Pod Virginia

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This week, Michael is joined by Frank Atkinson, author of The Dynamic Dominion, to discuss the 1973 "Armageddon" gubernatorial race between Henry Howell and Mills Godwin, which Atkinson wrote about in his chapter of The New Dominion: The Twentieth-Century Elections That Shaped Modern Virginia.

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IN THE NEWS:
Earlier this year, Democrat Abigail Spanberger seemed to have cleared the field of opposition among Democrats, though Congressman Bobby Scott may still throw his hat into the ring. Last week, Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears was able to clear the field of Republican opposition, and now she stands alone as the Republican who will be running for governor. 

The race for attorney general is taking shape, and it’s gonna be a doozy. Incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares is unlikely to face opposition in the Republican primary, but the Democrats will have a VERY interesting primary. One of the candidates will be a founding member of the Progressive Prosecutors for Justice, Shannon Taylor, who will face former Delegate Jay Jones.

Virginia is named for a Queen of England, the virgin Queen Elizabeth I. Now the Queen of Virginia is suing the attorney general and the Henrico prosecutor. That’s because the skill game company that goes by that name, Queen of Virginia, is trying to stop the Republican attorney general from conducting an investigation and prevent the Henrico commonwealth’s attorney from enforcing a ban on skill games.

TRIVIA: Who was the senator who was censured by the Senate in 1987? (Hint: He was a senator from Norfolk, and he was censured for willingly violating the conflict-of-interest law by voting to kill a bill that would have harmed one of his legal clients.)


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Former State Senator John Bell joins Michael to break down his decision to sponsor the 2021 resolution to censure then-Senator Amanda Chase after she repeated baseless election fraud claims and spoke in support of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

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IN THE NEWS:
Freshman House Delegate Kannan Srinivasan will be the Democrat on the ballot in the January 7 special election to fill the seat vacated by Congressman-elect Suhas Subramanyam. Loudoun Democrats chose him as the party’s nominee over the weekend in an election that will determine which party controls the Senate. Republicans also selected their candidate for this seat over the weekend, Tumay Harding. She is a former teacher who ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Ashburn District of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors.

Democrats have introduced three new amendments to Virginia's Constitution: one to protect abortion rights, another to undo the amendment prohibiting gay marriage, and the third to ditch Virginia's practice of requiring the governor to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies. All three of those amendments would have to go through many steps before being added to the state Constitution, including being approved by voters in November 2026.

Former Governor Terry McAuliffe says the numbers tell a story, and it's one that's not good for Democrats. In 2020, Democrats won young people in Virginia by a margin of 23 points. This year it was only 8 points. In the last election Democrats won women by 15 points. This year it was only 9. He also says Democrats looking for a ray of hope can expect a good performance in 2025, when Virginia voters will elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general -- plus all 100 seats of the House of Delegates.

TRIVIA: What are the two kinds of votes where Virginia's lieutenant governor can NOT break a tie?

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SPONSOR:
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Pod Virginia all-star Sam Shirazi joins Michael to break down the special elections happening in the next few weeks (filling the House seats vacated by Suhas Subramanyam and John McGuire), as well as the Virginia statewide elections in 2025.

SPONSOR:
The Richmond Forum

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IN THE NEWS:
Senator Tim Kaine's margin of victory was almost double the margin of victory for Kamala Harris in Virginia, which seems to indicate some cross-party voting. 

The election is not over yet. Two sitting members of the state Senate were elected to Congress last week, which means at least two special elections. One of the special elections for state Senate will be in Northern Virginia, where Delegate Kannan Srinivasan is expected to face Buta Biberaj, a former Progressive Prosecutor for Justice. The other Senate special election will be in the suburbs and exurbs between Richmond and Charlottesville.

There's no place in Northern Virginia where the influence of the Asian community is reflected more than state Senate District 32. That’s the seat in Loudoun County that will soon be vacated by Congressman-elect Suhas Subramanyam. The district has a population that is more than 30 percent Asian.

TRIVIA: Who was the Lieutenant Governor elected in a statewide special election after the death of Lt. Governor Sargeant Reynolds in 1971?

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SPONSOR:
The Richmond Forum

Tyler Englander, Cameron Thompson, and Brad Kutner join Michael and Lauren to react to the 2024 election results--Kamala Harris' razor-thin victory in the state, Tim Kaine's victory, and the possibilities for Republican leaders to be shuffled into the upcoming Trump administration as we already look toward the 2025 gubernatorial election.

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The Richmond Forum

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IN THE NEWS:
Donald Trump closed out his campaign for president in the most unlikeliest of places over the weekend, Salem Virginia in deep red Southwest Virginia. The rally featured Governor Glenn Youngkin and the entire Republican establishment, including Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earl Sears finally endorsing the former Republican president.

2006 was Governor Tim Kaine's first General Assembly session in the Executive Mansion, and at the time lawmakers were focused on a budget battle and a transportation package. But there was one bill that required the DMV to produce a list of people who should be stricken from the list of eligible voters--which some say was a reaction to the Motor Voter Law. 
Campaigns tend to have political ads that celebrate their candidates or maybe attack an opponent. But those are nothing like a PAC attack, which often go for the jugular -- attacking a candidate for having a fake family or failing to show up for meetings. 

TRIVIA: Which election saw Virginia splitting its electoral votes between two candidates


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Pod Virginia all-star Sam Shirazi returns to break down next week's election: where does Virginia fall in the race for the presidency? What about all of the competitive downballot races? And just how many millions are getting spent on political ads that blanket the airwaves?

SPONSOR:
The Richmond Forum

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IN THE NEWS:
During a dramatic hearing in federal court last week, a lawyer representing the governor said he believes some of the people whose voter registration was canceled are noncitizens. Judge Patricia Giles wasn’t having it. She stopped him and said she wasn't dealing with beliefs, she was dealing with evidence.

In the 1890s, election after election was contested with allegations of voter fraud and stuffing the ballot box. That led to a Jim Crow Constitution that disenfranchised Black voters as well as some poor whites; some experts say the voter purge that happened 120 years ago offers lessons for today.

If Democrats are going to take control of the House of Representatives, they’re going to need seats like the Second Congressional District in Virginia Beach. And a new poll from the Wason Center shows the lead that Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans used to have over challenger Missy Cotter Smasal has evaporated. 

TRIVIA: Which Virginia congressman representing the Second Congressional District later became a Byrd Machine governor?


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