossed out a lifeline. He helped her secure a $10,000 grant. That was enough to hire a company that fashioned a strategic plan revolving around the Clinch River—the hiding-in-plain-sight biological jewel bisecting St. Paul that residents had long dismissed as a dirty and forlorn nuisance.
Vindman, Kiggans cross aisle in bid to get phones out of classrooms
Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-7th, and Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-2nd, are top targets of each other's political party in next year's congressional midterm elections, but they are making a common cause of getting cellphones out of school classrooms. Vindman and Kiggans have introduced a pair of bills in the U.S. House of Representatives to provide incentives to schools that prohibit cellphones in classrooms from the first bell in the morning to the last bell in the afternoon.
The curious campaign of Levar Stoney
There are many ways for a political candidate to garner the glowing press he desires while on the campaign trail. He can host rallies and town halls, attend forums and speaking engagements, visit community colleges and housing developments. This is what industry insiders call “earned media,” that is publicity that a candidate neither owns (like a website) nor pays for (like an advertisement). Earned, owned and paid media are considered the three pillars of publicity. But there is a fourth, and uncelebrated, pillar: simply cold calling a newspaper. Which is what Levar Stoney’s campaign did.
Warner: Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ could make it more expensive to fly in and out of DC area
The Senate continues to work on what’s been dubbed the president’s “big, beautiful bill” this week. It’s a massive tax and spending plan hitting several parts of the federal government. And in recent weeks, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has landed on the GOP’s radar. It’s all of 17 lines out of 33 pages from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, but it orders the federal government to renegotiate the lease it has with MWAA — leases that were just signed last year and run through the year 2100.
Spanberger looks to unite party after primary day
On the eve of Virginia’s down-ballot primaries, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger announced a statewide bus tour and criticized her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, during a campaign rally Monday. The event, held just hours before Democrats select nominees for other statewide races, signaled her intent to steer the party clear of the internal conflicts currently dogging the Republican ticket. Hundreds of supporters packed a hallway at the new J.R. Tucker High School, the school Spanberger attended growing up.
Robinson: Selling federal lands would betray future generations
In early May, Congress slipped a provision deep into its budget resolution that should alarm every American. Buried in the text was language authorizing the sale of nearly half a million acres of our federally managed public lands — mostly in Utah and Nevada. It would set a precedent that threatens every corner of this country. This isn’t simply a Western issue. What happens in the deserts outside Salt Lake City today could be replicated tomorrow in the forests of Virginia or the marshes of Delaware.