Bold Dominion

Another session of the Virginia General Assembly has come to a close. This marks the second year that the House of Delegates, the State Senate, and the Governorship were all in Democratic control. That’s the first time in decades--a change so remarkable that it inspired us to start this very podcast in 2020.

So what did the General Assembly manage to pass this year? And what has the blue legislature managed to achieve more broadly with two sessions in power? To answer those questions, we talk with state Delegate Sally Hudson, as well as journalist Peter Galuszka.

There's an underlying principle to Virginia politics that often goes unmentioned--it's called the Dillon Rule, and it effectively says that local governments only have powers that are explicitly granted by the state. How does this affect our local legislators and our state as a whole?

To answer that question, we talk to Richard Schragger, the Parre Bowen Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law and the author of City Power: Urban Governance in a Global Age. We also talk to Andreas Addison, a member of the Richmond City Council and a lecturer at the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, who has dealt with the Dillon Rule as part of his legislative experience.

With the 2021 legislative session in full swing, hundreds of bills have been introduced into the General Assembly. Some have passed and some haven't -- and some are yet to be debated. A lot of these bills are written and promoted by big-money industries and lobbying groups who have the time and money to spare.

But this week on Bold Dominion, we dig into two examples of citizen activists who are making a difference in the legislature. In the first half of the episode, Brennan Gilmore of Clean Virginia explains how his organization fights corruption in Virginia's government, especially as it deals with energy policy and Dominion. In the second half, we chat with Ashton Willcox, Matthew Savage, and Adrian Klaits, a group of bipartisan teenage political leaders who successfully introduced a bill that would Virginia students one excused absence every year to participate in civic engagement.

More and more, it seems like all political conversation is happening at the national level--Presidential elections, Congressional ratios, party divides and infighting. So much so that we forget just how much of our lives can be affected by our local politics right at home. Your mayor, your sheriff, your county Board of Supervisors--these are the people who decide where to build your neighborhoods and roads, how to fund public education, and what police officers focus on. That's a lot of important stuff.

In this episode, we sit down with Rich Meagher, Associate Professor of Political Science at Randolph-Macon College and author of Local Politics Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Making a Difference, to discuss how local government works and the ways that we citizens can have a hand in shaping our communities for the better.

With absurd and dangerous events going on in D.C. and the Capitol this week, it's easy to forget about the state and local legislators are soon to be meeting in Richmond, our own state capital here in Virginia. With the General Assembly meeting for its regular session in 2021, a host of important economic issues are slated for discussion as Virginia struggles to survive the pandemic and beyond.

This week, we bring an interview with Delegate Sally Hudson, who represents Virginia's 57th district in the Virginia House of Delegates, discussing the legislative process this year and the way lawmakers plan to deal with unemployment across the state, among other key issues.

2020 has been one of the longest, most painful years in most of our lifetimes. While it's impossible to do justice to every story that struck Virginia this year, we're covering a few of the biggest changes across the state over the last twelve months.

To help, we're joined by Michael Pope and Thomas Bowman of Transition Virginia, a state politics podcast covering many of the same topics. In this roundtable retrospective, we discuss the coronavirus pandemic, the state legislature's response to calls for racial justice, and the economic fallout yet to come.

Happy holidays, folks. We'll see you in the new year!

Virginia has been transforming in many ways over the last few decades, and that's most clear when it comes to government and tech. From defense contractors to Amazon's new headquarters to thousands of data centers, Virginia has slowly but surely shifted toward an economy based in technology and defense. What does that mean for workers in Virginia? For our energy needs, our demographic trends, and our political systems?

In this episode, we talk to Richmond-based journalist Peter Galuszka about how Virginia's economy ties in with energy and technology--and how these trends will change the state going forward.

Suddenly, and seemingly out of the blue, legal weed in Virginia seems like it could be a real thing in the not-too-distant future.

But legalization won’t be as easy as flipping a light switch. Should past weed convictions be expunged? Should business owners with past marijuana convictions get a leg up?

Virginia (and the nation) have a long history of racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws... So now we have historical inequities and loads of other questions to deal with as we consider new legislation.

In this episode, Virginia Mercury reporter Ned Oliver and video journalist Alana Yzola take us through ways that Virginia could legalize cannabis in order to benefit Virginians the most.

As we step away from national politics and the presidential election, it's worth looking at other referendums and ballot initiatives that passed on a state and local level. In their most recent election, Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth approved casinos entering their cities in landslide votes. What might an influx of casinos mean for Virginia's economy? To find out, we sat down with Ryan Murphy, a reporter at the Virginian-Pilot, and James V. Koch, an economist and former president of the Board of Visitors of Old Dominion University.

Election Day has come and gone, but the election process still continues. And while it looks like Joe Biden has the presidential election mostly secured in an election that bucked the polls, a whole host of state and local races in Virginia were also on the ballot, as well as a state Constitutional amendment for redistricting reform.

This week, Nathan Moore sits down with producer Aaryan Balu and Mary Garner McGehee, host and producer of Charlottesville Soundboard, for a roundtable discussion on this year's election and what it means for Virginia going forward.