This week, Michael and Thomas are joined by Heidi Drauschak and Saddam Salim, two Democrats who are primarying incumbent state Senators in the upcoming election. Heidi is running in the newly drawn State Senate District 35, challenging Senator Dave Marsden, while Saddam is running in the 37th District, challenging Senator Chap Petersen. In this interview, Heidi and Saddam discuss where they stand on the issues, where their opponents have made mistakes, and why they're the best fit to help shape Virginia's upcoming General Assembly.

Episode Transcript

Michael Pope  

I'm Michael Pope.

Thomas Bowman  

I'm Tom Bowman.

Michael Pope  

And this is Pod Virginia, a challenging podcast.

Thomas Bowman  

Yes, we are Michael, and specifically, it's a challenging podcast that is talking to challengers. Today we're joined by two Democrats who are challenging incumbent state senators.

Michael Pope  

The Democrat challenging Senator Dave Marsden is Heidi Drauschak. Thanks for joining us.

Heidi Drauschak  

Thank you very much for having me.

Thomas Bowman  

And the Democrat challenging Senator Chap Peterson is Saddam Salim. Thanks for joining us,

Saddam Salim  

Of course. Thank you. 

Michael Pope  

So Heidi Drauschak, let's start with you. Challenging an incumbent Senator is not easy, especially someone who is so entrenched as Dave Marsden; he's been there since 2010. He ranks number 17 in seniority. Tell us about that moment when you decided that you were going to throw your hat in the ring and take on this incumbent Senator, Dave Marsden?

Heidi Drauschak  

Sure. So there's kind of two parts to this answer. The first I will speak to is kind of when I decided to hop into the race. So I have been working in state politics for about the last seven years. And I started a nonprofit and was advocating on behalf of education, environment, health care issues, the issues that matter to everyday families here in Virginia. And time and time again, I saw how corporate influence essentially ran the table on a lot of these issues. Instead of asking what kind of health care we wanted to have in the Commonwealth, we had to ask what are the pharmaceutical companies going to let us do. Instead of asking what kind of progress we wanted to see in the environment, we had to ask what is our publicly regulated utility going to let us do this year. And those conversations got increasingly more and more frustrating as I worked in the advocacy space, especially over the last two years of advocating specifically on campaign finance reform, because I saw the importance of getting this money out of politics so that we can represent the voters and the residents of our districts. And after many years of seeing the same bills, the same common sense reforms being shot down over and over again, I had to kind of look myself in the mirror and say, okay, maybe it's time to change my tactics. And instead of trying to beg the legislature and my various legislators to make these changes, maybe it's time for me to actually step up and become a legislator and try and do some of this from within. So that is kind of some, you know, gives you a little bit of an idea of why I'm running to that end. Quite frankly, we do not view this. I don't view this as a direct race against Dave. Nonetheless, I'm happy to speak to that. I do think there are many differences between the two of us, and I would make a better representative for this district. But SD 35 is very unique, especially because of redistricting in the sense that 75, almost 75% of the voters in this district, will not have an incumbent on the ballot. So when everyone goes to vote on June 20th, three out of four voters in this district will be seeing my name for the first time, but they will also be seeing Dave's name for the first time. And so in that regard, and of course, I am running up against a standing legislator. But in many ways, we really view this as this new district picking a new voice to represent it. And in that regard, I'm again happy to dive into the specifics. I'm sure we will. But broadly speaking, this district is more progressive; it's more diverse. It has changed dramatically over the last decade or so. And in that, we believe, or I believe, that this district is looking for or deserves a representative who is going to reflect that and push for more progress and bold action on a lot of these issues that affect everyday Virginians and everyday people in SD 35. And so I again would be very grateful to be that representative, and that's kind of how we're viewing the race.

Thomas Bowman  

Thanks, Heidi. Saddam Salim Chap Peterson has been there since 2008. And he's number 13 in seniority right now. So Saddam, can you tell us why you're running and, specifically, why do you think voters should fire Chap? Peterson?

Saddam Salim  

Oh, definitely. Again, thank you. And I really decided on roughly at the end of the summer when my niece was born, given that Roe v Wade was overturned, and I sort of saw her, my mom, my sister, and my sister-in-law in the same room to see different generations of my family in the same room. And to just take a moment and realize that their rights compared to what my sister may have had, to what my mom may have had, my sister-in-law may have had, my niece is not going to get the same rates. As a result of that, I asked myself, can I count on my state Senator to vote the right way? And in my mind, the answers came up to me, no, I just simply cannot do that. But that specific moment sort of took me back to how I got here, as somebody who got displaced by climate change as a little boy and then came here and became homeless. And then, we found a home along with health care and public education systems. Went to a community college and allowed, and that allowed me to go into George Mason and get a Master's degree and come out with zero student loan debt; that in itself is not only the American dream but also a dream that other people are going through as well. And I sort of took that and said, can I count on my local elected officials? And the answer came out on most of them, I cannot. And given that the district is fairly brand new with redistricting that took place, about 57% of it is new to not only me but also Chap. I thought not only was that an opportunity, but this is a district where I've worked for other candidates in the last four or five years in helping get School Board members, Senators, and Delegates. And when I'm at the door, and when I'm talking to voters, those are the same voters that I went and knocked on in the last four or five years. So that's really some of the background of why and how I decided that I was going to run. And it's really when it comes to a state Senator for looking to repeal the right to work, and we count on a senator we cannot. When it comes to women's reproductive rights and reproductive care, can we count on a senator to vote the right way? We simply cannot. When it comes to protecting children when it comes to funding public education. And when we're specifically talking about banning assault weapons or making streets safer, that's something we cannot count on. And Chap has always been a conservative Democrat that may have worked 20 years ago. But given that the district has become more progressive, which now includes two cities, a town and most of Fairfax, and the Falls Church area, that area has been very, very progressive. And for him to represent or at least try to represent this area is just essentially saying we're gonna have a conservative Democrat represent an area that is 70% progressive. And that's something I don't think the voters want. And this is the first time they're gonna get a choice. Not just Chap himself but also the voters in the district where Chap has really never been challenged in his whole career. And this is the one where I do believe, he's going to get a progressive, a real Democrat that's running in this race, rather than just a Democrat in disguise.

Michael Pope  

So we hear a lot of descriptive words progressive, conservative, moderate, and liberal. And obviously, a lot of that is in the eye of the beholder. Heidi Draushak, how would you describe your political philosophy? 

Heidi Drauschak  

So I can sum it up in one sentence, which is I believe that representatives should be exactly the representatives of the people that they were chosen to represent. And by that, it sounds like a very simple concept, but I think it's one that is oftentimes lost in our political system. In my district, again, I have a heavily Democratic district, I have a large working-class population, we are a very diverse population, we're a population of a very large immigrant population. And I think when I go out, and I talk to voters, I hear about a lot of issues that ring true to me and to my family. That's everything from healthcare to workers' rights to cleaning and dealing with environmental issues; people are worried about their reproductive rights; they're worried about guns. And, unfortunately, I don't even necessarily think there's that much discrepancy amongst the voters of Virginia and the residents of Virginia on a lot of these issues in the progress that we need to see. I think what I've seen standing in the way, time and time again, has been these corporate and special interests that, like I said earlier, kind of run the table when we actually get down to Richmond. My political philosophy and what I mean when I say I'm a progressive, I think it's about quite literally seeing progress on a lot of these issues and looking out for the people of the district. And that's not just, yes, corporations need to be part of the conversation. Yes, wealthy folks need to be part of the conversation. But we can't ignore the larger portion of our population, which may be living paycheck to paycheck or living on minimum wage, or figuring out how to pay the bills or how to afford their prescription costs.

Thomas Bowman  

Thanks, Heidi. Saddam, you've mentioned that you are a progressive. But can you tell us a little bit more about your political philosophy and why it aligns with the needs of your constituents?

Saddam Salim  

Yeah, of course. And to me, that really, what that really means is that I do value that government should work for the people. It should be about policies that help their constituents; at the end of the day, if the government, or elected officials, if they represent not only the people but put in policies where the lives of their constituents are better than it was yesterday or their lives are gonna be better in the future. And that goes from providing safe schools, making sure teachers are well paid, making sure that when we fund programs, we're also talking about housing, we're talking about transportation, it's about making sure localities get the right resources, rather than you know, just greasing the wheel in Richmond to make sure that it works the way it used to work the old Virginia way. That's really, you know, my philosophy when it comes to being progressive; it's more about the people themselves, making sure they're taken care of. And, of course, I see a lot of our political folks out there and a lot of our electives and candidates who may say, hey, you know, I'm very progressive, or we're going to be doing all these things. But at the end of the day, can we legitimately do those things? And that's where, you know, my background when it comes to finance and budgeting comes in. And I feel like if I can be an asset that's going to help out thousands of other people, that's going to help out my constituents. That is what progressive values should be about. That is what it's truly about.

Michael Pope  

All right, well, let's get into some of the issues that voters will be weighing, starting with labor issues. Heidi Drauschak, you are running against an incumbent Dave Marsden, who has taken some votes on labor issues that have not always been welcomed by a lot of people in the Democratic Party, things like opposing increases to the minimum wage, getting rid of the right to work law, implementing paid family and medical leave. What's your impression of Marsden's record on labor issues?

Heidi Drauschak  

Yeah, well, so you pointed out many of the top lines here. I do think that Senator Marsden has had a very conservative take on labor issues. Throughout his career, as you said, he stood in the way of a minimum wage increase and tried to keep it at $12 an hour because he said we needed to give corporations the ability to basically ease into that change, which I would push back and say asking anyone in the Commonwealth to live off of $24,000 A year is an insult. And not something that we should be asking anybody to do, let alone take care of a family. As you mentioned, he's also stood in the way of paid family medical leave. This is something that is extremely personal to me, I actually had my son just shy of five weeks ago while on the campaign trail, and I can say it was personal to me before. But I can now say with a great deal of confidence that we should never be asking parents to go back to work right away when they welcome a newborn or have to, on the other end of the spectrum, have to deal with a sick loved one. So that is an issue again, where Senator Marsden has been on the conservative side, he's gone on the record saying at one point, we should give people one day of paid family medical leave. He's now saying we should give people five days. And again, as somebody who's now five weeks in, I think that we should be giving people up to three months to actually take care of their family and be part of this amazing, amazing part of their life or sometimes a tragic part of their life. As I said, I like taking care of a sick loved one.

Michael Pope  

And congratulations on that. But I guess there's no paid family medical leave on the campaign trail, is there.

Heidi Drauschak  

No, there is not. There is not. So I've been juggling both. But I tell everybody, it's wonderful because having him in front of me lends a certain level of gravity to everything that I'm doing because he will be raised in this community. And so everything that I'm doing, I'm doing for him, but it also lends a certain amount of reality to the campaign because of at the end of the day, you know, I have him to take care of, so definitely been juggling the both, but we knew that going into it when I announced. But yeah, but to kind of the final one, I will say again Senator Marsden has been very open about the fact that that he supports right-to-work laws, which, of course, are a misnomer. They are, you know, actually anti-union, anti-worker rights laws. And so I think, to summarize it all, I think we, as Virginia, have prided ourselves for a very long time and being one of the best states to do business in, I think that's fantastic. I think we should continue to seek that. But we are, I think, 23rd in the country as far as states to work in. And I think that's where we have a lot of work to do. And that's where Senator Marsden has made it very clear that he's prioritizing the corporations over the people that work in them. And I think, as a legislator, it would be my honor to represent the workers in those corporations as well. And make sure that we are not only one of the best states in the country to do business in but one of the best states in the country to work in, and I don't think people say, oh, you have to pick one or the other. But in my work with my husband and our small business, we have seen over and over again that that's not the case; you can build a strong, sustainable, profitable business and take care of your employees. And I think it's time that we did that here in Virginia.

Thomas Bowman  

As a former labor lobbyist, I appreciate all your kind words. Heidi. Absolutely important, as far as labor issues go, Saddam has a similar story to Chap Peterson. And he has frustrated labor from time to time. And they're advocates, specifically around issues like minimum wage increases, which he's only had tepid support on the floor in favor of, or preventing wage theft in the misclassification of workers. And the list goes on and on. Draw the distinction between you and your opponent.

Saddam Salim  

You're right on point with some of those things that you just mentioned. And, of course, I would like to be elected and represent the folks on along with, you know, fighting to repeal the right to work. That is, you know, one of my top priorities as well. And, when I, when I tell that to folks on the campaign trail, I tell them, when we look at the last couple of years when we saw the pandemic, when we saw nurses, we saw frontline workers, part-time workers when we look at all the folks that really carried society, they deserve their, paid sick leave, they deserve the time they need to take off, and more to go to doctor's appointment and other places. And my opponent in this race, Chap Peterson, has been the one that, you know, voted against giving part-time workers sick leave. And for a senator to stand up and say, you know, repealing right to work, it's illegal, it's unconstitutional. And he'll give examples about, you know, his so-called Small Business Law Firm, and how that's going to impact wages, how that's going to impact the benefits that he needs to give out to his employees. Those are some of the things that I think the for the difference between him and me when it comes to not only repealing the way to work but making sure people have the ability to collectively bargain through unions. And we're not taking away from the corporations. We're not taking away from small businesses. That's the legislature's job is to ensure where they may have differences or where things may be unconstitutional. That's where they have to go work those out. And Chap has been there for about 16 years in the Senate, and for him to go on the campaign trail and say, oh, it's unconstitutional. It's going to take business away from here business; big corporations are going to leave. That should not be what we shouldn't be going out there and saying; instead, we should be saying, let's work out a deal. Let's make sure that we ensure it works for everyone, especially the workers. And, of course, he's voted against some of the things and some of the corporations that want to come to this area, specifically out in Prince William County in the Manassas area, because it's going to create a lot of labor union jobs is going to create thousands of jobs. But his reasonings were that a facility might be near battlegrounds, and there are other reasons, but corporations want to work with the state to make sure that not only do they pay their employees, but they also work things out with the unions. So that's really the real difference between him and me, that he looks at it from the point of view of what's best for corporations versus what's best for the people that truly carried society last couple of years.

Michael Pope  

On the issue of corporate money. Heidi Drauschak, you've raised this a couple times that the corporate contributions to date, Marsden has raised half a million dollars. He's taken $65,000 from Dominion Energy. Your campaign has taken $100,000 from Clean Virginia and 50,000 from Sonia Smith; what should voters be thinking about in the back of their minds when they're looking at the campaign contribution numbers?

Heidi Drauschak  

So there are two different things I would recommend that voters consider. The first is the motives behind those that are giving. When you take from a corporation, you inevitably are beholden to their interests. I've heard legislators over and over again and including Senator Marsden, say that that's not the case. But I would push back and say if it didn't work, why would they keep giving to politicians. So I think when, again, when you take from corporations, they have a very clear motive. Clean Virginia, for example, is a not is an organization that does not have a profit motive. They have made their interests in the state very clear; they support Democratic candidates up and down the ballot and are one of the largest, if not the largest, donors for Democratic candidates, and want to be in line with a lot of the progress I want to see. But the second thing that I would point out to voters that I think they need to consider is also the future here; there is no corporation that I can think of in the state of Virginia that has called for things like campaign finance reform, whereas Clean Virginia was one of many organizations that co-sponsored Democracy day with me this year. So I work in my free time in a volunteer capacity with an organization called Big Money Out Virginia. And this year, we put on an in-person Lobby Day in Richmond to fight for the campaign finance reform that I'm talking about. And that's limiting corporate donors; that's limiting just the money that we have in Virginia politics at all. That's increasing disclosure that's putting in implementing measures like rank choice voting. And so when we did that in person, Lobby Day, as I said, Clean Virginia was one of the 15 organizations that supported all of those efforts. And were one of the co-sponsors of our events. And I think they believe in the same future that I believe in here in Virginia, which is a future where you don't need to raise a million dollars to run for a state Senate seat that pays $18,000 a year. And instead, implement some really cool programs like publicly funded elections so that our legislators are listening to their constituents, not spending all their time raising hundreds of thousands of dollars just so they can be considered in a race. So unfortunately, the state of affairs right now is, in my opinion, quite horrible. Not you don't have to take my opinion for the Coalition for Integrity, which is a national organization that ranks Virginia 43rd in the swamp index, which ranks states based on government transparency and corruption. So we are not in a good place here as a state. And so again, I think I'll be pushing very aggressively for changes in this regard because I think we want more everyday people running for office. And that only happens when we get the money out of politics. And every donor that I have is aligned with that view.

Thomas Bowman  

Saddam on, let's pivot to health care and, specifically, pandemic mitigation policies. Your opponent, Chap Petersen, wanted kids back in school before they were vaccinated, and it was safe and opposed things like mass mandates in common sense settings. What do you think about this? I mean, clearly, you're running. But what, uh, what would you do differently? What are some policy differences that you have? And how would you address the economic challenges that Virginians face because of the pandemic?

Saddam Salim  

You know, that's another one where that's also personal to me; as somebody who lost almost half of my family to the pandemic, it became clear to me at the beginning of the pandemic, even throughout it, that we did not have the vaccine, and my opponent in this race wanted kids to be back in school and did not think about the lunch ladies to teachers, any staff that had preexisting conditions, that was not taken into consideration. And I think most viewers or most listeners will realize that he did sue Governor Northam at the beginning of the pandemic over the fact that the governor closed down the school. I don't think there's a parent or anyone that did not want the schools to be open. I just think the way he did it, teaming up with a Republican to sue the governor to sort of take the conservative point of view and run with their agenda, was simply just wrong. And, of course, you know, when it comes to businesses that may have lost business clients that may not have the business that they should have had. Those are some of the things where the state could have come in and said, hey, we're gonna go in and out are, you know, make some of the processes easier, we're going to find some of the resources so that small mom and pop shops can get online so that they have the resources to get the social distancing for their employees. And those are some of the things that the state should have funded that the state should have done. Yet they rely on the federal government to come in and put out the PPE loans and all that. So those are some of the things I think I would have done differently as a, you know, look at what part and where are we at when it came to the vaccine? Is it reasonable to reopen the school? Versus do we just open up the scope. And again, we did not have a vaccine for kids; we did not have a fully functioning vaccine for adults either. And for him to go out and be against democratic policies is essentially a conservative Republican that just is thinking about himself. And you know, he'll go around and say, What about small businesses? What about the kids? What about the disruption that they're facing? Every Democratic parent, every parent, regardless of their political affiliation, they're worried about that. But we should have been funding technology, we shouldn't be putting laptops to students, we should be giving out technology-friendly things so that the kids are able to have access, we should have started talking about let's go in and give every child in the Commonwealth free internet going forward. So that if something like this ever happens, they're connected to their teachers, they're connected to the education system so that they're not having to learn losses; those are some of the things I would have done differently. And of course, when it came to really listening to the science and listening to folks that provided guidelines with backups of why they provided that, those are the folks I want to be able to listen to, and you know, Chap has tried to essentially blow away the science that was there and along with just really has been on the wrong side. And for him to release, you know, compare our school system to the Jim Crow era, where it was a lot better. And when we look through history, we did not have a lot of counties that did not have functioning school systems for four or five years. But for him to say, at least in that era, we had a functioning school system compared to the COVID years. And these weren't just, you know, hundreds of people that die. These are in the millions; these are grandparents, and these are children that died from Coronavirus, the pandemic. And I remember specifically I was a co-chair of Providence at that time, and we would invite elected officials. And Mr. Peterson was one of the elected officials who would not come on unless it was in person. And I'm thinking this is a global pandemic, not just a specific area or a section of the world. And for me to lose a lot of my family members during COVID. And for an elected official to say, oh, we should just reopen up the schools, and nothing else is just another day, just like any other day. That, to me, is not a representation that to me is not somebody who's going to be looking out for my best interest. Instead, he's gonna be looking out for his best interest.

Michael Pope  

All right. Well, Heidi Drauschak, we really appreciate you joining us. So you're running. So final question for you. You're running in the 35th. Senate District against Dave Marsden. This is a district that includes Annandale, Springfield, I think, all the way out into parts of the George Mason University campus. What should voters be thinking about when they're making this decision about who they want to vote for?

Heidi Drauschak  

Yeah, I appreciate the question. So the nice thing about this district is that we are one of the most progressive or, let's say, heavily Democratic districts in the state. So the good news is that I don't want to be overly confident, but in November, we will likely send a Democrat to the Senate one way or the other. I think the voters of this district need to decide what who that Democrat is and what kind of representation they want. We have made progress in the state 100%, and a lot of progress that I've been very happy to advocate on behalf of over the last couple of years in my work. But there are a lot of issues that we have left on the table. And we've talked about many of them here on this call paid family medical leave, raising the minimum wage, doing more on the environment, dealing with gun issues, making sure that we maintain and actually enshrine the rights, reproductive rights in the state constitution. And I'd love to sit here and blame that all on Republicans, but quite frankly, we left a lot of those issues on the table when we had a democratic trifecta. And so I think we have a very unique moment in history here. In large part because of redistricting, where a lot of seats in the state are going to be up for grabs, I'm very happy to be part of a slate of candidates that is more female, more progressive, is more diverse than what we've ever seen before, the current General Assembly is only 26%. Female. And I think we have an opportunity here to walk into next year's General Assembly with a very different slate of legislators that are ready to not only continue all the great work that we've done but go further and really set a shining example and a gold standard here in the state. And so I would be honored to be one of those legislators. And I think it is up to the citizens of this district to pick who they want and what kind of a future they want to look for. But, you know, this is personal to me; as I said, I'll be raising my son in this community. And I think if we really want to create a community that my family and all of the families of this district can be proud to live in. There's nobody who's going to do that better than a bunch of angry moms. And so, yes, again, I would be grateful to earn the vote of the residents in this district. And I'm always happy to speak about all of these issues.

Michael Pope  

All right, Saddam Salim, same question for you. You're running in senate district 37 against Chap Peterson, a district that includes Merrifield, Falls Church, and Oakton. Even Tyson Corner, I won't ask you your opinion on Tyson's vs Tyson's Corner. But tell us about what voters should have in the back of their minds when they're making their decision about who they want to vote for.

Saddam Salim  

Yep. Again, it's about representation; it's about making sure that the right person is elected to represent them for the next four years. With the district changing by 57%, it has become not only more progressive, but more people are paying attention to local races to state elections than ever before. Because that's where you get to see real impact. That's where you get progress on preventing gun violence, making sure we protect reproductive rights, making sure when it comes to housing, given how big the district is, depending on which part some parts, want affordable housing, other parts don't. And that is where you need a state Senator who's going to be able to work with every constituent, not just one group versus the other. That's what they should be really looking at when it comes to this race. And, of course, as you said, it goes from Tyson's to Vienna all the way down to Falls Church and then does include two cities. And every constituent that I've talked to, every voter I talked to, has different opinions on different issues. And again, the top three have always been about making sure that they, there are preventing gun violence and making sure that there is a representation that really reflects who the voters are and who the constituents are. And with the way redistricting took place, it has become sort of a good number of minority groups make up the district compared to a specific group. And that's where I think this is the first time not only is Chap getting challenged, but the voters get a choice in this election. And that's where the real accountability takes place is that when they truly get a choice between a sort of a conservative Democrat versus a newcomer, a real Democrat in this case, that they should be not only paying attention to you, but they have the opportunity to distinguish between myself and Senator Peterson.

Michael Pope  

Okay. I said I wouldn't ask, but I've got to know. What's your position on Tyson's vs Tyson's Corner?

Saddam Salim  

You know, I get that a lot. I work in Falls Church, but one of the headquarters that I have to go into is Tyson's. I used to call Tyson's Corner, but now I just call it Tyson's. I do see a point where Tyson's is going to get a lot bigger, and a lot more corporations are going to come in that we may have to look and see if they're going to be special jurisdiction in the future. That's where I really stand, but I call it Tyson's now.

Thomas Bowman  

All right, Saddam Salim and Heidi Daruschak, thanks so much for joining us today on Pod Virginia.

Heidi Drauschak  

Thank you, guys, for having us. Really appreciate it, and great conversation.

Saddam Salim  

Yeah, thank you so much.

Thomas Bowman  

And thanks for listening. Find us on social media for more updates in discussions about Virginia politics.