In only three short weeks Virginia voters will go to the polls and select State Senators and Delegates. This is an especially critical election.
House: 67 Republicans vs. 33 Democrats
Senate: 21 Republicans vs. 19 Democrats
Republicans are in the majority in both bodies; a flip of 1 seat in the Senate makes a tie which is broken by the Lt. Gov., Northam (D), giving the Dems effective, if only narrow, control. A Senate majority is achievable this cycle for the Dems; a house majority may take 3 or more cycles.
But we must fight for every seat we can in each cycle.
Why This Election Matters
Virginia is at a crossroads today. Will we surmount the loss of jobs due to Federal Government austerity, accelerate the creation of new jobs, elevate the average wage and salary level to encourage family formation and home ownership, improve the provision of health care, reverse the recent cutbacks to education funding at all levels, guarantee full-day kindergarten for all counties, and pre-Kindergarten for the entire state, expand the availability of college opportunities and make them debt free for students, preserve and strengthen the economic health of our rural areas, address the under served needs of those at the lower end of the economic ladder, and recognize how far we still have to go to truly say that all citizens have their civil rights, including the right not to be racially profiled, and the right to vote unimpeded by voting hurdles such as restrictive ID laws that recall the poll tax of bygone segregation years?
Or will we bury our heads in the sand, ignore all these issues, or say that they are not the province of government, and instead propose lowering taxes and reducing regulation on business as the supposed solution to every economic and social problem we face? The Republican majority in the General Assembly, including my opponent, appears to believe the latter.
