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Op-Ed: Best Bet to Solve Climate Change? Vote In Virginia’s Off-Year Elections Today

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Voting for Democratic candidates today is our best bet to create a better future for Virginia’s climate, writes Virginia environmental activist David Millman.

“I thought there would be more people,” I said to myself as I looked over the ragtag team of friends I had convinced to come with me to a climate rally we heard about on Instagram a couple days before. It was late spring. I had become increasingly involved with environmental activism over the past two years and managed to secure a speaking spot in front of the state capitol building in my hometown of Richmond.

After getting to the rally late (I had accidentally typed in the wrong address in my friend’s phone), we settled into the grass among the fifteen or so other activists. There were some high schoolers, a couple of older folks, and a surprising number of elementary school kids.

I listened to the few other activists talk, including a surprisingly rousing speech from Joshua Cole, a candidate for VA H.D. 28. Then it was my turn to speak.

Walking up to the small podium, I noticed the wind had started to pick up. The microphone was catching this, throwing back a loud screeching sound. I took a moment to look around at the crowd. The grass, instead of adoring supporters, overwhelmingly dominated my view. I thought to myself, “a movement can start with just a few people.” You should never daydream speaking to a crowd you can count on your hand. Nevertheless, I began to talk about climate change.

“If we fight, we can get back the majority and address climate change with concrete laws in Virginia,” I almost yelled over the wind. I finished my speech with a call to action to volunteer for candidates in these upcoming elections. I truly believe that who wins in November can shape the course of climate policy in the United States for decades to come. I told the people in attendance to never stop fighting for climate justice.

Then came September 20th.

Climate activists descended to the streets, parks, and the fronts of government buildings across the country, demanding a response to the climate crisis. The global climate strike was one of the largest protests in modern history.

There were several climate strikes throughout Virginia, including one in front of that very same capitol building. This time there were hundreds of people. And no wind.

If climate policy has any chance of progressing in this country, the energy of these strikes needs to translate to politics–especially at the local and state levels.

Protesters need to turn into canvassers. Strikers need to turn into voters. Demonstrators need to turn into volunteers.

Back in 2017, Virginia Democrats ran one of the most diverse batch of candidates of any state election in United States history. Running for the state house, many didn’t believe that the candidates chosen could win. The candidates harnessed the anger of countless Virginians and won back fifteen seats.

The following year, the congressional elections followed the same exact model. Virginia’s off-year elections proved to be a powerful force and an accurate predictor of national behavior.

Every seat in the Virginia state legislature is up for election this November. The state legislature could be flipped, and Democrats could regain the majority.

If the Democratic Party wins, Virginia will become the first former-Confederate state to be truly liberal from the top down.

The Virginia Green New Deal is gaining steam, collecting support from workers’ unions, social justice groups, and environmental organizations. Many Democrats have signed the Activate Virginia Pledge, announcing they will not accept money from Dominion Energy or Appalachian Power. Candidates are finally willing to stand up to the corporations that caused this problem in the first place.

Since the margins would be very tight for passing any climate legislation, the policy proposed would need to have at least some bipartisan support. If Virginia could pass popular, transformative climate policy as a southern state, it could not only set the trend for the 2020 elections, but provide a framework for other states, proving that a climate response is achievable even without firm Democratic control.

Success in Virginia would also outline the importance of building a coalition of grassroots support from labor, social justice, and environmental organizations. It would make a nation-wide climate response realistic, popular, and case-tested for the federal level, and lead the way to a global response.

Virginia can be the catalyst for the nation to solve climate change. It all depends on November 5th. 

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.

All Photos from Richmond Youth Climate Strike, September 20, by VCU-CNS

Pink in a Field of Blue: Female Candidates Bring in Top Donations

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Data from Virginia Public Access Project shows that, in terms of donations, Democratic women running for General Assembly seats in November are on top.

With less than two weeks until the election, campaign finance reports show that not only are Democrats bringing in the most money, but Democratic women are leading the pack with donations received.

“Their strong fundraising is indicative of the incredible support they have, particularly from grassroots donors,” said Kathryn Gilley, communications director for Virginia House Democrats.

Gilley said more Democratic women in the House would provide a greater voice and support for female-friendly policies, including providing equal pay for women and increasing access to affordable child care and reproductive choices.

The most recent data from the Virginia Public Access Project, which records contributions from donors to candidates, shows that the top three candidates who raised the most cash and in-kind contributions in the House and Senate in September are female Democratic candidates. In-kind contributions are donated goods and services given to candidates in place of cash donations. These donations can include mailers and postage, hosting campaign events or providing food, lodging, office space and administrative assistance.

The top September fundraisers in the House were: 

  • Del. Wendy Gooditis, D-Clarke, raised $580,336. Republican opponent Randy Minchew collected $287,059.
  • Sheila Bynum-Coleman, running for a seat in House District 66, collected $568,401. Opponent Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, brought in $302,756.
  • Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, collected $532,974. Opponent Rich Anderson raised $43,299.

The top September fundraisers in the Senate were: 

  • Del. Debra Rodman, D-Henrico, raised more than $1 million in cash and in-kind contributions as she vies for a seat in the state Senate. Opponent Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, raised $421,362.
  • Del. Cheryl Turpin, D-Virginia Beach, collected $676,973 in donations. Republican opponent Jen Kiggans raised $330,128.
  • Ghazala Hashmi, Democratic candidate running for District 10, collected $645,444. Her opponent, Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, raised $289,075. 

Overall in September, Democrats running for Senate seats outraised Republicans, $4.9 million to $2 million. In the House, Democrats outraised Republicans, $7.1 million to a little over $4 million.

Top row, Senate candidates, left to right: Del. Debra Rodman, D-Henrico, Del. Cheryl Turpin, D-Virginia Beach and Ghazala Hashmi Democratic candidate for Senate District 10. Bottom row, House candidates, left to right: Del. Wendy Gooditis, D-Clarke, Sheila Bynum-Coleman, running for a seat in House District 66, Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William.

A majority of the candidates received donations from EMILY’s List, a political action committee that aims to elect pro-choice Democratic women to office. Earlier this month, the organization said it plans to invest $2.1 million in an effort to flip Virginia’s General Assembly from red to blue. EMILY’s List has endorsed 39 women candidates in Virginia.

“We are hopeful that other individuals and organizations will follow our lead in directing their energy and support to these incredibly important state legislative races that too often remain under-resourced and underfunded,” Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, said in a recent press release.

In September, EMILY’s List gave Ayala and Gooditis $150,000 each, their top gift that month. Bynum-Coleman was given $125,000, while Hashmi and Turpin received $25,000 and $10,000, respectively. Planned Parenthood, another pro-choice organization, gave Rodman her No. 1 donation in September — $167,918. Turpin and Hashmi received the most money from the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus that month, $162,500 each.

Bynum-Coleman received the largest donation last month from Everytown For Gun Safety, a PAC that advocates for gun control. The PAC has given $126,000 to Bynum-Coleman, whose daughter survived a gunshot wound while attending a house party. Everytown has spent nearly $5 million during the last three election cycles to elect gun safety champions in the state.

“Virginia lawmakers failed to vote for stronger gun laws and now, in November, voters will have their say in the matter by voting them out of office,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a PAC that is part of Everytown, said in a press release earlier this year. 

When the September fundraising totals are sorted for cash only, and don’t include in-kind donations, the top three fundraisers shift a little. In the Senate, Rodman remains on top with $507,678 cash raised. Missy Cotter Smasal raised $488,356 cash donations last filing period in her bid against Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, for Senate District 8. And Del. John Bell, D-Loudoun, cracks the pink. Bell, running against Republican Geary Higgins for the Senate District 13 seat, raised $488,027 cash in September.

In the House, based on strictly cash donations, Bynum-Coleman is the top fundraiser ($470,456) followed by Ayala ($460,061) and Gooditis ($419,733).

Republican Mary Margaret Kastelberg, running for House District 73, was in fourth place for most cash-only donations, at $308, 751.

The cash may be flowing in for Democratic women, but that won’t necessarily translate to votes on Nov. 5.

“It’s hard to know who will actually show up on Election Day, and political scientists are often surprised,” said Tracy Roof, political science professor at the University of Richmond. “If there is a lot of intensity among Democratic voters this year and lack of enthusiasm among Republicans, the typical dynamic could shift in favor of the Democrats.”

Written by McKenzie Lambert, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Patricia Cason, via CNS

Op-Ed: The Blue Wave Is Still Cresting (Probably)

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As Virginia’s next election approaches, statewide trends are showing favor to Democratic candidates. Will they be able to gain control of the General Assembly?

There’s a pivotal election in Virginia next month (as usual). At stake: control of the state legislature, with Democrats trying to regain control of both houses for the first time in two decades.

This week, two seemingly unrelated news stories were published, both of which signal something important about this election.

First, the Virginia Mercury’s Mason Adams reported on a local race for an obscure county office in Christiansburg, a rural southwest part of the state. The GOP candidate for Washington County’s Commissioner of Revenue is proudly calling himself a “Trump Republican” — but what Trump has to do with collecting revenue in Southwest Virginia is hard to tell. 

Second, VCU’s Capital News Service reported on a significant increase in student absentee ballots compared to the last full General Assembly election in 2015.

What’s the takeaway? I think the Blue Wave is still real.

Democrats in Virginia have enjoyed strong wins in the last two elections, both in sweeping victories for statewide races and the House of Delegates in 2017, and strong showings in Congressional elections in 2018. This Blue Wave is part of a national trend that favors Democratic Party candidates all across the nation.

Predictions in politics are difficult, even foolhardy, to make. But after a tumultuous few months in Virginia politics, the same trends that made the Blue Wave possible seem to be reasserting dominance in VA.

Republicans were hopeful that the Governor’s blackface scandal would damage his party’s momentum. But the continued nationalization of local politics — again, a county Commissioner of Revenue candidate is calling himself a Trump guy — may be overwhelming any static from the Governor’s troubles.

Photo via Dr. Mark J. Matney for Commissioner of Revenue/Facebook

The race for the 10th Virginia Senate district is a good example. In a debate last week, Republican incumbent Glen Sturtevant made a big deal out of his opponent criticizing Northam before later taking campaign money from Northam’s PAC. I suspect that nobody cares; Northam’s approval rating is again approaching 50%.

On the other hand, Sturtevant earlier this year waded into a local school board zoning issue (so much for Republican focus on local control of schools). He distributed flyers titled “Save Our Neighborhood Schools” in a transparent attempt to stir up white resentment, earning a “segregationist” label to boot. This kind of desperate move does not indicate a comfortable front-runner.

Republicans are also hopeful that Virginia’s off-year elections, with no national or statewide races on the ballot, would help GOP candidates this fall; lower turnout tends to favor the demographics of Republican voters, even in a now-solidly-blue state like Virginia. But early trends, like the student absentees noted above, suggest that larger forces may counter the typical Democratic voter falloff. Anti-Trump enthusiasm remains a potent force, and it again could make the difference in 2019.

There are other trends that favor Democrats as well. First, the notoriously-disorganized Virginia Democrats seem more methodical than in previous years. For example, a few candidates in Henrico are sharing offices and resources for their campaigns, a sign that the infrastructure the party has constructed over the last two election cycles is functioning and able to help turnout. The off-cycle elections are again the only game in town, drawing the attention of the national parties and national news media. Maybe most importantly, money is flowing in again from national sources, especially to Democrats.

Of course, these trends may still not help individual Democratic candidates in tough races. Sheila Bynum-Coleman still has a long way to go to knock off the powerful Republican Speaker, Kirk Cox, in HD66. The race between Debra Rodman and Siobhan Dunnavant in SD12 seems like it will go down to the wire. Incumbent Senator Amanda Chase would probably have to start regularly kicking dogs to lose in her red district. (But who knows — based on her track record, anything is possible!) Democrats could end up with a strong majority of statewide votes, and still lose the numbers game for control of the legislature.

Still, the overall feel of this race is familiar. Unless something dramatic happens between now and November — and in Virginia, we can never count that out — the state should be thinking blue.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.

Top Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Morrissey Has “No Scores To Settle” In Senate, Lays Out Policy

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Joe Morrissey’s two-fisted reputation precedes him, but behind the fisticuffs, his policy positions are the sort that should please his fellow Democrats.

When Joe Morrissey staged a primary challenge against Sen. Rosalyn Dance, he also faced off against the state’s top Democratic leadership — Gov. Ralph Northam, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe — who supported the incumbent.

Morrissey has been disbarred twice, convicted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and canonized in Virginia history for punching a defense lawyer in 1991 while he served as Richmond’s commonwealth attorney. The last time he served in the General Assembly, he spent his nights in jail and his days representing constituents. 

Yet, Morrissey swept the primary with 56% of the votes after running a campaign that put him directly in front of voters; going door-to-door converted into a surprising win. Now he seems surely bound for Capitol Square representing the 16th Senate District, which includes Petersburg and Hopewell, part of Richmond and parts of Chesterfield, Prince George and Dinwiddie counties. 

The party largely snubbed Morrissey during the competitive primary, but now Democrats are sidling back with an eye to the January 2020 legislative session, and concern over who Morrissey may caucus with. 

In the past few weeks, Morrissey confirmed he had coffee with Northam’s chief of staff, Clark Mercer, and beer with McAuliffe. Democrats aren’t the only ones courting Morrissey, who received phone calls from Republicans after his primary win. 

“Fighting Joe” Morrissey indicates that the fights he’s most interested in now are the ones for his constituents.

“I’m not going to the Senate to settle old scores. I’m not going there with any type of ‘I told you so,’” Morrissey said when asked about his future political relationships.

Morrissey touts a legislative agenda that would make Democrats beam, citing environment and criminal justice reform as his biggest priorities. 

An analysis of his 2008-2015 legislative record shows Morrissey voted mostly with his party, according to the Richmond Sunlight database records. He championed legislation dealing with gun control, environmental policy and criminal justice reform, including a proposed constitutional amendment that would have restored civil rights to individuals convicted of felonies.

The linchpin of his current environmental focus is excavating and recycling coal ash rather than capping coal ash ponds

“There’s a coal ash pond 100 feet from the James River. Don’t think that it won’t seep into the river,” Morrissey said. “That’s why I’m against simply capping — putting a cover — over toxic coal ash and saying that everything is going to be okay — it’s not going to be okay.”

Morrissey also has ambitious plans for criminal justice reform, pointing to the steep cost of incarceration versus drug court.

“I favor doubling the number of drug courts in Virginia,” Morrissey said. “The recidivism rate for people that go through a drug court is 6.1% while the recidivism rate for people that go through the Department of Corrections is 61%.” 

Morrissey wants to bring parole back for felons, which was abolished in 1995. He compared parole to auto insurance demerit points that are used to incentivize safer driving.

“I want to incentivize people to behave in prison, to take advantage of programs, and to not commit other crimes in prison or abuse drugs. How do you incentivize them? Reinstate parole,” Morrissey said. 

Other criminal justice reform goals include automatic restoration of rights for felons leaving prison, establishing a mental health court and permanently ensuring that drivers can’t have their license suspended or revoked over unpaid court costs or fines. 

Of the $66,000 in contributions Morrissey’s campaign has received as of the most recent filing report, the bulk is from his own coffers: $25,000 from his own checkbook and another $25,000 from the law practice he established, Morrissey & Goldman LLC. The third top donor is Verona-based Nexus Services, which helps immigrants post bond and provides them with GPS monitoring devices while they wait for immigration cases to be heard. 

“I’m going in there kind of like a free agent, with no debts that I have to pay back,” Morrissey said. Democrats eager to flip the Senate may rest easier when they hear his policy positions, but Morrissey is careful to note that constituents are his primary concern. 

“I can go in there and vote for the legislation that’s best for Virginia and best for the citizens of the 16th District,” he said. “Then what’s best for the party, and then what’s best for Joe Morrissey — in that order.”

Written by Jimmy O’Keefe, Capital News Service. Top Photo via Joe Morrissey/Facebook

Human Rights Campaign Endorses & Invests In 27 Candidates For Virginia General Assembly

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HRC is investing in the 27 candidates, all Democrats, in hopes of passing stronger protections for LGBTQ Virginians in the next General Assembly session.

On Thursday, Human Rights Campaign formally announced their decision to make a “six-figure” investment into the 2019 Virginia General Assembly campaign. Their campaign will take the form of endorsements and donations to 27 different candidates currently running for a seat on Virginia’s General Assembly.

“HRC is proud to endorse these pro-equality champions who will be our partners in achieving long-overdue non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ Virginians,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement. “Virginia is at a turning point: voters are fed up with politicians who insist on playing politics with the lives of LGBTQ people. Virginians deserve leaders who will fight for them and bring people together, not pit us against each other.”

All of the candidates receiving endorsements and investments from HRC are Democrats; 18 are women, and 10 are people of color. The endorsements constitute the largest program HRC has ever launched in Virginia. It will focus on “Equality Voters,” a HRC-defined category the group says it used “sophisticated analytics” to identify throughout the country in a 2018 program. The group says that their Virginia program will target 1.2 million of these Equality Voters in 27 districts around Virginia.

“In the coming months, HRC will work tirelessly to turn out the 1.2 million Equality Voters in Virginia and elect new leadership in Richmond that will put the needs of Virginians ahead of the needs of special interests,” David said in a statement.

In the most recent General Assembly session, at the beginning of 2019, a bipartisan majority of delegates supported two LGBTQ-focused anti-discrimination bills that had been proposed in that session. One, HB 2067, merely made the prohibitions against discrimination on basis of sexual orientation and gender identity for state employees, currently enforced by an executive order signed by Governor Northam on his first day in office, a permanent state law. The other, HB 2677, added prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity to Virginia’s Fair Housing Law.

Similar bills have passed with bipartisan support several times in the Virginia State Senate. However, despite widespread support for both bills, high-powered Republicans in the House Of Delegates, including Speaker of the House Kirk Cox and Majority Caucus Chairman Tim Hugo, worked to prevent both bills from coming to a vote in committee.

Among the candidates HRC is endorsing in this election cycle are Sheila Bynum-Coleman, who is running against Cox, and Dan Helmer, who is running against Hugo. Bynum-Coleman’s chances are seen as particularly strong in light of the fact that the recent anti-gerrymandering reforms passed in Virginia led District 66, which Cox currently represents, to be redrawn, making it 32 points more Democratic, according to Virginia Public Access Project, than it was previously.

“For the past six years, the Republican-controlled State Senate has passed legislation to protect LGBT people from discrimination,” said Equality Virginia Deputy Director Vee Lamneck in a statement. “But despite strong support from within his own Republican caucus, House Speaker Kirk Cox has repeatedly killed a number of bills that would have ensured LGBT people were treated fairly and equitably under our laws including common-sense, bipartisan bills that would have provided nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Virginians. Virginia can’t afford to allow discrimination to continue in our commonwealth. We need new leadership that will truly represent Virginia’s values.”

The full list of candidates that HRC is endorsing this year can be seen at their website.

Photo via HRC.org

Op-Ed: Can Virginia’s Democratic Party Recover From the Northam Backlash?

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Governor Ralph Northam may be trying to put his blackface scandal behind him. But we are just beginning to see the effects of his missteps, on state politics in general and on the Democratic Party in particular.

Some of these effects extend beyond the Governor’s office. As was widely reported last week, VA First Lady Pam Northam got in hot water by handing out cotton to school kids and asking them to imagine what slavery was like. Some of the students who were there dispute the idea that she singled out black kids. But the whole episode surely would not be an issue without her husband’s blackface incident; the kids on the tour clearly were hyper-aware of the Northams’ recent history. Routine duties like leading a school tour become perilous when everyone wonders if you and your husband are racists.

Still, such a precarious position has not stopped Northam from getting involved with legislative politics. Thanks to some terrific reporting by the RTD’s Patrick Wilson, we learned last week that Mark Bergman, head of Governor Northam’s political action committee, had been talking to Delegate Debra Rodman about making a state Senate run — convincingly so, it seems, as Rodman officially announced her campaign yesterday. Some Democrats think Rodman may be able to challenge conservative Republican Siobhan Dunnavant in the 12th Senate district in purplish Henrico County.

If I were Rodman, I would think twice about a Senate run. I think Deb is great – she’s a colleague of mine at Randolph-Macon College – and she ran a terrific underdog campaign in 2017. But she has only been in office for two legislative sessions, and might not have enough of a record to stand on. (Not to mention that you can see her standing behind Kathy Tran in the viral video from the infamous “Dems want to kill babies” abortion fiasco earlier this year.)

Del. Debra Rodman/via Facebook

Still, maybe Rodman’s platform as a sitting Delegate and her existing network of volunteers and donors could offer a real challenge to Dunnavant. The district voted Democratic last year by 15% (although that may have been more about voters rejecting Corey Stewart than anything else).

There’s just one problem: two Democratic candidates have already announced they are running against Dunnavant. And both – Veena Gupta Lothe and Marques Jones – are ethnic minorities. Rodman is not.

It is true that Lothe and Jones are newcomers with little political experience and not much money in the bank. (Of course, the same could have been said about Rodman in 2017.) So if the party is focused on winning that particular Senate seat, it might make sense to recruit a stronger candidate.

But what about the bigger picture?

First of all, the Party should be wary of taking sides in a primary among good faith candidates. According to the RTD report, the Governor’s PAC asked the state party to conduct a poll in Dunnavant’s district; they shared the results with Rodman, but not Lothe or Jones. Other candidates, activists, and volunteers could lose faith in the fairness of party leaders in an important election year.

Even more importantly, the Governor, at least through his PAC team, appears to be working to support a white woman over people of color at a time when minorities are already suspicious of his intentions.

More than the Governor’s reputation is at stake here. If Democrats want to reproduce the success of the last two elections in Virginia, they need ethnic minorities in the state to turn out for Democratic candidates. They also need volunteers and activists to fundraise, phonebank, and canvass. Thanks to Northam’s yearbook photo, African-Americans and other POC in the state have plenty of reasons to opt out this year.

In any other year, Northam’s actions here might be viewed as demonstrating important party leadership. As unpopular as partisanship is these days, political parties remain the most effective and important means of gaining power and governing in a democracy. If you like Democratic Party policies, you want a strong party voice helping to ensure that Democrats win state elections – and, eventually, win control of the General Assembly. This kind of coordination may involve some tough decisions.

But because of Northam’s blackface, Dem voters and activists may see another narrative in play. Instead of party leadership, they may see the Democratic party taking minority support for granted by promoting white candidates over people of color.

They may see a power play by a Democratic Governor who has absolutely no moral standing on race issues, and who is actively working to undermine minority Democrats, including an African-American.

No matter what happens in this particular Senate district, this episode shows – like so much else over the past few weeks – how Ralph Northam’s case for staying in office makes so very little sense. As long as Northam remains Governor, Democrats will be in disarray.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect RVA Magazine editorial policy.