00:00.47

Sam Shirazi

Hi everyone, I'm Sam Shirazi and this is Federal Fallout the 2025 Virginia Elections. This episode I will be interviewing Kevin Holst. He is the Executive Director of the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association. So Kevin, thank you for joining me.

00:16.24

Kevin Holst

Thanks for having me on.

00:18.16

Sam Shirazi

So just to begin, could you please talk about your background and what your organization does?

00:24.68

Kevin Holst

Yeah. So the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association is the official Democratic Party organization which supports and uplifts our Democratic Lieutenant Governors.

00:35.36

Kevin Holst

For your listeners who may not have heard of us before compared to DGA, the DSEC, DTRIP, I won't be offended. We were just reestablished in 2018 and have have had a great amount of growth. We have a record 24 Democratic lieutenant governors right now. And something that people often aren't aware of um is that Democratic lieutenant governors are the most diverse group of elected officials in the country. 85% are women or people of color.

01:06.49

Kevin Holst

And we've seen that our lieutenant governors go on to become Governors, senators, I think Virginia is the obviously best example of this where you have Don Beyer now serving in the House, Doug Wilder, who's the lieutenant governor, then the first elected black governor in the country.

01:23.34

Kevin Holst

Tim Kaine served as lieutenant governor, the governor and senator. So we really like to think of Democratic lieutenant governors as the Democratic Party's bench.

01:31.32

Sam Shirazi

You mentioned some of the other organizations within the Democratic Party. you know How do you coordinate with, let's say, the national Dems at the Democratic National Committee and then the state Democratic parties and then the local Democratic parties?

01:44.08

Kevin Holst

Yeah, by virtue of the position, we have a close working relationship with the Democratic Governors Association. The position of lieutenant governor is elected differently depending on the state. There are a lot like Virginia where it's completely separate elected position and we are responsible for supporting the nominee on our own. But then in the Midwest, there tends to be the selection process where the governor handpicks the lieutenant governor. So we will often work in support of the gubernatorial ticket with the Democratic Governors Association.

02:18.26

Kevin Holst

thing that we've been really excited about with Ken Martin's new chairship is that he intends to help bridge you know lines of communication between the federal and state committees, which hasn't always been the case. you know Federal and state often speaks languages that aren't mutually intelligible. And so it's looking great as we look ahead to 2025, 2026 and beyond to make sure that we are all fully aligned to help Democrats up and down the ballot.

02:49.05

Sam Shirazi

And you you mentioned a little earlier that, you know, the lieutenant governors play an important role and and that often the people who are lieutenant governors make it to a higher office. And one thing that I think in Virginia I've noticed is people, for the most part, if they know there's an election this year, they know there's a governor's race, but they often don't know about anything down ballot.

03:11.42

Sam Shirazi

The lieutenant governor's doesn't get as much attention, obviously, as the governor's race, at least for the general election. How do you get people to care about the down ballot races and in your case, specifically the lieutenant governor's race?

03:23.46

Kevin Holst

I think there's a lot of education with voters, activists, donors on the importance of down ballot. This is something that Republicans have done really well. They focused in the 90s and the 2000s, early 2010s on down ballot because they recognize that down ballot races help build power.

03:44.08

Kevin Holst

And it was really to our detriment in 2010, 2014, where Democrats were wiped out in many states because we had not focused on down ballot enough and really building the party's bench. And so I think since...

04:00.06

Kevin Holst

2016 in the trump era many people have started to wake up to how important down ballot and specifically state races down ballot and the importance of that you know federal elections are always something that are seen as pretty sexy by national observers and there's always going to be people who are wondering about the jockeying for control of the House or Senate. But if we look to things that tangibly change people's lives very quickly, the most personally felt and quick acting change is felt at the state and local level for a transformative piece of legislation to pass Congress.

04:37.11

Kevin Holst

If it can even pass these days, you often see very long implementation times. People don't feel the effects of things that happen on the fur level very quickly.

04:47.59

Kevin Holst

And state government that can change within a matter of weeks. If some states are required to balance their budgets every year, and if you are in a short session like Virginia, where you have 30 to 45 days, depending on the year, to enact new laws, those are felt pretty immediately because that's in statute.

05:06.55

Kevin Holst

The Lt governor in Virginia is a particularly important um elected official in 2025 because, as we know the Virginia Senate is not up for reelection this year. that we It won't be until 2027 for us to expand our majority in the state Senate. And while having one-seat majority, the lieutenant governor is both the presiding officer and tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

05:30.30

Kevin Holst

And we saw how transformative that was with Medicaid expansion in Virginia that was done by the Lt governor's tie-breaking vote. And as we've seen recently with health challenges with different members, you know we are all human. We don't know when there's going to be a sickness, an absence or something unexpected happening.

05:48.84

Kevin Holst

So in order to ensure that future Governor Spanberger is going to be able to help pass her priorities, it's going to be on the Lt governor to make sure that these are sharpened through the legislature and that if there's any contentious votes which end up in a tie because as we know republicans have no incentive to work with the democrat governor in 2025 or 2026 it will be on the 10 governor to be that really key tie-breaking vote and as we think through you know passing the codification of abortion protections as we think through any piece of progressive legislation. It's going to be on the Lt governor to ensure that that gets across the finish line. And that's something that really resonates with people.

06:34.09

Sam Shirazi

And in terms of Virginia this year, you you laid out some of the issues that might come up in the lieutenant governor's race. What is your organization doing in the race itself? I know we have to wait for the nominees on the Democratic side, but what is your plan for this year in Virginia?

06:51.11

Kevin Holst

We are going to make a record-breaking investment in Virginia. The DLGA was actually... Part of the impetus for its beginning was due to the 2017 Lt governor's race in Virginia. We saw the Republican state leadership committee spend a million dollars to try to win the Lt governor's seat. And so in 2018, group of Lt governors seeing that got together and said, we need to ensure that Democrats have that same level of support.

07:20.94

Kevin Holst

We invested so about a million dollars in 2021, but we intend to spend up to $2 million dollars in 2025 to flip the Lt governor's office from red to blue because we know how important it will be to actually pass legislation to affect change in Virginians' lives. and This is an important office that, as we've seen, people go on to higher office. Winsome Sears has been Lt governor for the past four years, and she's now the Republican gubernatorial nominee. And so if we want to ensure that in 2029 Democrats are in the strongest position possible, we need to ensure that Democrats sweep all three statewide offices. And Lt governor is a key office in that.

08:05.08

Sam Shirazi

And right now there's a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor and there are six candidates running on the Democratic side. And I wonder what is your organization's role in the primary?

08:15.74

Sam Shirazi

And, you know, there's there's sometimes talk about, you know, the National Party coming in, picking a favorite. I don't think that's happening this year in Virginia. I think most people both at the state and federal level are letting the lieutenant governor primary play out. What what are you looking for or or are you just kind of waiting to see how the primary shakes out?

08:34.85

Kevin Holst

We are watching the primary closely and we have spoken with and are in regular communication with all the candidates, but it's up to the voters of Virginia to decide who their nominee will be. We know that any of the nominees will be infinitely better than John Reed as lieutenant governor and whomever Virginian voters decide, we are going to be their strongest partner, ally and advocate from day one.

09:01.29

Kevin Holst

So we are in close communication with all the campaigns, but we do not put our finger on the scales at all. We have a strict neutrality policy in this primary.

09:11.47

Sam Shirazi

I'll get to John Reed in a little bit, but I did want to ask about the current lieutenant governor in Virginia, who is Winsome Sears. And I think a lot of people, you know, didn't necessarily pay attention to that race in 2021. And she was swept in when Glenn Youngkin was able to win at the top of the ticket. um How do you think her role specifically as lieutenant governor, the current lieutenant governor in Virginia will play in the governor's race this year?

09:34.03

Kevin Holst

Well, she has certainly taken some ah ah positions which are just completely out of step with Virginians. I mean, we saw in this past week where she's constitutionally required to sign laws that passed the Virginia state legislature. She said that she was morally opposed to marriage equality. She voted against protecting contraception that was tied vote in the state Senate. um She's against abortion protections. She is against worker protections. And so the track record that she's assembled by both being publicly against certain policies and then when she's empowered to vote on the policies, voting the wrong way is going to hurt her in this gubernatorial election. We feel great about

10:19.90

Kevin Holst

Abigail Spanberger and her ability to articulate to Virginians that Winsome Sears is just out of step and too extreme for the state. And I think Winsome Sears' record, once voters learn more about it, is going to be very troubling to them.

10:33.33

Sam Shirazi

And this is kind of a random question before I get to the Republican nominee. But do you know, is there you mentioned that in the past, Republicans have spent for the lieutenant governor's race. Is there a Republican equivalent to your organization or is it just the RNC might be spending money in the race?

10:49.74

Kevin Holst

There is a consolidated down-ballot organization called the RSLC, which has the AG state legislative and lieutenant governors under their umbrella. So they spent heavily in 2017.

11:03.93

Kevin Holst

They spent for Winsome Sears in 2021. We will see what they in 2025.

11:10.61

Sam Shirazi

And well, speaking about 2025 in Virginia, the lieutenant governor's race. So the Republicans already have their nominee. I wanted to just ask a few questions about that. And obviously there's been a lot of things going on on the Republican side.

11:21.97

Sam Shirazi

I guess first, you know, most people, and I don't want to assume for you, but I think most Democrats were thinking, you know, Pat Harity would be the Republican nominee. Obviously he had to drop out due to health reasons. What's it like being on the other side where,

11:37.59

Sam Shirazi

you know you're You're thinking, all right, we're going to be facing this guy in all likelihood, and all of a sudden it shifts to someone else.

11:43.81

Kevin Holst

Yeah, I wasn't convinced that Pat Haredy would necessarily win the nomination. I knew obviously he's a strong contender. He had outraised John Reed. But, you know, Republicans, primary voters in different states have chosen nontraditional candidates. We've seen the rise of media personalities win Republican primaries, especially in very low turnout primaries. Obviously, we don't have a primary for governor on either side. So if you are turning out in a down ballot primary, you're probably a highly informed and a highly motivated voter. And if you had been listening to John Reed on conservative talk radio for years and years, you've

12:23.06

Kevin Holst

as a Republican voter, might be more inclined to vote for him. So we were watching the primary closely. i will never know how it would have turned out. I wasn't convinced that Hardy would have been the nominee. um Obviously, when he dropped out, we were surprised. had heard some rumblings about his health issues. And obviously he made the right decision for himself and his family to focus on that.

12:46.63

Kevin Holst

But it gives us more time to be able to focus on whom we're going to face in November and everything that we have learned about John Reed. We know it's completely out of step with Virginians. He's compared abortion to slavery. He has said that it's time to throw out public education and replace it with a voucher system. So it's It's one where while we do not have a nominee yet, and we are able to focus our attention on educating voters as to why John Reed would be too extreme for Virginia.

13:21.35

Sam Shirazi

And I did want to ask about the the incident that happened or or the the drama. and And I wanted to get to his record and some of the more substantive issues in a second, but kind of similar, what was it like being on the other side? So obviously, just to give the listeners a quick context, after John Reed became the Republican nominee, Governor Glenn Youngkin gave him a phone call saying, could you please drop out because of some you know alleged online pictures he had posted or, you know, on an account that may have been associated with him.

13:54.05

Sam Shirazi

John Reed denied that was him. it was his account. He stayed in the race. It sounds like that incident has kind of ended and and the Republicans have accepted that John Reed will be the lieutenant governor nominee.

14:06.03

Sam Shirazi

What was it like being on the other side where, you know, you're probably hearing the news about Governor Youngkin calling at the same time the rest of us heard about it?

14:13.84

Kevin Holst

It was we had John Reed had been posting about Republicans claiming they had incriminating things on him for about a week and a half prior to Glenn Youngkin's phone call. So we had been poking around and we hadn't found anything.

14:32.06

Kevin Holst

Super problematic. When the Tumblr page was brought to our attention, it had been pulled down, but we were able to go on the Internet archive to see some past pages over the years. And it seems to be just a blatant homophobic attack on him by Governor Yunkin. And he sort of got over his sails here. i think what's interesting is how quickly the MAGA and Republican grassroots rallied around John Reed and Glenn Yunkin basically had to admit defeat and his quest to get John Reed to drop out. And

15:11.56

Kevin Holst

So I think that was more telling than anything. It's always nice as a Democrat to see Glenn Youngkin's 2028 dreams fade even further than the hundreds of miles away that they were from reality. um But it From an operating standpoint, you know, we we have been focused that despite all this, we were going to continue to try to educate people on John Reed's positions, because as it seemed that he would stay in the race. is something where Republicans were united against him and it's our job to.

15:46.58

Kevin Holst

remind Virginia voters that he was cheering the federal layoffs which is affecting northern Virginia and 40 of Virginia's economy that he said abortions like slavery that he wanted to shut down public schools is against any limit on guns and so for us you know it was was a interesting couple of days but we were always very laser focused on how we're going to educate voters on the issues

16:11.30

Sam Shirazi

Well, it it sounds like you have some good message discipline on your side. i mean, the reason I say that is I think oftentimes when something like this happens and you see John Reed doing this because I think he's he's he knows how to worked the media because he's been on radio.

16:26.60

Sam Shirazi

I think he's kind of making this about how he was being targeted and he kind of overcome the establishment Republicans. And and he kind of wants to run on that. and And, you know, maybe he'll he'll change his tune. But how do you get people to focus on the stakes and the substance? Because I think some of the comments that I've heard from a lot of Democrats after 2024 is the media and social media and everything.

16:51.74

Sam Shirazi

They want to focus on you know all this campaign stuff, the drama, that this, that, and and there isn't a lot of focus on the stakes. And it sounds like you're trying to do that. How do you try to break through and and talk about what these elections actually matter for

17:06.53

Kevin Holst

Well, I think it's important for those of us who work in politics and elections to remove ourselves from our own bubbles. I know that for some of us who live and breathe elections and politics, that we are just so vastly different than the average voter who's more concerned with politics.

17:26.11

Kevin Holst

Am I going to get my kids to school on time? What is traffic like? What are the price of groceries? Are we going to be able to take a vacation this year? So while it was a pretty dramatic couple of days and week, it took really a week for it to break through and regional and national media. It tended to be more political blogs, which were focusing on this. And I would be shocked if we were to poll the state right now, if 15% of the state knew that there was all this drama between the governor and the lieutenant governor nominee.

17:59.45

Kevin Holst

So I think the first that people are going to hear about John Reed, unless you are living and breathing politics, is really going to be through paid political communication or when a canvasser knocks on your door, whether that be pro-Reed or a Democratic person communicating to you.

18:19.15

Sam Shirazi

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good point that, you know, we're very aware of these issues. But often when I talk to voters about the Virginia elections, they don't quite know that there is even an election going on or what's on the

18:33.20

Kevin Holst

if you look at early vote right now, it is very low. People in places like Richmond and Hampton Roads, where you have some delegate seats that have contested primaries or where you have down ballot candidates that come from those areas is a bit higher. But we look to Northern Virginia and turnout right now is extremely low because people don't know there's an election right now because candidates haven't been communicating yet.

18:58.14

Sam Shirazi

terms of the thinking about the election, trying to get people engaged, you know what are some of the issues that you want to be talking to voters about and or that you you think voters care about this year in Virginia?

19:11.56

Kevin Holst

Well, the havoc that Donald Trump and Elon Musk are... are causing to Virginia's economy is going to be paramount. I mean, one third of Northern Virginia is a federal government employee or contractor. 40% of the state's GDP comes from the federal government. And when you are a Republican in 2025, running on the same, you know, running as part of Donald Trump's party, when he is trying to, you just inflict chaotic mass layoffs without any strategic goals rather than to inflict pain on people who are a part of the federal government. That is very hard run on. And we have nominees like Winsome Sears who says, oh you lost your job? but Boo Find a new one. You have people like John Reed saying, does it hurt? Yeah, but we got to do it. Trump is the way.

20:09.08

Kevin Holst

And so Democrats even... Outside of the election, you know we have delegates, our congresspeople, who have been holding job fairs and trying to create resources for federal government employees who have been affected by these mass layoffs. and so Democrats are focused on ensuring that Virginians have good paying jobs and are trying to help Virginians navigate the chaos of Donald Trump and Elon Musk's economy. and

20:39.79

Kevin Holst

Winsome Sears and John Reed are going to side with Trump over Virginians, like in every single situation. John Reed being a radio host and a prolific poster on Facebook says he never says these things. Just read his own words, listen to his own words where he's cheering on these layoffs.

20:57.37

Kevin Holst

Winsome Sears cheering on the layoffs saying you should stop complaining if Donald Trump fired you from a job that you've held for 25 years and had provided a great middle class income for you.

21:08.56

Kevin Holst

And so we're going to focus on the economy. We're going to focus on the cost of living. And we're also going to focus on protecting the rights of Virginians in the face of when some serious Donald Trump, John Reed and Elon Musk trying to strip away reproductive freedom, trying to strip away worker protections, trying to make it so that the ultra rich are able to do whatever they want at the expense of the economic livelihoods of the average Virginians. And it's a message that is going to resonate because people are feeling it. You know, when Donald Trump says that you should tell your kids that they're not going to get great Christmas presents and you don't really need a vacation and you have Republicans running on that same message, it's a terrible message for them to run on.

21:54.31

Sam Shirazi

Well, I appreciate you taking the time to kind of explain what what your organization is going to be doing this year in Virginia. I did want to ask, um um if you have a chance to just give a little bit about your background, you know, what made you interested in politics and why you took on this role.

22:09.71

Kevin Holst

i I've been interested in politics and government since I can remember. I've always been a big believer in the ability of government to do good in people's lives. I was raised by a single mom who was able to help provide for us due to her union job. also struggled with and ultimately passed away from addiction. And so knowing that I was always teetering on the brink of just you know collapse and seeing the ability for our country to help provide for people who just need a bit of a boost seeing that government is the most efficient and best way to help make that a reality. i

22:59.45

Kevin Holst

wanted to be a part of the solution to help make people's lives better. I had prior to taking this job at the DLGA, I'd been in the service to politics world where in 2018, I had worked with Congressman Seth Moulton and my old boss, Emily Cherniak.

23:15.21

Kevin Holst

Who was the founder of New Politics, to help create an initiative that we called Serve America, where we helped recruit, advise, and fundraise for some of the rock stars of 2018. Abigail Spanberger, Elaine Loria were some of our 2018 candidates, where we're able to raise about $10 million dollars collectively for 20 veteran candidates running for Congress, and we helped set the narrative of national security Democrats stepping up to fight Trump, which was a big theme in 2018.

23:42.77

Kevin Holst

And these were people that had a demonstrated history of country before party, service before self, and that really resonated with not just voters, but also the caucus. When we think about Trump's first impeachment, it was because of the op-ed that our candidates wrote saying we have dedicated our lives to the security of this country. And this is why we have to now initiate the impeachment of the president.

24:10.69

Kevin Holst

2018 was a very unique cycle. And I knew that you weren't always going to have people like Abigail Spanberger, who were rock stars that could step up and run for Congress without a long political network. And so we focused a lot on down ballot after that. We did state Senate, state rep, city councils, some other ah lower down-ballot statewide elections, and we're pretty successful. We worked throughout the country to help elect a new generation of leadership. And when I saw this opportunity with the DLGA pop up, I saw this as really a natural extension of the work that I had been doing to help build the Democratic Party's bench. Because like I said, you have 85% women or people of color in statewide positions. a lot of them were just entering their second term and needed some

25:00.68

Kevin Holst

Need some help develop their political networks to help them on the comms front, sharpen ah ah some policies for them. So I was excited to take the challenge and we've had a tremendous amount of growth and we're seeing now the success in 2024.

25:17.52

Kevin Holst

We're able to invest $2 million dollars to help flip the North Carolina lieutenant governor's election from red to blue is the first time Democrats had won that seat since 2008. And on the bench argument, if your listeners remember, the past two Republican nominees for governor in North Carolina had been the Republican lieutenant governor. So we are now...

25:37.69

Kevin Holst

Going to have a great time for Josh Stein's reelection in 2028 because Republicans will not have a statewide official with the gravitas that the previous lieutenant governors have had to be able to run against him.

25:49.15

Kevin Holst

Of course, he's still going to run very hard, but it's nice to know that you are going to have someone with lower name ID um against you. And like I said, we're looking at 2025 to make a substantial impact in Virginia to help flip this lieutenant governor seat from red to blue. And then as we look to 26, we have some of our rock star lieutenant governors who are running for governor, running for Senate, and we're going to have their back and you know help in our mission to build the Democratic Party's bench and support them along the way.

26:19.28

Sam Shirazi

Well, thank you for taking the time to come come on and talk to us. I think it's really interesting hearing what it's like to to be in that role and and ah ah try to influence the elections this year in Virginia. If there are Republicans who are in a similar role or want to come on the podcast, feel free to reach out. But I did appreciate getting a Democratic perspective on that. So last question, how can people find out more about your organization?

26:43.73

Kevin Holst

They can go to our website, demlgs.org. We are also on bluesky at demlgs.org. We are on Twitter at Democratic LGs. We are on Instagram at demlgs. And we are prolific in our...

27:03.40

Kevin Holst

promotion of our Lt governors. So check it out. We have some of the most exciting Democrats in the party today. And for all of your listeners who might be thinking, you know, when will the Democratic Party move on from octogenarians in our leadership, you'll be seeing a lot more of our LGs over the next two, four, six, eight years.

27:21.78

Sam Shirazi

Well, that is all very interesting and i appreciate you coming on again. So thanks again. And this is Federal Fallout. I'll see you next time.

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