Virginia Scope Podcast

Del. Danica Roem (D) talked to Virginia Scope for an audio interview Monday morning to talk about her newly-announced campaign for the Virginia state Senate.

She is seeking the nomination in SD-30, an open district with no incumbent due to redistricting. Roem is the first Democrat to announce their intention for the nomination in this district. Ian Lovejoy, a former member of the Manassas city council, has already announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination.

“I'm pursuing the Democratic nomination to continue my work of serving the people of my lifelong home community of western Prince William County and greater Manassas by building on my record of passing 32 bills into law during my 2.5 terms representing the 13th District of the Virginia House of Delegates, including 10 to feed hungry kids,” Roem said on Facebook Monday.

As for the possibility that a lawsuit might force the House to run again under new lines this year, Roem says she would run for that seat first. “If a federal court rules for one-year special elections for the House of Delegates in 2022, then I will run for re-election to the House this fall in order to continue serving my constituents and maintaining my seniority, which is transferable to the state Senate.”

She is running for the state Senate in 2023, either way.

Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, Jamie Lockhart, talked Wednesday about the recent news that the Supreme Court of the United States will likely be overturning Roe v. Wade.

“All the emotions,” Lockhart said of the moments she learned the news. “We knew that this was likely coming - that anti-abortion activists have been planning for this for decades.” 

Virginia Scope journalist Brandon Jarvis, Henrico Democratic Committee chair Marques Jones, Democratic operative Nathan Kiker, and former Republican operative Andrew Hull talk about the redistricting proposals submitted by special masters last night.

Specifically, they discussed Rep. Spanberger being drawn into Rep. Wittman’s district, the wild new district in Prince William County that is seeing a huge amount of interest from Democrats in the area, and Rep. Elaine Luria is facing tougher prospects with her district’s redraw in the second district.

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This is the latest episode of the Virginia Scope Podcast: 'In the Scope' featuring Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin and others for a wide-ranging discussion of Virginia politics.

In addition to Youngkin, Henrico County Democratic Committee Chairman Marques Jones and Democratic operative Nathan Kiker discuss the DPVA Chair and other inner-party politics.

Hosted by Brandon Jarvis, this is a Virginia Scope podcast. Support our work by subscribing to our daily newsletter. 

In this audio interview, Fairfax County’s Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano (D) talks about everything happening in Virginia politics right now along with what is happening in the Republican recall movement against him and the status of that effort.

Descano also talked about the recent statements from Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares when he expressed a desire to go into localities and intervene in cases when officials think a local prosecutor is mishandling a case. “My initial response was that it is silly,” Descano said. “It doesn’t make any sense. Quite frankly what we have is Jason Miyares wants to cosplay as a prosecutor.” 

He also talks about what he would like to see from the Democratic Party moving forward. He believes one priority for the party should be to “focus on propelling our vision for the commonwealth, instead of presenting as counter to someone else.”  

Descano finished by answering a question about whether or not he is considering running for attorney general in 2025. 

This conversation is with Danny Laub, a partner at POOLHOUSE, the Republican ad agency that created Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin’s ads for his campaign. Laub talks about the Youngkin campaign and Virginia politics in general.

Henrico Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg (D) and Colonial Heights Delegate-elect Mike Cherry (R) talk about winning their races Tuesday and moving forward in a Virginia with Republican control in the Executive Branch and House of Delegates.

This is a Virginia Scope podcast. 

With only Monday standing between Halloween and election day, Democrats are rallying across the commonwealth with a long list of events aimed at getting out the vote for Tuesday.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe fired up a large crowd of people in Henrico County, a Richmond suburb that is crucial for Democrats in keeping Virginia blue for another four years.

Listen to Mcauliffe, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney talk to a large crowd of Democrats in Henrico Sunday afternoon below:

Here is additional audio from a canvass rally for the Democratic House candidate in HD-66, Katie Sponsler. She is looking to replace Kirk Cox in the House of Delegates. (Background on the district)

Del. Jay Jones (Norfolk) and Sponsler addressed a group of supporters ahead of a canvass launch, which can be heard in the audio.

Listen to the first episode of Virginia Scope’s new weekly podcast series, In the Scope. Hosted by Brandon Jarvis, the show will focus specifically on one aspect of Virginia politics each week. With elections happening in just one week, of course, this episode is based on the final days of campaigning. 

Randolph Macon College professor provides specific analysis of the campaigns in the final days; plus Marques Jones, the chair of the Henrico County Democratic Committee, and Andrew Hull, a former Republican Party of Virginia staffer discuss and provide commentary on the race from their perspective.