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VaNews Nov. 7, 2019
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** FROM VPAP
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** VISUALIZATION: END OF DIVIDED GOVERNMENT ([link removed])
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The Virginia Public Access Project

For much of the last quarter century, one party has led Virginia's executive branch while another controlled one or both chambers of the legislative branch. That will change in January when Democrats, who currently occupy the Executive Mansion, gain control of both the House of Delegates and State Senate.


** EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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** VA. GOV. NORTHAM STARTS MAKING PLANS FOR HIS NEW DEMOCRATIC LEGISLATURE ([link removed])
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By LAURA VOZZELLA AND GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) used a Cabinet meeting Wednesday to showcase all he expects to get done with a state government under Democratic control for the first time in a generation.


** 'THIS IS A BLUE STATE': NORTHAM OUTLINES PRIORITIES IN CABINET MEETING AFTER DEMOCRATS WIN CONTROL ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In declaring Virginia a “blue state,” Gov. Ralph Northam vowed Wednesday to move ahead on liberal issues he said have long been stalled by Republican control of the statehouse. Inside a room on the upper floors of the Capitol, Northam held an open Cabinet meeting that featured talk of “a new landscape” full of “great opportunity” for the administration’s ideals.


** DEMOCRATS PROMISE SWIFT ACTION AFTER WIN IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By ALAN SUDERMAN, Associated Press

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam promised Wednesday to ride a wave of voter dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump to turn the Old Dominion into a state where gun laws are stricter, the environment is cleaner and cities have greater leeway to take down Confederate statues.


** FIVE THINGS NORTHAM SAYS HE WILL (AND MAYBE WON’T) DO WITH A DEMOCRATIC MAJORITY ([link removed])
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By MECHELLE HANKERSON, Virginia Mercury

For the first time in 26 years, Democrats will have complete legislative control and an ally in the Executive Mansion. It means the policies and proposals that have floundered under a Republican majority stand a chance, as long as it gets the final approval of Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature.


** GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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** HOW WILL DEMOCRATS GOVERN? RACE FOR SPEAKER COULD BE AN EARLY TEST. ([link removed])
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By GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury

At least four Democrats – including two members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus – have said they’re in the running to become the next speaker of the House of Delegates, setting up a debate among the newly empowered majority over who should lead their diverse caucus.


** DEL. LASHRECSE AIRD CHALLENGING DEL. EILEEN FILLER-CORN FOR SPEAKER; DELS. TORIAN, PLUM EXPRESS INTEREST ([link removed])
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By PATRICK WILSON, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, said she is challenging House Democratic leader Eileen Filler-Corn of Fairfax for House speaker. Aird’s move sets up an unpredictable contest within the House Democrats, who won a majority in Tuesday’s election, that spans racial and generational gaps.


** RASOUL TO RUN FOR HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER ([link removed])
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By AMY FRIEDENBERGER AND PATRICK WILSON, Roanoke Times (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Roanoke Del. Sam Rasoul will run for majority leader in the House of Delegates, one of a handful of leadership positions Democrats will decide on Saturday....Currently, the only Southwest Virginia legislator in a leadership position is Del. Nick Rush, R-Christiansburg, who serves as the whip for the House Republicans. Morgan Griffith, now a Republican in Congress, was the last majority leader from Southwest Virginia. Griffith, of Salem, served in the role from 2000 to 2010. Richard Cranwell, of Vinton, served as majority leader for House Democrats from 1991 to 2000 and then was minority leader until 2002.


** THE FIRST BIG QUESTIONS FOR A NEW MAJORITY ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Once the new team is in, what’s the first big question? The rules of the game, surely. And in the House of Delegates, the first question for whoever the new Democratic majority chooses for the all-powerful position of speaker will be what to do about something called proportionality. What the new speaker decides will have a lot to do with the tone of the next General Assembly session after a particularly fiercely fought election.


** COX SAYS HE WON'T SEEK MINORITY LEADERSHIP; CHIEF OF STAFF IS LEAVING ([link removed])
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By MEL LEONOR, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Outgoing House Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, will not seek a leadership position within the party caucus when it reconvenes in January as the minority. “I have fought the fight, I have run the race,” Cox said in a letter to the House Republican Caucus. “But now it is time for a new caucus leader who can guide us through our time as a minority party and begin to build again toward the majority.”


** IN VIRGINIA, NEWLY EMPOWERED DEMOCRATS TEST THE BLUE DEPTHS ([link removed])
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By GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER AND LAURA VOZZELLA, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Gun control in the home state of the National Rifle Association. Passage of the Equal Rights Amendment in a legislature that used to run like an old boys’ club. Climate legislation, in a state once defined by coal. A day after winning control of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation, Virginia Democrats were making big plans to use the new power they will consolidate with Gov. Ralph Northam (D).


** N.VA. DEMS POISED TO GET KEY SEATS ON MONEY PANELS ([link removed])
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By MICHAEL MARTZ, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Northern Virginia will hold the purse strings on the state budget when the new General Assembly convenes in January. The Democratic takeover of the House and Senate is likely to place senior leaders from Northern Virginia atop the so-called money committees that reshape the budget the governor proposes and set tax policy that determines the flow of revenue into the state treasury.


** VIRGINIA’S LEGISLATIVE BLACK CAUCUS SWELLS TO 23 ([link removed])
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By NED OLIVER, Virginia Mercury

Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, is still a little giddy. “We all thought it was too good to be true,” the chairman of Virginia’s legislative black caucus said of Tuesday’s election results. “I’m still in pinch-me mode.”


** STATE ELECTIONS
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** COUNTING CONTINUES IN 30TH DISTRICT HOUSE OF DELEGATE ELECTION ([link removed])
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By ALLISON BROPHY CHAMPION, Culpeper Star Exponent (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Campaign representatives, the electoral board, election officers and voter registrar’s staff gathered Wednesday morning in the voting office on Main Street in Culpeper to certify the vote as part of the electoral board’s regular canvassing operation. This year, the operation includes the reading and recording into a computer network of 5,330 write-in votes cast in the District 30 House of Delegates election. Two-term incumbent Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, Tuesday night declared himself the winner


** TUESDAY'S ELECTION PAINTS PICTURE OF CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS ([link removed])
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By SCOTT SHENK AND ADELE UPHAUS-CONNER, Free Lance-Star (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

A pair of winners in Tuesday’s election described their experiences as surreal. That might be a common feeling in Virginia after an election that brought key shifts on local and state levels, which some believe could also be mirrored on the national level.


** THE G.O.P.’S ELECTION DAY PROBLEM IN THE SUBURBS IS GETTING WORSE ([link removed])
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By TRIP GABRIEL, JONATHAN MARTIN AND ALEXANDER BURNS, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

For the second Election Day in as many years, suburban voters demonstrated enormous political power in electing or aiding Democratic candidates in historically Republican areas, underscoring the drift of many moderate voters from the G.O.P. in the era of President Trump. In the Virginia suburbs of Norfolk, Richmond, and Washington, D.C., Democratic candidates flipped six legislative seats from Republican control on Tuesday — crucial gains that helped Democrats take control of both chambers of the legislature and put state government under one-party control for the first time in a generation.


** VIRGINIA SUBURBS SENDING IMPORTANT ELECTION SIGNALS ([link removed])
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By DAVE RESS, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

In Virginia elections these days, it’s what the suburbs have to say that decides things, and some of the numbers from Tuesday could be sending some important signals. Consider, for instance, some turnout and margin of victory numbers from a few Virginia Beach and Chesterfield County areas that went for Donald Trump in 2016.


** WOMEN KEEP UP WINS IN TRUMP-ERA POLITICAL SURGE ([link removed])
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By SARAH RANKIN AND SARA BURNETT, Associated Press

In its 400-year history, Virginia’s House of Delegates has never been led by a woman. There’s a good chance that might change soon. Two women are among the contenders for the powerful role of House speaker after Virginia Democrats continued their winning streak under President Donald Trump on Tuesday, seizing control of both the House and Senate from Republicans for the first time in more than two decades.


** 'ALMOST IRRELEVANT': VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS TAKE STOCK OF ELECTORAL LOSSES ([link removed])
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By STEPHEN DINAN, Washington Times

Tuesday’s elections left the National Rifle Association sitting in a sea of blue. The gun rights group’s headquarters in Fairfax County, once the place where Republican victories were built in Virginia, is now deep in Democratic territory, signaling just how far this week’s wave election crested.


** VIRGINIA STATE SENATOR REACTS TO CHANGING POWER IN STATE LEGISLATURE ([link removed])
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By HANNAH HALL, WHSV

For the first time in decades, democrats control both houses of the General Assembly, along with the governor's office. None of the seats flipped in the state were in the valley, but there could still be impacts here. This is the first time in decades that Democrats have controlled both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor's office. Virginia state senator Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) said the results from Tuesday's election were not what they wanted to see.


** REPUBLICAN VOTERS SAY PARTY NEEDS TO DO SOME ‘SOUL SEARCHING’ AFTER LOSING POWER ([link removed])
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By JAKE BURNS, WTVR

One day after losing their majority in both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly, Republican voters said the party needs to do some “soul searching” for how to best move forward as the minority party. Hot tubs and spas are symbols of complete relaxation, but Gail McDaniel, owner of Swimming Pools, Billiards, and Spas in Chesterfield, did not feel relaxed as election results began to roll in Tuesday night.


** 2 VIRGINIA BEACH STATEHOUSE RACES ARE VERY CLOSE. HERE’S HOW A RECOUNT WOULD WORK. ([link removed])
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By MARIE ALBIGES, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

One delegate and one Senate race in Virginia Beach could be close enough to trigger recounts. Unofficial results from the Department of Elections show Democrat Nancy Guy beating the incumbent, Republican Del. Chris Stolle, by 18 votes in Virginia Beach’s 83rd House District. Reached by phone Wednesday, Stolle said he was certain he would win in a recount. ... On the Senate side, Democrat Cheryl Turpin is trailing Republican Jen Kiggans 50.36% to 49.49% — within the 1% margin that allows candidates to get a recount in Virginia.


** DEMOCRATS AT 54 HOUSE SEATS WITH THREE UNRESOLVED ([link removed])
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By ANDREW CAIN, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Three contests in the House of Delegates remained in the balance Wednesday, making unclear the extent of Democrats’ majority in the chamber. Democrats had 54 House seats to Republicans’ 43 with the three seats unresolved.


** NANCY GUY LEADS REP. CHRIS STOLLE BY 18 VOTES IN VIRGINIA’S DISTRICT 83 RACE ([link removed])
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By NICK BOYKIN, WTKR

The Virginia House District 83 race between (D) Nancy Guy and (R) Rep. Chris Stolle has come down to 18 votes, with 100 percent of the vote in as of 11:05 p.m. on Tuesday. According to the Virginia Department of Elections, Guy leads the incumbent Stolle by the small margin with 49.95% of the votes - 10,958 to 10,940.


** SHE DOUBTED HER PLACE IN AMERICA. NOW SHE’S VIRGINIA’S FIRST MUSLIM STATE SENATOR. ([link removed])
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By SARAH MERVOSH, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Ghazala Hashmi was on her way to work one winter morning in 2017 when she heard news on the radio that left her in a panic: President Trump’s order banning refugees from certain Muslim countries was making headlines, and she was concerned about the possibility of a Muslim registry being created in the United States. Ms. Hashmi, who came from India to the United States at the age of 4, pulled up to the community college where she worked, parked her minivan and felt frozen with fear. As a Muslim who had lived in the United States nearly all her life, she wondered, did she still have a place in the country she called home?


** HANOVER COUNTY PLAYED PIVOTAL ROLE IN DUNNAVANT STATE SENATE WIN AGAINST RODMAN ([link removed])
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By C. SUAREZ ROJAS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Democratic candidate Debra Rodman narrowly won Henrico County in her bid for the state Senate seat of Siobhan Dunnavant. But voters from a small sliver of Hanover County included in the 12th District broke largely for Dunnavant, tipping the scales in the Republican incumbent’s favor in Tuesday’s general election.


** NOW IN THE MINORITY, INCUMBENT GOP SENATORS SWEEP POLLS IN LYNCHBURG AREA ([link removed])
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By RACHEL MAHONEY, News & Advance (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Republicans have kept a firm hold on the two state Senate seats decided by Lynchburg-area voters, but they’ll be meeting in a statehouse that’s flipped blue. In his first regular election cycle race, Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, held his position from first-time Democratic challenger Dakota Claytor.


** LEE CARTER, THE ONLY SOCIALIST IN THE VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY, IS RE-ELECTED IN 50TH DISTRICT ([link removed])
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Prince William Times

Del. Lee Carter, D-50th, was re-elected Tuesday, beating GOP challenger and current Manassas City Councilman Ian Lovejoy. With 94 percent of the vote reported, Carter garnered more than 53 percent of the vote compared with Lovejoy's 46 percent, according to unofficial election results.


** THE AREA CHOOSES ITS STATE REPS ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Progress Index (Metered paywall - 5 free articles a month)

Democratic Del. Roslyn C. Tyler appears to have kept her 75th House District seat, but her Republican challenger in Tuesday’s polling is not quite ready to concede.


** STATE GOVERNMENT
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** VIRGINIA RECEIVES 18 APPLICATIONS FOR MINE RECLAMATION FUNDS ([link removed])
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By TIM DODSON, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Communities across Southwest Virginia are setting their sights on outdoor recreation, agriculture and broadband internet expansion as some of the ways former coal mining sites could be cleaned up and transformed for economic development opportunities.


** ECONOMY/BUSINESS
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** NEWPORT NEWS DEFENSE FIRM WINS SHARE OF $6.4B AIR FORCE CONTRACT ([link removed])
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By HUGH LESSIG, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

About two years ago, Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. bought 63 French Mirage fighters along with millions of parts and some 150 spare engines. It marked the largest global sale of such aircraft to a private firm, and it wasn’t done on a whim.


** VIRGINIA'S EMERGING SHRIMP INDUSTRY ([link removed])
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By LEE TOLLIVER, Daily Press (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

About 90% of all shrimp consumed in the United States are imported from other countries, according to NOAA. That’s why getting fresh, locally caught shrimp is such a big deal.


** HIGHER EDUCATION
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** UVA TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING ON TUITION INCREASES ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

University of Virginia officials will discuss tuition increases for the 2020-21 school year and hear public comment on Friday. The meeting will be from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. in the South Meeting Room of Newcomb Hall.


** LOCAL
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** DEMOCRATS WALK AWAY WITH FAIRFAX ELECTION, GAIN LEGISLATIVE MAJORITIES ([link removed])
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By BRIAN TROMPETER, Inside NOVA

It would be tough to imagine a better night than Nov. 5 was for local Democrats. Candidates backed by the Fairfax County Democratic Committee secured all but one of the 10 seats on the county’s Board of Supervisors, had a strong showing in the School Board race and beat back an independent challenger for commonwealth’s attorney.


** CHANGING SUBURBS: BLUE VICTORIES IN NORTHERN VA. MEAN FOCUS ON HOUSING, SCHOOLS, TRANSIT ([link removed])
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By ROBERT MCCARTNEY AND PATRICIA SULLIVAN, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

The Democratic takeover of county governments in Northern Virginia’s large outer suburbs will pour new money into housing, transit and schools, bring new efforts to fight climate change and offer a friendlier face to immigrants. In Tuesday’s elections, a younger, more racially diverse electorate combined with a backlash against President Trump to propel the most dramatic political shift in a generation in Prince William and Loudoun counties.


** NEW PROSECUTORS TO BRING BIG CHANGES IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By MAX SMITH, WTOP

Major changes could be coming to Northern Virginia’s criminal justice system, with four new prosecutors elected this week promising significant reforms. Buta Biberaj in Loudoun County, Parisa Dehghani-Tafti in Arlington and Falls Church, and Steve Descano in Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax brand themselves as the most progressive of the new local commonwealth’s attorneys.


** NEW ELECTED OFFICIALS TAKE THE STAGE IN LOUDOUN COUNTY ([link removed])
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By NATHANIEL CLINE, Loudoun Times

A county police department is on the wish-list for the newly re-elected Loudoun County chairwoman. Democrat Phyllis Randall, re-elected chair of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, floated the idea during a joint media session with incoming supervisors and members of the School Board.


** STAFFORD BOARD OF SUPERVISORS RESULTS: 18 VOTES SEPARATE CAVALIER FROM ALLEN ([link removed])
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By URIAH KISER, Potomac Local (Subscription Required)

Cavalier is the incumbent Stafford County Supervisor in the Griffis-Widewater District. Challenger Tinesha Allen, however, has ahead in the polls by 18 votes. Here are the race results. We can’t reach Cavalier, so we don’t yet know if he’ll ask for a recount.


** STEPHANIE LYNCH WINS SPECIAL ELECTION IN RICHMONDS 5TH DISTRICT CITY COUNCIL RACE ([link removed])
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By ROBERTO ROLDAN, WCVE

Social worker Stephanie Lynch pulled ahead of a crowded field of seven candidates Tuesday night to win the Richmond City Council 5th District special election. Lynch will replace Councilman Parker Agelasto, who was forced to resign after admitting to moving outside of his district last year. With more than 7,000 residents voting in the election, Lynch took around 27 percent of the vote. She easily beat out her closest opponents, Thad Williamson and Mamie Taylor, who each received about 15 percent.


** CHESTERFIELD'S PROSECUTOR-ELECT SAYS HER OPPONENT'S SELF-INFLICTED RIFT WITH POLICE HELPED HER WIN ([link removed])
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By MARK BOWES, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

Fresh from her decisive win, Chesterfield County Commonwealth’s Attorney-elect Stacey Davenport said Wednesday that she will scrap at least one of incumbent Scott Miles’ criminal justice reform initiatives and will change others as she seeks to re-establish a collaborative working relationship with county law enforcement officials.


** RISK LOW, BUT ELEVATED LEAD LEVELS FOUND IN WATER AT 27 VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS ([link removed])
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By BRIANA ADHIKUSUMA, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

After 33 Virginia Beach schools’ water sources were tested for lead this summer, 27 had levels exceeding state and federal limits, the division announced Wednesday. But school leaders didn’t find out about the test results until late October, according to Jack Freeman, the division’s chief operating officer.


** NORFOLK SCHOOLS COVERED UP HIRING OF BOARD CHAIRWOMAN’S BROTHER-IN-LAW, NEW RECORDS SHOW ([link removed])
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By SARA GREGORY, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Norfolk Public Schools hired the School Board chairwoman’s brother-in-law without following anti-nepotism rules, then withheld documents that proved it, newly released records show. Two School Board members shared with The Virginian-Pilot copies of emails between district staff that show chairwoman Noelle Gabriel’s brother-in-law, Nate Kinnison passed pre-employment screenings and was cleared for employment with a July 1 start date.


** COUNCIL CANDIDATE HALL ARRESTED AFTER THREATENING ELECTION OFFICIALS ([link removed])
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By STAFF REPORT, Daily Progress (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

John Hall, a former independent candidate for Charlottesville City Council, was arrested on Election Day for a bond violation after threatening and swearing at election officials at city polling places, according to court documents. Hall finished last in Tuesday’s election with 837 votes,


** VOTERS APPROVE PARI-MUTUEL BETTING IN TWO VIRGINIA LOCATIONS ([link removed])
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By DAVID MCGEE, Bristol Herald Courier (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Voters in two Virginia localities — including one linked to the proposed Bristol Resort and Casino — approved referenda Tuesday to allow off-track pari-mutuel wagering in their communities. Danville voters narrowly approved a referendum for pari-mutuel wagering within the city limits. ... The margin of support was even wider in the town of Dumfries in Prince William County on Tuesday.


** DANVILLE VOTERS PASS REFERENDUM ON PARI-MUTUEL WAGERING ([link removed])
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By JOHN R. CRANE, Danville Register & Bee

City voters decided to take a chance in favor of allowing an off-track horse betting facility set up shop in Danville.

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** EDITORIALS
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** WELCOME TO THE BLUE DOMINION ([link removed])
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Richmond Times-Dispatch Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

There is no doubt now that Virginia is a blue state. With a gain of six seats in the House of Delegates and two in the state Senate, Tuesday’s elections ushered in a return to total Democratic control of the state Capitol for the first time in a generation. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, nearly 40% of Virginia voters showed up at the polls — an 11% increase from the 2015 elections. The electorate’s decision was loud and clear.


** REPUBLICANS IN VIRGINIA ARE TOAST — BECAUSE THEY TOASTED THEMSELVES ([link removed])
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Washington Post Editorial (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

In political terms, Virginia is no longer a Southern state; it’s an Eastern one that tilts heavily Democratic. That transformation, affirmed in Tuesday’s watershed elections that flipped both state legislative chambers to the Democrats’ control, was long in the making and helped by Republicans who fell radically out of step with the increasingly diverse voters who populate the state’s booming suburbs.


** PENINSULA DELEGATION SHIFTS TO BLUE ([link removed])
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Daily Press Editorial (Metered Paywall - 5 articles a month)

The tide of voters that nearly washed Democrats into the majority of the General two years ago turned into a tempest on Election Day. Democrats will now hold majorities in the General Assembly come 2020, thanks in part to the voters of the Peninsula’s 91st and 94th House districts. Both seats were held by Republicans this year and won by Democratic candidates.


** 30 YEARS SINCE WILDER'S ELECTION ([link removed])
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Roanoke Times Editorial (Metered Paywall - 10 articles a month)

Thirty years ago today, Virginia voters did something no one in the country had ever done: They elected an African American governor. At the time, it seemed as if Virginia had knocked down a big racial barrier in American politics.


** COLUMNISTS
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** TUMULTY: REPUBLICANS CAN ONLY BLAME THEMSELVES FOR LOSING IN VIRGINIA ([link removed])
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By KAREN TUMULTY, Washington Post (Metered Paywall - 3 articles a month)

Tuesday night saw the completion of Virginia’s transformation from red to blue, as Democrats took control of both houses of the General Assembly for the first time in a generation. The shift began a decade ago at the top of the ballot. Virginia voted for Republican presidential candidates in every race between 1968 and 2008, but it has not voted for one since.
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