Nikki Haley campaigns with Youngkin in Richmond; Keeney officially launches congressional campaign; Senate Democrats reach budget deal
The latest in Virginia politics.
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Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley campaigns for Youngkin in Richmond
Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina was in Richmond Tuesday to campaign and raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.
Speaking from the Richmond campaign office for the Youngkin campaign Tuesday afternoon, Haley touted the former Carlyle Group CEO and talked about how she believes Youngkin’s experience with that company will benefit Virginia if he were to be elected. “He is a business guy. He has spent his entire career making sure he knew the value of a dollar but also negotiating deals,” Haley said. “He is getting ready to negotiate a lot of deals for the people of Virginia, I can promise you that.”
She also touted his faith and said that he understands Virginians because of his unique perspective from being a political outsider. “He told me, ‘you know I have never held a political position before’ and I told him ‘that is what is going to make you good,’” Haley told the crowd.
Haley served two terms as South Carolina’s governor before becoming the UN ambassador for the Trump administration. Now she is a potential frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
She hit each campaign talking point head-on by addressing Critical Race Theory, criminal justice measures, and culture wars. “There is no grey here. What you are going to see with Glenn Younkin is he is going to choose the police over the criminals,” Haley said. “He is going to choose small business owners over trial lawyers. He is going to choose your children over the teachers union. He is going to get rid of every ounce of these culture wars that are trying to divide us.”
In addition to the rally at Youngkin’s campaign office Tuesday afternoon, Haley attended a fundraiser in Chesterfield County. Individuals involved in that event say that more than $100K was raised during the fundraiser.
Youngkin is facing Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe and Independent candidate Princess Blanding in the race to be Virginia’s next governor. McAuliffe served as governor from 2014 to 2018 but was barred from seeking reelection in 2017 due to the one-consecutive term-limit rule in Virginia. Blanding is an educator and political activist.
McAuliffe has a slight lead in the very limited polling that has been publicly released.
You can listen to the audio of Haley and Youngkin’s speech at the Richmond rally by becoming a paid subscriber for this newsletter.
Taylor Keeney officially launches congressional campaign in VA-07
Taylor Keeney, a Goochland resident and non-profit founder is officially launching her campaign for the Republican nomination to run for Virginia's seventh congressional district seat. The seat is currently held by Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D-Henrico) who is up for reelection in 2022.
Keeney was a communications staffer for Governor Bob McDonnell before starting Little Hands Virginia, a nonprofit that was launched in 2019. According to Keeney's campaign announcement, the goal of Little Hands Virginia is to ensure that young children around Richmond have the basic essentials needed to thrive and help improve outcomes in the long term.
"When I saw that families in Central Virginia had trouble getting basic essentials for their children, I launched Little Hands Virginia from my garage while on maternity leave," Keeney said in her announcement. "Today, we work with over 50 local partners to identify children in need of support and will serve over 1,000 children in 2021 alone."
Keeney is wasting no time in attacking Spanberger. "Our current Representative has simply not gotten the job done in Congress - she’s all talk,” Taylor said. “Despite promising to be a bipartisan voice, Abigail Spanberger has voted with Nancy Pelosi over 90% of the time since taking office, including a shocking 100% of the time during the Biden administration. This is not bipartisan, this is politics as usual and we deserve better.”
Keeney has hired Anthony Pileggi, a former NRCC regional political director and chief of staff to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and Liesl Hickey, a former NRCC Executive Director, to guide her campaign moving forward.
The growing list of Republicans in the race already includes Tina Ramirez, who recently announced her candidacy; plus John Castorani and Guatam Barve who have both filed paperwork as well. Last year, Ramirez came in third for the VA-07 nomination that Del. Nick Freitas eventually earned, Castorani was a Republican candidate in Alabama’s first congressional district, and Barve appears to have been a city council candidate in Santa Clara, California.
Other potential candidates for the Republican nomination include state Del. John Mcguire (Goochland) and state Senator Amanda Chase (Chesterfield).
Spanberger won the seat in 2018 when she defeated former Congressman Dave Brat. Prior to Spanbergber’s victory, the seat was held but a Republican for more than 60 years.
Republicans made this seat a top target in 2020 but were unable to flip it during a losing presidential election cycle; Spanberger’s margin of victory actually increased in 2020 compared to 2018.
Redistricting is also set to take place before the 2022 election so it is unclear just how competitive this district will be. Due to the close margin of victory the last two cycles, any shift to the right would make this seat promising for the GOP with a Democrat in the White House.
A lot can change in the 15 months before this general election takes place, but either way, Keeney says she believes Washington D.C. is broken and that she will be able to fix it. "I know what it takes to build consensus, bring people together, and find solutions to the problems facing our community."
Paid subscriber content: Listen to the audio from an event on Tuesday for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin with former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.
ICYMI: Trump praised Youngkin but condemned the 2017 gubernatorial nominee for not embracing ‘MAGA’
Former President of the United States Donald Trump continues to comment on the Virginia gubernatorial race even after he lost the Commonwealth to Joe Biden by 10 points last year. Trump released a new statement Monday condemning his party’s 2017 gubernatorial nominee while praising their current one, Glenn Youngkin. He also floated election-fraud conspiracy rhetoric about the 2021 election.
“Four years ago, a man named Ed Gillespie ran for Governor of Virginia without ’embracing’ MAGA, or the America First movement. He tried to skirt the issue by wanting my endorsement, yet walking on both sides of the fence,” Trump said in his statement Monday.
Gillespie ran against Ralph Northam in 2017 and lost by nine points. Additionally, Democrats flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates that year, just 12 months after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Trump believes the reason Gillespie lost is due to him not embracing the Make America Great Again movement that the former president owned. “The Trump base is very large in Virginia, they understood his game, and they didn’t come out for Gillespie, nor did I do anything to help or hurt. He got creamed,” Trump wrote.
The former president then touted Youngkin, calling him a great candidate. “Now a great candidate, Glenn Youngkin, is running against political hack and unpopular former Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe,” Trump wrote.
The former president also continued to try and bring up unproven voter fraud conspiracy theories, the same rhetoric that led to his second impeachment and removal from all social media platforms. “Glenn has a very good chance of winning—but watch the ‘vote counters’ in Virginia. As the 2020 Presidential Election Scam has proven, they can be far more important than the candidate!”
Youngkin’s Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe tweeted a response to the statement from Trump. “Donald Trump, a failed and unpopular one-term President, just can’t accept the fact that the people of Virginia rejected him TWICE,” McAuliffe tweeted. “So he’s back to his 2020 election LIES.”
When asked for comment about President Trump’s statement Monday, Youngkin’s campaign referred Virginia Scope to a tweet they posted last month with a video montage of McAuliffe in 2001 saying the 2000 presidential election was stolen from the Democratic candidate Al Gore. McAuliffe was chair of the Democratic National Committee at the time.
Christina Freundlich, a spokesperson for McAuliffe said that Youngkin is helping Trump threaten America’s democracy. “To this day, Glenn Youngkin proudly stands with Donald Trump and the dangerous lies that cost American lives on January 6th,” Freundlich said in a statement Monday. “Youngkin is helping Trump threaten American democracy; he belongs nowhere near the governorship.”
Virginia Republicans have been warning Democratic control was bad for business. CNBC disagrees - Virginia Mercury
by Graham Moomaw and Ned Oliver
After Democrats took control of the General Assembly in 2020, a common refrain emerged among Republicans who opposed legislation that raised the minimum wage and added new anti-discrimination protections for employees.
“The Democrat majority has done much to diminish Virginia’s reputation for being America’s ‘best state for business,’” said Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, as Democrats’ first legislative session in power in more than two decades came to a close, invoking a ranking bestowed annually by the cable news network CNBC.
Senate Democrats announce $3.5 trillion budget agreement - Associated Press
Senate Democrats announced Tuesday that they have reached a budget agreement among themselves that envisions spending an enormous $3.5 trillion over the coming decade. The fiscal plan would pave the way for Democrats’ drive to direct a huge pool of federal resources at climate change, health care and family-service programs sought by President Joe Biden.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the accord flanked by all 11 Democrats on the chamber’s budget committee after a two-hour evening meeting that capped weeks of bargaining among party leaders, progressives and moderates. The agreement is a major step in Democrats’ drive to turn Biden’s effort to bolster an economy that was ravaged by the pandemic and set it on a course for long-term growth. Separately, bipartisan senators have been working toward another measure that would spend around $1 trillion on roads, water systems and other infrastructure projects.
Flyers with swastikas posted on businesses in Hanover County, sheriff's office investigating - Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Ali Rockett
About 50 flyers with offensive language and swastikas were found Tuesday morning posted on several businesses near Montpelier in Hanover County, according to authorities there.
Deputies with the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office responded to a shopping center in the 16600 block of Mountain Road around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and collected the flyers, which read “We are everywhere” with a swastika in the center. The flyers were posted on every business in the shopping center, and others were left on the ground in the parking lot, according to Lt. James Cooper, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
VMI begins adopting recommended changes following investigation - Roanoke Times
by Amy Friedenberger
Virginia Military Institute has already completed or is in the process of working on more than half of the recommendations made in an investigative report for how the nation’s oldest state-supported military college can improve equity and inclusion on campus.
VMI’s Board of Visitors met last week and voted to provide quarterly reports to the governor, General Assembly and State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, which was one of the recommendations included in the report released last month. The board said in a statement to the VMI community “that most of the recommendations contained in the report should be pursued.”