VaNews Nov. 3, 2019
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** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: COMPARING CANDIDATES' SOURCE OF FUNDS ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

VPAP ranks General Assembly candidates by the percentage of money from six types of campaign donors, ranging from small donors who give $100 or less to businesses that lobby the state legislature. There's also an option to view each category by dollar amount. The campaign finance numbers run through Oct. 24 and do not include last-minute donations.


** TARGETED RACE: HD 76 IN SUFFOLK ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

For two decades, most of Suffolk had been divided into two separate House of Delegates districts drawn largely along racial lines. In January, a federal court bought most of the city into a single district. The result is that House District 76 is evenly split between whites and African Americans. Del. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) is defending his seat against Democrat Clint Jenkins. VPAP maps and charts explain the district, its demographics and voter tendencies.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** CBS CALLS LT. GOV. JUSTIN FAIRFAX’S DEFAMATION SUIT A PLOY TO ‘ATTACK’ ACCUSERS ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

Attorneys for CBS have asked a federal court to throw out the $400 million defamation lawsuit Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax filed against the television network, saying Fairfax has used the filing to “disparage” and “attack” the two women who accused him of sexual assault....Noting that Fairfax’s lawsuit includes unproven theories that other Virginia political figures pushed the allegations to thwart his ambitions for statewide office, the network’s lawyers said the “convoluted theory of a conspiracy” is irrelevant to any legal claims against CBS.


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE CAMPAIGNS FOR VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA BEACH ([link removed])
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By GARY A. HARKI, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Vice President Mike Pence brought out more than 900 supporters to the Kempsville Middle School in Virginia Beach Saturday to rally for local Republicans. He urged the crowd to get to the polls on Tuesday, and to take people with them.


** PENCE RALLY IN VIRGINIA BEACH UNDERSCORES HIGH STAKES IN TUESDAY'S ELECTIONS ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Vice President Mike Pence called for voters to elect Republicans in Hampton Roads to keep party control of the General Assembly, but he was looking beyond Virginia’s legislative elections on Tuesday to boost the re-election chances of President Donald Trump next November.


** IN VIRGINIA BEACH, PENCE STIRS THE GOP BASE AHEAD OF CRUCIAL STATE ELECTION ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Vice President Pence appeared here Saturday, trying to shore up support for Republicans who are fighting to hang on to control of the state legislature, just three days before a pivotal election. Pence appeared at a middle school gym, surrounded by Republicans defending their paper-thin majorities in the General Assembly, three seats in the House and one in the Senate, with a vacancy in each chamber. To a crowd of about 900, which chanted “USA,” “Trump” and “Build the wall,” Pence called Virginia’s election — along with governor’s races in two other Southern states — a referendum on the Trump administration.


** PENCE VISITS LOUISA TO 'TURN UP THE HEAT' ON DEMOCRATS ABOUT TRADE AGREEMENT ([link removed])
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By NOLAN STOUT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Vice President Mike Pence traveled to rural Louisa County to “turn up the heat” on Democrats and urge approval of President Donald Trump’s signed trade deal with Mexico and Canada. About 500 people gathered at Patriot Industries, a steel and aluminum manufacturer, on Saturday to hear Pence, former Virginia Gov. George Allen and U.S. Reps. Denver Riggleman, R-5th, and Rob Wittman, R-1st, discuss the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.


** LEWIS HOPING GRASSROOTS EFFORTS WILL PAY OFF WITH VOTERS ([link removed])
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By LOGAN BOGERT, News Virginian

Running for office was always in the cards for Jennifer Lewis. Lewis began writing about the feat in a diary in elementary school, and started trying to make it a reality in the 6th District congressional race last year. After advancing from the democratic primary in June 2018, Lewis, D-Waynesboro, fell to Ben Cline, R-Amherst. Just mere months after the defeat, Lewis was back on the campaign trail and knocking doors — this time vying for the 20th district seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.


** AVOLI HOPES TO USE LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE AT STATE LEVEL ([link removed])
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By LOGAN BOGERT, News Virginian

John Avoli is no stranger to local politics. The former high school principal served on Staunton’s city council for 16 years, 14 of which were as Staunton’s mayor. Avoli recalls his time on city council as a revolution. “Beginning in about 1992, the downtown area was transformed into what it is today. Infrastructure was a really big time for us. When you take care of your community, it enhances the lives of your services,” Avoli said.


** ELECTION 2019: LIBERTARIANS RALLY AROUND POLITICAL NEWCOMER AHEAD OF ELECTION DAY ([link removed])
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By AMIE KNOWLES, Martinsville Bulletin

With only a couple of days left before Tuesday’s election, the Martinsville Libertarians are especially hard at work. Not an official affiliate of the Libertarian Party, the Martinsville group still shares the same ideals as the national organization and visits local neighborhoods sharing their political leanings. This year, Eric Bowling, a founder of the Martinsville Libertarians, and about a dozen active members have made visiting friends, family and community members a priority. That’s because it’s an election year for all 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates, and one of their local party members hopes to take one.


** SENATE DISTRICT 20: NEWCOMER INDEPENDENT TAKES ON VETERAN ([link removed])
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By BILL WYATT, Martinsville Bulletin

Independent candidate Sherman D. Witcher Sr. of Rocky Mount is challenging William M. “Bill” Stanley, Jr. for the 20th District Senate seat. Stanley (R-Franklin County) has served in the Senate since 2011 in the district that includes all of Martinsville, Galax, Henry County and Patrick County and parts of Carroll, Franklin, Halifax and Pittsylvania counties and Danville. Witcher had planned to run against him as a Democrat, but that didn’t work out.


** CHALLENGER WORKS TO OVERCOME NEWNESS, NAME RECOGNITION ([link removed])
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By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee

Democrat Eric Stamps faces a formidable, established opponent in nine-term incumbent Republican Del. Danny Marshall in the 14th District House race. The district, which includes all of Danville and parts of Pittsylvania and Henry counties, leans heavily Republican and repeatedly has reelected Marshall.


** ABSENTEE VOTING MUCH HIGHER THIS YEAR THAN IN 2015 ([link removed])
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By ADELE UPHAUS-CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Turnout in Tuesday’s election, which includes a host local races and will determine which party controls Virginia’s General Assembly, could be heavy, based on the number of people voting absentee this year. Requests for absentee ballots in the Fredericksburg area have more than tripled compared with 2015—the last time all 140 seats in the General Assembly were on the ballot. More new voters have also registered this year than in 2015 in all localities.


** FEDERAL ELECTIONS
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** SPLIT-SCREEN MOMENT AS TRUMP RALLIES IN MISSISSIPPI ([link removed])
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By ERIC BRADNER, CNN

In an arena in Iowa on Friday night, 13 Democratic presidential candidates were making their best cases to win the nomination to face President Donald Trump. At the same time, in front of a crowd in northeast Mississippi, Trump was mocking the Democratic Party as "completely insane" -- and mocking several of its candidates. ...He made a number of false claims, including attacking Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, falsely saying he "executed a baby after birth."


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** 'WE SHOULD ALL BE CONCERNED': VIRGINIA'S LITERACY RATES FALL TO RECORD LOW LEVELS, FEDERAL DATA SHOW ([link removed])
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By JUSTIN MATTINGLY, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s student literacy scores have fallen to levels not seen in more than 15 years. New data from the federal government released this week shows that reading scores have dropped substantially in elementary and middle schools. The results of the test nicknamed the “nation’s report card” confirm a problem that state testing has signaled for the past few years.


** LOCAL
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** MENTAL ILLNESS CHALLENGES ON RISE IN LYNCHBURG-AREA JAILS ([link removed])
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By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Nearly one in three inmates at Blue Ridge Regional Jail Authority facilities have some kind of mental illness, and it’s largely up to the jail what kind of attention they receive. Out of those, 169 inmates, or 15.7% of the average daily population, are considered to have a “serious mental illness,” which includes schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and PTSD. Those figures are from a 2018 report from the Virginia Compensation Board


** WASHINGTON COUNTY VOTERS TO DECIDE WHETHER TO RELOCATE COURTHOUSE ([link removed])
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By JOE TENNIS, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Mike Rush toured the cramped and narrow hallways of the Washington County Courthouse on a recent Tuesday afternoon in downtown Abingdon, talking about what might happen after Election Day on Tuesday. Voters of Washington County will decide via a referendum whether to spend $30 million to relocate the county court functions to Abingdon’s old Kmart building at 300 Towne Centre Drive, just off Interstate 81’s Exit 17.


** EDITORIALS
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** WHAT'S AT STAKE TUESDAY ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Virginia voters will render a judgment Tuesday on a question they haven’t faced in 20 years: Should we change which party controls the General Assembly? Technically, of course, voters deal with this question every two years for the House of Delegates and every four years for the state Senate. As a practical matter, though, Virginia voters haven’t had this much power in their hands since 1999.


** GOBS OF CASH POINT TO IMPORTANCE OF VA. RACES ([link removed])
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News & Advance Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Once upon a time, politics in Virginia were dreary and rather boring. No longer. From the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War to the 1969 gubernatorial election, Democrats — the old school Democrats, to be more precise — controlled state and local politics. For much of that time, it was the segregationist Byrd Organization, run by Harry F. Byrd Sr., that called the shots


** STATE’S SHAMEFUL SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY CLAIM ([link removed])
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Free Lance-Star Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Under the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity, states and their political subdivisions cannot be sued in state or federal court by residents of other states or foreign countries without their consent. Sovereign immunity is a vestigial practice derived from English common law, which held that since the reigning monarch could do no wrong and since there was no higher authority, bringing a lawsuit against the king would be futile.


** HEALING AMERICAN DIVISIONS IS PUBLIC’S RESPONSIBILITY ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

When Virginia voters head to the polls on Tuesday, the nation’s eyes will be following developments closely, interested to see who wields control in Richmond and eager to glean from the results some insight into the political landscape for 2020. Expect plenty of commentary about the election, examining the implications of Democratic or Republican majorities in the General Assembly


** COLUMNISTS
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** SCHAPIRO: SOME THINGS TO LOOK FOR ON ELECTION NIGHT ([link removed])
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By JEFF E. SCHAPIRO, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Control of Virginia’s legislature could be decided in the leafy suburbs of Richmond and sprawling neighborhoods along the Atlantic seacoast, areas where politics is being remade by a flood of newcomers similar to the one that tipped Northern Virginia Democrat.


** OP-ED
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** KERR: FORECASTING VIRGINIA'S 2019 LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ([link removed])
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By DAVID S. KERR, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Control of the Virginia General Assembly is riding on the outcome of Tuesday’s election. Each chamber has a thin one-vote GOP majority. If the Democrats win two additional seats in the House of Delegates, and just one in the state Senate (because the lieutenant governor is already a Democrat and can break ties), the Democrats will gain control for the first time since the 1990s.

David S. Kerr, who lives in Stafford County, is an instructor in the political science department at Virginia Commonwealth University.


** BRINK: VIRGINIA ELECTIONS: PREPARING FOR 2019 AND BEYOND ([link removed])
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By ROBERT BRINK, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Virginia’s election machinery faces extraordinary challenges in the coming months. How we respond to those challenges will test whether we can maintain the efficient, accessible, secure and transparent elections that the commonwealth’s citizens expect and deserve. I know we will be up to the test.

Robert Brink is chairman of the Virginia State Board of Elections


** WHITE: HERRING SHOULD TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT LEGALIZING POT ([link removed])
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By LINDA J. WHITE, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Last month, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring once again stated his support for easing marijuana laws in Virginia. “It’s time to move toward legal, regulated adult use,” he tweeted. A recent University of Mary Washington study indicates 61 percent of Virginians agree. That may please advocacy organizations and investors who are betting on the future of pot, and even some politicians looking for votes, but would legalization benefit Virginia overall?

Linda J. White is a former assistant editorial page editor.


** RILEY: PAID LEAVE MANDATE WOULD WREAK HAVOC ON SMALL BUSINESSES ([link removed])
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By NICOLE RILEY, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

State lawmakers are currently holding work sessions to discuss bills requiring paid family leave in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This type of legislation often requires employers to give workers anywhere from six to 12 weeks of paid time off to care for themselves or a sick relative. While many small businesses very much want to support their employees when there is a family emergency, they need flexibility.

Nicole Riley is the state director of NFIB, a small business advocacy organization with thousands of members across Virginia.


** MIX: GOV. NORTHAM INSULTS PRO-RIGHT TO WORK VIRGINIANS’ INTELLIGENCE ([link removed])
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By MARK MIX, Published in the Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

With help from an ample forced union dues-funded campaign flowing into Virginia from the nationwide union political machine, Big Labor-backed politicians are poised, it seems, to take control of both chambers of the state General Assembly in Richmond after the upcoming legislative elections on Tuesday.

Mark Mix is president of the Virginia-based National Right to Work Committee, a 2.8 million member organization


** KILGORE: COALFIELD STUDENTS ONCE AGAIN EXCEL IN MATH, SCIENCE AND READING, YET GOOD JOBS ARE SCARCE ([link removed])
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By FRANK KILGORE, Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Sometimes common sense solutions to entrenched problems are hard to sell. Exhibit A is the shortage of mid- to high-tech private and public sector jobs in many of Virginia’s rural areas, especially in the coalfields of far Southwest Virginia. Most people west of Roanoke generally know that the three major coal and natural gas counties of Dickenson, Buchanan and Wise are also ranked as some of the poorest counties in the state.

Frank Kilgore is an attorney in St. Paul and has for decades been involved in coalfield economic development, conservation and youth development programs


** MORSE: THE DAUNTING, DEMANDING CHALLENGE OF BEING GOVERNOR ([link removed])
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By GORDON C. MORSE, Published in the Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

This is about Virginia governors past and present. Early Tuesday morning, we lost the 65th Virginia governor — Gerald L. Baliles — to a wretched disease, cancer, that regularly plucks away people we love. Tennyson’s line — my mother used to read it to me — whispers in your ear: “But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand, And the sound of a voice that is still.”

Gordon C. Morse wrote editorials for the Daily Press and The Pilot in the 1980s. He later wrote speeches for Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, then worked for corporate and philanthropic organizations
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