ELECTION 2021
After 2021 losses, Swecker looks to retain role as chair of Va. Democrats
For Susan Swecker’s first six years leading the Democratic Party of Virginia, there was always a Democratic governor in charge. That changed this year, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin scored an upset win and returned Republicans to power in Richmond, snapping a more than decade-long losing streak in statewide contests. Democrats also lost the other two […]
Lessons Virginia Democrats can take from their 2021 losses
It took them nearly a decade of defeat to wise up, but Virginia’s Republicans finally learned lessons that had been right in front of them for years. Now, it’s time for Democrats to perform a postmortem on their losses last month and attempt the same process. After convincing GOP losses from 2017 through Joe Biden’s […]
Has Virginia’s energy transition hit a roadblock, or just a rough patch of pavement?
The election was a tough day for climate advocates. After two years of historic progress that included passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), the centerpiece of the Commonwealth’s plan to decarbonize the electric sector by 2050, voters handed a narrow victory to its critics. Republicans take over as governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general […]
How rural Virginia made itself politically relevant again
It’s been a while since rural Virginia could claim it was heard in the corridors of state government power in Richmond as the populous northern Virginia and eastern suburbs turned the commonwealth a deeper hue of blue with each passing election. Until the second day of November this year, the last time most of ROVA […]
Maybe now we can lay the ‘election integrity’ talk to rest
I doubt seriously that Thomas Youngkin, the 17-year-old son of Virginia’s newly minted governor, tried to pull a fast one by voting illegally on Election Day. He must have been excited his father was running for the state’s highest office. Thomas went overboard in supporting his dad – even though you have to be at […]
Youngkin proves a post-Trump model for a GOP resurgence. (If Trump will allow it.)
Elections are turning points. For one party or campaign, it is a judgment, cold and final, that raises difficult questions and requires humbling introspection. For 10 years in a row in Virginia, that was the Republican Party, and with each passing year, the answer seemed ever more elusive. Until Tuesday. Glenn Youngkin led the GOP […]
After crushing loss, ‘gimmicky’ anti-Trump strategy draws criticism from Va. Democrats
Virginia Democrats were so confident their anti-Trump strategy was going to work they spent their own money to promote Republican Glenn Youngkin’s biggest endorsement. To some who didn’t read closely, the fliers featuring all the nice things Trump said about Youngkin looked like pro-Youngkin messaging. But the fine print revealed it was an effort by […]
GOP agenda takes shape in Richmond
A friendly meeting between the governor and the governor elect. A preview of the new House majority’s agenda. Promises to refocus the attorney general’s office on law enforcement. The transition of power from Democrats to Republicans in Richmond began in earnest Thursday after the GOP’s electoral sweep earlier this week, which handed the party control […]
Wild-card Democratic senators in line to be power players of divided government
With Republicans in Virginia suddenly one Senate seat away from total control of state government, attention turned almost immediately Wednesday to a pair of Democratic senators with a history of siding with the GOP on key issues like education and abortion. And on Wednesday morning, the two men, Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, and Sen. […]
Youngkin wins major upset as GOP roars back in Virginia
Republican Glenn Youngkin narrowly defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Tuesday’s election for governor, a major upset on a night that saw the Virginia GOP make sweeping gains after a nearly decade-long losing streak in statewide elections. Several news outlets called the race for Youngkin shortly after 12:30 a.m. Republicans Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares also […]
Virginia Beach voters approve $567 million bond referendum to deal with flooding
Virginia Beach residents approved a referendum Tuesday that will allow the city to issue up to $567 million in bonds to cover the cost of accelerating a flood protection program designed to deal with stormwater and sea level rise problems. More than two-thirds of voters were in favor of the issuance, which is expected to […]
Election Day is here: What’s at stake in Virginia today
More than one million of Virginia’s nearly 6 million registered voters have taken advantage of early voting to cast ballots for today’s election, when voters will select a governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 members of the House of Delegates. For those voting today, polls open 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. […]