Virginia politics

Mayoral Candidate Ben Davenport’s Millennial Vision for Virginia’s Largest City

David Streever | September 13, 2018

Topics: ben davenport, Levar Stoney, Millennials, municipal politics, richmond, Virginia Beach, Virginia politics, young politicians

If Ben Davenport is elected Mayor of Virginia Beach, the 38-year-old city councilor and mayoral candidate will join the fast-growing ranks of millennial officeholders in Virginia. The surge of young politicians has changed the focus of elected governments, and outside impressions of the areas they serve. Perhaps the most comparable figure to Davenport is Richmond’s Mayor Levar Stoney, 37, who he credits as inspiring his run.

“Levar Stoney has been an inspiration to me. I want to emulate what he’s done down here,” Davenport said. “Look at the success he has had. When people look at Richmond now, they see a young, vibrant city with a great future ahead of it. That’s what I think I can do, not only for Virginia Beach but for the whole region of Hampton Roads.”

At the crux of Davenport’s sales pitch to voters is a promise to extend the work he’s already done as a city councilor, bringing new jobs in the technology industry to an economy that currently relies on defense, tourism, and agriculture. On city council, Davenport established a technology initiative council that helped bring “the two most powerful subsea cables in the world, in partnership with Microsoft, Facebook, and Telefonica, and now we are finalizing a deal with Google to build a third and a fourth cable.” These cables carry internet traffic from America to Europe, and the upcoming cables will connect Virginia Beach to Africa and South America. While he sees places to expand and strengthen the existing industries, he stressed the importance of adding technology as a fourth, all part of “creating a 21st-century economy for the region.”

At the national technology conferences he attends, seeking to lure major employers to his city, he said he’s already seeing results. “The transatlantic cables have created a buzz around the nation about Virginia Beach,” Davenport said. In the past, he found himself having to start conversations with an explanation of where Virginia Beach is located. Now, he says the companies come to him, reciting a litany of technological advancements the region has made that brought it to their attention.

Virginia Beach has the potential to be the major East Coast digital port for data cables, an industry that requires the support of data centers and high-tech jobs, and Davenport is banking on the fast-growing technology industry to combat one of the major problems he sees for the area: the “brain drain” of talented young people leaving for college and never coming back. “We’re creating a technology cradle that is going to be very beneficial to our younger generation, creating the type of opportunities that keep our youngest from leaving for Denver, Los Angeles, and New York. We want to keep our best and brightest,” he said.

Pointing to the Equinix data center in Ashburn, Virginia, and the data cable plans he has for his city, Davenport said southeast Virginia has the potential to lead the nation on technology. Mostly, he plans to use tax structure incentives to bring large technology firms to the area, but said the cables alone will pull in firms who want to use the data cables. He said, “One of the reasons that Facebook went to the White Oak technical park [in Henrico] was because of the latency range to the cable landing station, in Virginia Beach.” The potential is high; the city currently has four cables built or in the works, and is close to launching a first-of-its-kind cable landing protected zone, which would leave space for 18 additional transatlantic cables. Davenport points to aging cables in Boca Raton, Florida, and New Jersey, and predicts the major carriers will make the leap to Virginia Beach because of its better natural environment for the cables and its proximity to the data center in Ashburn.

Building out the region requires better transportation to Richmond, Davenport said, invoking again his admiration for the mayorship of Stoney. With the I-64 project and Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel projects completed or in their final planning stages, he said high-speed rail would be the next investment.

While Davenport sees a bright future for Virginia Beach, he’s also watching the challenges the municipality faces. Chief among those is climate change, which threatens the United States Navy base and the tourism economy that’s developed since the ’70s when Virginia Beach was mostly known for soybean fields. “Sea level rise is something that everybody on the East Coast is dealing with right now,” he said, stressing that he’d combat the problem with a focus on regional collaboration. He said the status quo was “one city going at it alone,” despite Virginia Beach’s shared borders with the largest cities in the commonwealth. “You have the three largest independent cities that share a border, we need to be working in unison on this. Former administrations have seen the borders … but those days are over.”

In the long-term, even a regional solution isn’t enough, Davenport said. He learned about engineering solutions in the Netherlands, while taking a detour from a trip to look at data operations last year. In particular, he came back with an appreciation for the tide gates and dams created in Holland, “the gold standard” in engineering solutions for sea level change. “These are enormous undertakings, and they weren’t taken on by the local municipalities. They were taken on by the entire country and the European Union, because they realized the importance the Netherlands has. The largest ports in Europe are there.” Like the Netherlands, Hampton Roads is low-lying and will be particularly hard-hit by rising sea levels. Also like the Netherlands, Hampton Roads is home to a major port, and Davenport hopes that as Virginia Beach’s mayor, he can turn the region into an economic zone that will motivate a similar scale response from the state and the nation.

For the safety and future of the region, he said, “That’s what’s going to have to happen here.”

Self-Confessed Pedophile and White Supremacist Running for Congress in Virginia

Landon Shroder | June 1, 2018

Topics: Commonwealth, congress, Elections, Pedophile, Virginia politics, white supremacy

In what can only be described as one of the most disturbing political interviews ever, The Huffington Post recently spoke with a congressional candidate for Virginia’s 10th District who confessed to being a pedophile. When asked about being a pedophile and writing about pedophilia, he readily admitted, “It’s a mix of both. When people go over the top there’s a grain of truth to what they say.”

Nathan Larson, a 37-year-old accountant from Charlottesville, is apparently running to replace incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock, whose district includes, Clarke, Frederick, Loudoun, Manassas, Winchester, and parts of Fairfax, and Prince William County.

Running as an independent, Larson’s campaign platform is apparently that of a “quasi-neoreactionary libertarian”. Among the litany of bat-shit issues he is running on, is “benevolent white supremacy”, patriarchy, “putting an end to U.S. involvement in foreign wars arising from our country’s alliance with Israel”, (a blatant anti-semitic dog-whistle), and freedom from age restrictions – an endorsement of sexual relations with minors.

According to the Huffington Post, Larson has participated in multiple websites and messaging boards for pedophiles and talked extensively about child rape and other forms of gratuitous sexual assault. One such post made under the pseudonym “Lysander”, which identifies him as the administrator, not only directly referenced relations with his daughter, but also said, “Once sex with kids is legalized, I imagine the competition to get in their pants will be fierce.”

In the interview, Larson thankfully acknowledged that he does not have custody of his daughter, relinquishing custody rights in 2015, right before his ex-wife committed suicide. He has also made posts on the now defunct website called Incelocalypse, titled, “Here’s how to psyche yourself up to feel entitled to rape”. The post, reflective of the misogyny and potential violence surrounding incel culture and sub-culture, provides advice for men who believe they should remain celibate due to how they perceive their own physical appearance. “Why not establish a claim to rape any and all girls,” the post finished by saying, “If it weren’t a disproportionate reward for taking risk…then no one would bother to take risks, and humanity would stagnate.”

The potential for violence surrounding incel culture and sub-culture came about recently after Alex Minassian drove a van into a crowd of people in Toronto killing 10 and wounding 15. On his Facebook page before the incident, he left a message on his feed that said, “The incel rebellion has begun!”.

Larson’s campaign platform “manifesto” is also littered with anti-Semitic language including praise for Adolph Hitler and saying things like, “Jews will cite the Holocaust as an example of the dangers of white supremacist movements. But Jewish supremacists have also brought about the deaths of Gentiles for millennia…it is in the best interests of all races that whites defeat the Jews in the fight for supremacy in America.” This is followed by a call for “benevolent white supremacy” saying, “Like every other human being, I am indeed racist…What makes whites (or at least, the more highly-evolved whites) different from other races is our cultural creativeness.”

Anti-Semitic Imagery Accompanying Larson’s Manifesto

Larson’s pedophilia is woven together with an ideology that fuses a hatred of feminism with a need for upholding the patriarchy by doing away with age restrictions which govern things like the age in which someone can consent to marry. He states that women who marry “the man to whom she gives her virginity is more likely to have a successful marriage than a woman who has had other sexual relationships prior to marriage.” He goes on to state that the average marriageable age should be 17.5 years old. More reprehensibly, he claims pedophilia and “adult-child” sex is only prohibited because of the “Overton window” – a political theory which states that the public will only entertain a certain kind of discourse publically – based on a scale of extremes – and how the issues fit within this scale.

This is not the first time Larson has run for office, in 2008, he ran for the House of Delegates. According to Ballotpedia, his campaign website claimed his platform was running on the single issue of legalizing “Dignitas-style assisted suicide clinics in Virginia.”

In 2008, Larson was also arrested for sending a letter to the Secret Service saying he was going to kill then President Obama, landing him in prison for 14 months. In 2016, then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored civil rights to thousands of felons throughout the Commonwealth, including Larson, allowing him to run for Congress.

Grim.

The Revolution Is Female

Madelyne Ashworth | April 9, 2018

Topics: politics, Virginia politics, Women in Politics

“I believe that women are running for office–I’m sorry, I’m working and just…”

I heard a scuffling of papers in the background while Delegate Hala Ayala paused, early in our conversation about a wave of women candidates elected to the Virginia House of Delegates this past November.

“…Doing a lot. This surge of women are finding out that after this election, and after the Women’s March, we have to have a seat at the table, versus being on the menu. Women are stepping up and striking out against those injustices. We’re saying this is no longer acceptable.”

The scuffling continued, but Ayala, focused, finished our interview and her paperwork without further distraction.

Originally printed in RVA #32 Spring 2018, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now.

Multitasking is just one of her many strengths. She’s a single mother of two who served on former Gov. McAuliffe’s Council of Women. She’s a cybersecurity specialist who worked for the Department of Homeland Security and founded the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). She helped organize the Women’s March in Washington this past year and now she’s the delegate for the 51st District in Virginia’s House of Delegates.

And she’s just the beginning.

In the 2017 election cycle, 11 new female Democratic delegates were voted into the General Assembly. This made the total number of women in the General Assembly (GA) rise from 17 to 27, including four Republican delegates – the highest we’ve ever had.

Delegate Vivian Watts described the recent election as a tipping point, saying, “Critical mass is when you reach about a third, so at 27 [women] we’re pretty close to critical mass.” In social dynamics, critical mass means there is a large enough number of independent changes in the innovation of a social system that the rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining and creates further growth. It creates a tradition of collective action, meaning enough people have committed to a cause that they devote themselves to that common cause.

Watts represents the 39th House District, a seat she has held intermittently since 1982. “I really do find some element of that critical mass” after the recent election, she said. “I know for myself, that I’m much more willing, or I feel much more comfortable speaking out on some issues because I know [there is] a better understanding of the issue around me. There’s only one thing worse than just enduring in silence, and that is to say something and have it absolutely dismissed.”

Watts has had a distinguished career, including service on over 35 boards and citizen task forces, and is the author of two books on criminal justice. She’s been a state legislative aide, president of the Fairfax League of Voters, and has two children and four grandchildren. She remembers when the few women who were in the House simply did not appear after hours at social functions.

“You can’t do business that way, especially when we have such short six and eight-week sessions,” Watts said. “You’ve got to get to know each other. That was one of the things I was determined, when I got elected, [that] I would be sure and participate as much as I possibly could. [I was determined] to also make sure that I kept relaxed and kept a sense of humor. Just try to be more part of a collegial setting, rather than assuming that there wasn’t a place for me.”

Watts says it’s far more common for women to have real connections with the other female members of the General Assembly. The shared experience among the women in the GA allows for a larger conversation than the male-dominated discussions of the past, and Watts knows she can stand up, talk about an issue pertinent to women, and have it understood by at least one-third of the room. “I look to ever greater influence, in the years to come, of this shared experience being a part of the legislative considerations about what really is in the best interest of all involved,” she said.

The number of women in office is just one of many significant firsts from the November elections, especially for the Democratic delegates.

Kathy Tran, who represents the 42nd district, is the first Asian-American to serve in the GA. She fled from Vietnam with her parents at just seven months old, on a perilous sea journey. Delegates Hala Ayala and Elizabeth Guzman are the first Latino women in the GA. Local journalist Danica Roem became the first transgender person to ever be elected to a state legislature, and Dawn Adams, a nurse practitioner who also works for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, is the first openly lesbian delegate.

In total, 43 Democratic women, nine Republican women, and one independent ran in House races in 2017. Those numbers are record-breaking.

Emily Brewer (R), a small business owner and delegate representing the 64th House District, attributes the change to modern technologies and abilities, which she says make it easier for women to juggle their lives and also feel empowered to bolster change. “There are a lot of women now that are small business owners and leaders, entrepreneurs, and it’s a different time for women to really lead. And I think that’s led to having more women in politics,” Brewer said. “I don’t see a marked difference [in the GA]. What I do see is a sense of excitement, especially since women have more representation on both sides of the aisle.”

Ayala, along with several other women who ran for office this past year, sees the change as a direct result of dissatisfaction with the current president. “I left everything I knew and my blanket of security because I was unwilling to sit on the sideline and watch this leader that we have, of the free world that I honor and am so proud of, implement the policies in my backyard that he plans to implement,” Ayala said. “He comes with every attribute I don’t believe a leader should have.”

Another debut this election cycle was the #MeToo movement, which Watts sees as a major factor in women running for office and winning elections. She sees the movement as a way to not only address predatory sexual behavior but to go farther and tackle the systematic patriarchal power structure that has oppressed women, including herself, for centuries.

“It’s the fact that women in a professional setting are so often put into a no-win situation,” Watts said. “What you have in the Me Too movement is also that expression of, ‘I want to be the whole person that I am professionally as well as be a woman. I don’t want to have to be in a situation where that is compromised or dismissed.’ The Me Too movement I see is far more than just the issue of broadly stated sexual harassment.”

Not only are women sitting at the table, they’re bringing their experiences to it. Delegate Brewer, who was adopted, has already passed a new bill supporting and amending foster parent adoption. As many new mothers and women bring their dynamic life roles to the House, they are swaying the conversation.

“My interest is in looking at policy from a holistic lens that takes into account the interconnectedness of life experience and how we make policy that supports quality outcomes in our lives,” said Dawn Adams, who represents the 68th House District. “I put forward a bill to create the Commission for a Healthy Virginia. I think that’s a different kind of suggestion than male counterparts make, in that it’s a really broad lens on how we get to where we want to go, looking at it from an all-encompassing perspective, rather than just piecemeal and trying to put out fires from a policy perspective.”

Social movements like #MeToo are not lost on these women. They talk about community fears with empathy and foresight, where those concerns were previously dismissed as unimportant or matters of personal weakness. One policy, in particular, stands out to Delegate Watts as vital.

“We need to have a comprehensive workplace harassment policy so that the public feels very comfortable about what the procedures are, should they be concerned about anything that they are experiencing or that happened to them,” Watts said. “It needs to be broadly defined to include all of the public, not just employees of the GA, and I believe strongly that it needs to include our activities year-round. It’s not just walking in here for eight weeks in the building that has my desk in my office, but it is the entire interface with the public. They need to have that comfort level where there is full protection as well as proper procedures to make sure there is nothing where people might use their position of power inappropriately.”

Small changes have been enacted at the GA already, such as the addition of two nursing rooms, but some delegates say the changes don’t address systemic issues and hurdles.

“We cannot let up over the next couple of years, and we need to have that voice of diverse women jumping in,” Adams said. “If we’re just sitting in seats and we’re not able to make effective policy, we haven’t helped anyone. We have to stay engaged and I hope that more women with more diverse life experience will get in and support each other.”

Adams worries that because of the influx of Democratic Party members to a GA still dominated by Republicans, a vein of contention has been sliced open, driven by a fear of losing control. “My personal perception is that nothing has changed,” she said. “It may even not be as Democratic-friendly because of the big shift in people who are now in the GA.”

She says most bills proposed by Democrats are killed at the subcommittee level, often moving to pass by them indefinitely. “It kind of doesn’t matter how strong the policy, or what the policy might have to say,” Adams said. “There seems to be a very regimented process where you can almost tick the boxes. It’s prescriptive.”

Despite the challenge, Adams says this is exactly why women, or anyone with new ideas to tackle patriarchy, cannot back down. Critical mass has just begun. It’s time to create further growth.

Our vision of a typical politician is changing because of these women. They’re delegates, but they are also mothers, grandmothers, small business owners, advocates, nurses, cybersecurity analysts, authors, artists, humans. And they’re angry. And they’re doing something about it.

“Women are no longer willing to remain silent or on the sidelines,” Ayala said. “We’re grabbing our clipboards, we’re grabbing our sneakers, and we’re knocking the hell out of a lot of doors to make a lot of change.” And that’s all before lunch.

Inside the General Assembly with a Legislative Assistant

Henry Haggard | February 20, 2018

Topics: Dawn Adams, Delegates, General Assembly, Legislative Assembly, politics, Virginia politics

Last Friday, I had the experience of a lifetime. I visited the Virginia General Assembly as a legislative assistant for Del. Dawn Adams of the 68th District, working with her assistant – Maureen Hains. I first met Adams during a phone interview last year, which actually ended up becoming an article for RVA Mag. A few weeks later, she won her delegate seat and my family was invited to the swearing-in ceremony. After the main event, she talked to me about the Legislative Aide for a Day program.

I was intrigued, so of course, I said yes. After pages of forms, I was finally ready to skip school last Friday so I could work at the Capitol during the morning session. Right away, I was put right to work – starting with converting the long list of sign-ins from the guest book to an excel spreadsheet. This was interesting but tedious. As you can imagine, it was extremely difficult to read some people’s handwriting, abbreviations, smudges, and messy cursive. On the other hand, it was cool to learn how delegates in the General Assembly actually care about their constituents and visitors; enough to spend hours writing thank you’s and messages to the people.

I can’t think of any other political office that does that. After being paid in chocolate, juice, soda, and chips, it was time for session, which started at 10:00 am. We went to the General Assembly Delegate building, and while everyone was waiting for session to start, I started flipping through the schedule to look at the bills and voting schedule. Apparently, the delegates read through and discuss bills three times before they vote. Unfortunately, this was only the second reading, which was a bummer because I wanted to see the voting process in action. The speaker eventually banged the gavel, which happened to be much bigger than the gavels we use at Model UN – and then the session would start – or so I thought.

We started with the Pledge of Allegiance. At school, I sit during the pledge to protest institutionalized racism on the basis of economic disparity, gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement and restrictions, monopolized industry of pharmaceuticals, and the threat of congressionally-assisted gun massacres. I was fine standing this time despite my anger over the “Under God” section. Anyway, I thought that would be the only sketchy part of the day, but afterward, we were introduced to a priest.

This was a little strange for me especially when the priest started leading everyone in prayer. It wasn’t even subtle; he specifically mentioned following Jesus Christ to lead a successful and fulfilling life.

Some lines cannot be crossed, especially when it is a constitutional violation to merge religious beliefs and the people’s government. Taking the constitution out of my pocket, I quietly asked Hains how this was legal. Apparently, the courts ruled that it was, despite the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” After that disquieting event, the delegates proceeded into session.

The delegates were very down to earth. They were all visibly grateful that it was Friday and everyone cheered when the motion to close session passed. They were, contrary to what most expect, very polite and nice to the colleagues that they disagree with. Popular belief suggests that political debate is chaotic and immature. While this is true in some cases, our state legislature rises above those expectations.

Other than doing a couple votes to reschedule debates and committee meetings, there were a few speeches. Before the speeches, a delegate made an announcement that the delegate next to him just had his tenth grandchild, to which everyone cheered. The speeches reminded me of Model UN – more specifically when someone you didn’t expect to speak walks up with a few messy notes and gives a speech that leaves the opposers stunned. This happened with an anti-expanded Medicaid speech and a speech about the people who should be commemorated for their outstanding work in the Civil Rights Movement during Black History Month.

Although I dislike the idea of not expanding Medicaid, I could respect the work put into the research, notes, and public speaking. The delegate who gave the speech had enough decent ideas about politics to be in office, and it showed in his work. This kind of respectful opposition and debate is what I like about politics. Politics, if not respectful and well-articulated, does not belong in any office, especially in a time where ad hominem fallacies, or personal attacks, are thrown around like cats and dogs.

After that, we went back to the Pocahontas Building to do some extra constituent data work. I put the information I could read into a site that tracked what district people live in. Then, it was almost noon and time for my legislative aid session to end.

As I was leaving, Adams introduced me to other delegates. I met Schuyler Vanvalkenburg, Deborah Rodman, and a few other delegates who took some pictures with me. I had seen a couple in the halls, but didn’t know that they were delegates. I wondered how many delegates, senators, or other important people I had bumped into in the elevator or the halls without knowing it. Once again, I saw how down to earth these people were. I told them about my petition to demand police transparency, and Vanvalkenburg asked me when I would rule the world, right before another delegate gave me his card telling me to hire him when I’m older.

Maybe next time I’m there I’ll be a page, a Legislative Assistant, or a representative.

Virginia Politics Sponsored by F.W. Sullivans

7th District Democrats to Move Forward on Primary

Brandon Jarvis | January 29, 2018

Topics: Democratic Committee for the 7th district, Virginia politics

Sunday night, the Democratic Committee for the 7th District House of Representatives seat decided to hold a primary to choose the nominee to compete against the Incumbent Republican Dave Brat in the November election.

The first vote taken by the Committee ended in a 10-10 tie – the second vote, which was taken without public discussion, or disclosing the vote tally, was apparently skewed heavily towards a primary. The latest reports are that the primary will take place on June 12.

Dan Ward, one of the candidates vying for the nomination, spoke on the decision:

“Tonight, after careful consideration, the 7th Congressional District Democratic Committee decided that our nominee will be chosen through a primary.”

“I’d like to thank the members of the committee, especially Chairwoman Abbi Easter, for the thoughtful, deliberate and transparent process which led to this decision. I appreciate that it was not easy, but I believe it was in the best interest of democracy.”

The four candidates running for the nomination are Abigail Spanberger, Dan Ward, Helen Ali, and Diane Frazier. Dave Brat is the incumbent and has been facing mounting opposition from members of his district. The Democrats want to build on the “Blue Wave” momentum of 2017 and ride that way to Washington this year.

Diane Frazier, spoke on the decision:

“Today, the citizens and voters of Virginia’s 7th District won an important victory for democracy. A primary to choose the Democratic Party nominee for Congress will afford the greatest opportunity for civic education, public engagement, participation and eventual success in November. We in the 7th are proud stewards of the legacy created by sons of the 7th – Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, the architects of our Constitutional government. I’m proud to be a daughter of the 7th, and look forward to a lively examination of critical issues and a fierce commitment to restoring our democratic principles and ideals not only in the halls of Congress, but across the United States of America.”

Abigail Spanberger, the candidate that this website has endorsed, spoke on the decision:

“I am very pleased that the 7th district committee has made its decision, and I thank the committee members for their work and commitment to our common goal of winning this seat in November.

With nearly 500 volunteers already signed up to support our campaign, we look forward to continuing to strengthen our volunteer and grassroots network throughout the primary process so that we are strong and organized enough to win in November.”

This debate is finally over – now we are looking forward to months of campaigning from the candidates. It will truly benefit the party for all candidates to stay respectful and positive. It will also be very beneficial for all candidates to pledge to support the winner of the primary. Dave Brat is vulnerable, and he knows it. The Democratic party must take advantage of this opportunity and seize this seat from a reliably-conservative area prior to 2017.

Virginia Politics Sponsored by F.W. Sullivans

Ralph Northam Becomes 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia

David Streever | January 13, 2018

Topics: Democrats, General Assembly, governor ralph northam, inauguration, northam, Virginia politics

Ralph S. Northam was sworn in as the 73rd governor of Virginia just as the sun broke from an overcast sky on Saturday at the state Capitol.

Northam promised to work for all Virginians, invoking the Virginia Way stump speech he used throughout the campaign, and provided a clear rebuke to the divisive Trumpian worldview his GOP opponent Ed Gillespie adopted late in the campaign.

The governor, who attended Virginia Military Institute, opened his inaugural address by thanking veterans for their service and praising the peaceful transition of power before invoking the complex legacy of Virginia. “Our first governor understood liberty,” he said, referencing Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech, but he noted that just beneath the church where Henry made his declaration was one of the largest slave markets in the nation.

“Our history has been good and bad,” he said. “We understand that and we move forward. That’s the Virginia Way.”

After thanking outgoing governor Terry McAuliffe and praising his work, the new governor told stories from his childhood on the Eastern Shore, highlighting the values he said he learned from his mother and father: honesty, humility, and a lifetime of service to others, before quoting the VMI honor code.

“‘A Cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do.’ Virginia and this country need that now more than ever,” he said, drawing heavy applause. He would return to the theme of truthfulness and lies throughout his address.

Northam outlined a slate of policy goals including medicaid expansion, insurance for all, blue collar economic development, addressing opioids, and tightening the permit process to reduce gun violence. “It’s easier to get a gun than it is to rent a car,” he said.

Near the end of the speech, he also addressed discrimination, public school infrastructure, clean air and water, and rural poverty, before closing remarks. “This country is once again looking to Virginia to lead the way,” he said, referencing the national focus on Virginia as Democrats and Republicans prepare for November elections.

Lt. Gov. Fairfax and Pam and Governor Northam. Photo by BW

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring were also sworn in, providing for a second term of Democratic control in a commonwealth that tilted red for more than 20 years. Other attendees included Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, members of Congress, and every living former governor.

The ceremony was heavy on gospel music and diversity, starting with the opening performance of “America the Beautiful” sung by Larry Bland and the Volunteer Choir, a nationally-known gospel group formed out of the civil rights movement, to a blessing of the ground by representatives of Virginia’s Native American tribes with a traditional ceremony.

Boy and Girl Scouts lead the pledge. Photo by BW

The inaugural committee also invited the Boy and Girl Scouts from the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and had a benediction by Rabbi Michael Knopf of Temple Beth-El, Richmond. The groups and individuals chosen to participate reflected the theme of diversity and inclusiveness Northam focused his speech on.

Some 4,000 were in attendance at the ceremony, which ended with a parade led by members of the National Guard, followed by the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets. Other military-affiliated parade participants included Semper K9 and the assistance dogs they train for veterans, but other groups highlighted different aspects of the state. Pro-LGBT groups like Equality Virginia and Hampton Roads Pride marched together, while universities like James Madison University fielded marching bands, and the University of Virginia Chinese Lions dance troupe represented their schools.

Employees of NASA represented the organization in astronaut garb and with model rockets, followed by Deborah Pratt, an 8-time state oyster shucker champion, before the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, a group that advocates for clean water in the bay.

Other clean water advocates were on the sidewalk, protesting recent pipeline projects. Their chant, “Water is life”, could be heard from the group assembled on N. 9th Street during a quiet lull before the ceremony began, . Reached after the ceremony, Tom Burkett of the Virginia Water Healers spoke about the protest he organized. “Our big ask is for Northam to be a little more vocal on protecting our water.”

The 20 or so protesters came to share their concerns around pipelines and water clean-up, specifically citing the dangers of horizontal drilling through the James River as part of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “[Lt. Gov.] Fairfax stands against the pipelines and we hope Northam will too, but it’s time to show he’s serious.”

Dream Act supporters from United We Dream were also present outside, wearing brightly-colored orange hats, protesting the deportations of young people brought to this country without paperwork. Among them was Sophin Sok and her cousin Samantha Oeur, who attended to tell people about Sok’s fiance, a young man who was brought here from Cambodia as a 1 year old and recently detained because of a minor arrest a decade ago.

“He served his time,” Ouer said. “He was working, he has four children, he just wants to stay here and raise them. Why should he have to go to a country he left as a baby?”

Inside the mansion, Northam signed three executive orders, the first prohibiting discrimination in state employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, the second enumerating the powers and responsibilities of his chief of staff Clark Mercer, and the third empowering him to declare a state of emergency.

The first act continued the one signed by McAuliffe, which restored protections first established by Governor Warner in 2005, continued by Governor Kaine, and lapsed under Governor McDonnell. On hand to accept the pen was James Parrish of Equality Virginia, a statewide organization that seeks equality for LGBT Virginians.

Carlton Webb of A Society Without A Name, a group that helps the homeless with self-advocacy, was one of the many progressives in attendance to see the swearing in. Despite the recent cold and the heating crisis, he was optimistic about the new governor and newly elected Democrats. “We have an opportunity for change with the new legislature. This is the year we’re going to make a change.”

Cover photo by Branden Wilson (BW), other photos Wilson or Allison MacEwen (AM). Video by Alexandra Sosik. Allison MacEwen contributed to this report.

Virginia Politics Sponsored by F.W. Sullivans