Virginia Political Podcast

I talked to Danny Kedem from DK Strategies about his time working for successful Richmond mayoral candidate Danny Avula and the process of creating ads for the campaign.

We talked about his job working for Avula, how to reach voters in this evolving media landscape when many people don’t use broadcast TV, tactics on spending, responding to attacks from the Roday campaign, and a lot more. Listen at the link at the top of this page.

I talked to Nate Benforado from the Southern Environmental Law Center about his win today as the lead attorney in the case against Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the removal of Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI.

We discuss what this means for Virginia, the timeline for when Virginia will reenter RGGI, what the possible appeals process will look like and more.

For context:

A Circuit Court judge in Floyd County ruled against Gov. Glenn Youngkin, saying he unlawfully removed Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI.

RGGI is a market-based cap-and-invest initiative. Within the 11 states participating in RGGI, regulated power plants must acquire one RGGI CO2 allowance for every short ton of CO2 they emit. States participating in RGGI distribute allowances at quarterly auctions, which power plants and other entities can purchase.

Youngkin announced in 2021, before he was sworn into office, that he was planning to remove Virginia from RGGI. On day one of his administration, he signed an executive order to begin reevaluating Virginia’s participation in the RGGI and establishing regulatory processes to end it.

In 2023, the State Air Pollution Control Board voted to remove Virginia from RGGI. The lawsuit concerns the legality of the Youngkin administration’s move to reverse a legislative action.

“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s decision and will pursue an appeal,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for Youngkin. “Governor Youngkin remains committed to lowering the cost of living for Virginians by continuing to oppose the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which fails to effectively incentivize emission reductions in the Commonwealth. Instead, it functions as a regressive tax, hidden in utility, bills passed on to all Virginians.”

Democrats, who passed legislation to implement RGGI, applauded the ruling.

“This is not only a win for every Virginian who has faced the devastating impact of severe flooding, but a win for all Virginians, their wallets, and our environment,” said Speaker of the House Don Scott, D-Portsmouth.  “Programs funded by RGGI have helped Virginians cut household energy costs, helped protect communities from floodwaters, and have been critical in the fight to cut pollution and address climate change. Today’s decision saves hardworking Virginians money by ensuring the resources generated by RGGI are used to protect our communities. Governor Youngkin’s reckless attempt to undermine this critical program has been rightfully stopped, and we remain committed to building an affordable and more sustainable future for all.”

After joining the initiative in 2020 with 10 other states, Virginia made more than $227 million during the first year. The money is intended to be reinvested in toward low-income energy efficiency programs and a Community Flood Preparedness Fund.

“I am pleased that the court has found that Governor Youngkin acted illegally and Attorney General Miyares did not interpret the law correctly,” said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax. 

“Unfortunately, his decision has now cost Virginians over $200 million dollars of funds that could have been appropriated in the last two years to protect the Commonwealth against flood damage like what just happened in Southwest Virginia because of Hurricane Helene.”

The Virginia League of Conservation Voters praised the Circuit Court ruling.

“Virginia’s membership in RGGI gave the Commonwealth a critical tool to combat the climate crisis, hold polluters accountable, protect communities against flooding and extreme weather, and lower household energy costs,” said Michael Town, the executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters. “The Youngkin Administration’s

This is the second episode of the Virginia Political Podcast.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Danny Avula, City Councilor Andreas Addison, Harrison Roday and Maurice Neblett about their campaigns for mayor. Former City Council Chair Michelle Mosby’s campaign did not answer my phone call to be included in the episode.

An overview of the candidates:

Avula 

• Danny Avula was the director of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts for six years. 
• He led the statewide Covid-19 vaccination effort under Gov. Northam
• He served as the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration 

Roday 

• He worked in the Obama administration and for Tim Kaine 
• He founded Bridging Virginia, a Richmond-based non-profit community development fund that provides access to capital for Black women, and minority-owned small businesses.
• He worked in the private sector and founded a software company. 

Michelle Mosby

• She was the first first African American woman to lead Richmond's City Council,
• She is an entrepreneur who launched her first business—a cosmetology salon 20 years ago, which is still open today. 
• She also works in real estate. 

Andreas Addison

• A small business owner and current member of City Council. He was first elected in 2016. 
• Before that, he worked for the City of Richmond as a management analyst and civic innovator.

Maurice Neblett 

• Grew up in Richmond and believes his life experiences growing up in Richmond will help him run the city as it should be.

Money raised:

• Danny Avula raised $1,357,943
• Harrison Roday raised $1,292,781
• Michelle Mosby raised $366,456
• Andreas Addison raised $187,375
• Maurice Neblett raised $7,708

Listen to the full episode at the link on the top of this newsletter.

In this episode, I talk to Rep. Abigail Spanberger about her decision to leave Congress and her campaign for governor. She contrasts a Spanberger administration with a Sears administration, she talks about how she would support getting Virginia back into RGGI, how she thinks Youngkin has done as governor and more. 

I also talk to political science professor Richard Meagher about the state of the race in Virginia's Second and Seventh Congressional Districts.