The audio at the top of this newsletter is from Thursday night’s event in Prince George County with Republican candidates Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares. State Sen. Frank Ruff and Del. Emily Brewer also spoke at the event.
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Youngkin’s gubernatorial campaign stops in Prince George for a rally
Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin stopped by a farm in Prince George County Thursday night with his ticket mates Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares to talk to a barn full of supporters. Youngkin talked to the crowd of supporters about the core issues of his campaign as well as his disappointment in what has taken place during the General Assembly’s special session.
He first introduced himself to the crowd and described his mindset around the decision to run for governor last year. “Last summer I had this moment come over me, literally like a freight train. I said you know what, there is something else we are supposed to be doing,” Youngkin said to the crowd of roughly 100 supporters. “I remember looking at my wife in July on a Friday night — I said ‘I’m going to quit my job tomorrow and I’m going to go run for governor.’”
Now, over a year later from that conversation with his wife, Youngkin is traveling the Commonwealth every day and talking to potential voters on the campaign trail. Additionally, he has an influence on what the Virginia Republicans are doing while convened at the Capitol.
Youngkin talked in Prince George about the agenda he announced ahead of the General Assembly’s special session to allocate the $4.3 billion in federal stimulus money. Youngkin called for investments to expand broadband access, investments in law enforcement with retention bonuses for officers, investments to provide school choice options for parents, and fully funding the deficit of the Virginia Unemployment Insurance program. Democrats have actually prioritized most of those same ideas this week during the special session — with the exception of school choice, which they say would divert money away from public schools.
Youngkin and Virginia Republicans wanted to provide more money for law enforcement officers than the Democrats, but it appears the final legislation will still include large bonuses for most of Virginia’s law enforcement personnel. “The path to a successful bright future is built on safe communities, we are going to stand up for law enforcement,” Youngkin said Thursday.
Democratic leadership limited discussion on the budget bill and notified legislators prior to the special session that they would not be accepting amendments in committee. The House stuck to that promise and quickly passed the governor’s legislation without including any Republican amendments. The Democrats in the Senate allowed a few Republican amendments to be included before passing the legislation. The House rejected the Senate’s bill on Thursday afternoon. A conference committee will have to be formed so legislators from both chambers can sort out the differences. The House and Senate have to approve the same exact legislation before it can go to Governor Northam for his signature.
House Finance Chair Del. Luke Torian gave a passionate speech on the floor earlier this week to push back against those claims of excluding Republicans. He said he has never shut them out of any conversations and that they could have reached out to him at any time.
Youngkin expressed displeasure with the entire special session process and conveyed that to the crowd in Prince George. “Of course single-party rule in Richmond doesn’t even listen, [they] shut out any discussion, in fact, put plastic barriers up between everybody,” he said to the crowd. The plastic barriers that Youngkin mentioned were the clear plexiglass dividers placed around every legislator’s desk to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As far as the popular issues for Republicans, Youngkin vowed to protect qualified immunity for police officers, ban critical race theory in schools, and said he would oppose repealing the right-to-work laws in Virginia.
In a different talking point on the trail, he vowed to invest in helping Virginia’s veterans reenter civilian life and stay in the Commonwealth. “Our veterans are the backbone of our communities,” he told the crowd before explaining that he would use resources to invest money in systems to keep veterans in Virginia by fully funding and staffing veteran resource officers.
In all, Youngkin seemed to recognize the moment in front of him and the national pressure that seems to be placed on every Virginia gubernatorial race. “There are only two state elections this year,” he told the crowd. “The eyes are on Virginia. Why? Because something amazing is happening. All of a sudden a state that is thought to be blue, there is a neck and neck race going on for governor.”
Virginia hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2009 and Terry McAuliffe is the Democrat looking to keep that streak alive. McAuliffe served as governor from 2014-2018 and had to wait to seek a second term this cycle because the law prevents Virginia governor’s from serving two consecutive terms.
The limited polling on this race shows McAuliffe with a slight lead.
Early voting for the Nov. 2 general election begins Sept. 17.
Terry McAuliffe meets with small business owners in Winchester - The Winchester Star
by Josh Janney
He first stopped by Winchester Brew Works, where he met with about 20 small business owners in the area to discuss plans to help Virginia’s economy recover after the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the gathering, many business owners said they would not have survived the pandemic had it not been for the financial aid provided through the American Rescue Plan Act — a stimulus plan passed by Congress. McAuliffe praised the plan’s passage and criticized his opponent for governor — Republican Glenn Youngkin — for calling the plan “unnecessary.” Youngkin has previously criticized the size of the American Rescue Plan, though he later suggested using ARPA funds to finance “school choice” programs.
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Rep. Conor Lamb is launching his long-expected Senate bid in Pennsylvania Friday, joining the crowded Democratic field in a state that is critical for the party as it seeks to protect or expand its narrow Senate majority.
Lamb, 37, a Marine and former prosecutor, rose to prominence when he won a nationally-watched House special election in 2018 months before the party flipped control of the chamber. He won reelection in 2018 and narrowly captured a second full term last year. Lamb, in an interview prior to his official launch, highlighted his string of competitive House victories as a strength in the Senate race, and said he’s running because he’s grown frustrated by House-passed legislation that falls flat in the upper chamber.
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo for years has shrugged off accusations that he oversees an office that runs on fear, threats, insularity and above all, fealty to Cuomo himself. Tough tactics were necessary, Cuomo and his allies said, to get things done in New York.
But the damaging report released this week by the state Attorney General’s office unequivocally said it was that culture — and the people who presided over it — that allowed gender-based harassment and inappropriate conduct to continue unchecked for years.The report said a cult of loyalty in the governor’s office helped to create “an environment” that allowed harassment “to flourish.”
Biden Administration Is Still Struggling to Care for Migrant Children - New York Times
At an emergency shelter in the Texas desert, migrant teenagers are housed in long, wide trailers, with little space for recreation and not much to do during the hot summer days, according to lawyers and other advocates for the children who have visited them there.
Some of the children say they can wait more than a month before meeting with someone who can help connect them with a family member or other sponsor inside the United States. Some report episodes of food poisoning and say they have to wash their clothes in a bathroom sink.
A critical ocean system may be heading for collapse due to climate change, study finds - Washington Post
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Human-caused warming has led to an “almost complete loss of stability” in the system that drives Atlantic Ocean currents, a new study has found — raising the worrying prospect that this critical aquatic “conveyor belt” could be close to collapse.
In recent years, scientists have warned about a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports warm, salty water from the tropics to northern Europe and then sends colder water back south along the ocean floor. Researchers who study ancient climate change have also uncovered evidence that the AMOC can turn off abruptly, causing wild temperature swings and other dramatic shifts in global weather systems.
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Youngkin campaigns in Prince George County