With Michael off, WTVR's Cameron Thompson joins Lauren to break down the week's headlines...

IN THE NEWS:

1. Good vs McGuire: The 5th District Republican primary is still too close to call and likely headed for a recount--though McGuire likely leads by about 300 votes. Still, Congressman Good is already casting doubts about election integrity.

2. Trump Time: Former President Trump featured heavily in the Good vs McGuire race, and he'll also be showing up at a rally in Chesapeake following this week's presidential debate. Virginia might be in play on the Presidential level this year, and it seems Governor Youngkin is embracing Trump's presence a little bit more.

3. Senate Session: The Virginia House of Delegates will return to Richmond this week, where it will likely repeal changes to VMSDEP--a tuition waiver program for spouses and children of military veterans who were killed or severely disabled. This follow's last week's Senate meeting that was ostensibly supposed to do the same thing...but that never happened. It seems like there's been some miscommunication in the legislature that needs to be sorted out.

4. In the 7th Congressional District, the candidates who have raised the most amount of money are veterans--Democrats and Republicans alike. Same thing in the neighboring 10th Congressional District in Loudoun County, where a bumper crop of candidates is vying for attention. We're actually in an era of comparatively few veterans in office, so what does this surge mean for the next generation of lawmakers?

At the Watercooler:

• The Virginia Democratic Convention--a good time, some expensive food, and a pro-Palestinian protest that bodes ill for President Biden's election campaign.

• Cameron talks the NHL -- the Staney Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and Canada's Edmonton Oilers; Game 7 is Monday night!

Episode Transcript

Lauren Burke 

I'm Lauren Burke.

Cameron Thompson  

I'm Cameron Thompson.

Lauren Burke  

And this is Pod Virginia. A podcast that's getting ready for the House of Delegates to gavel into session this week. 

Cameron Thompson   

It's going to be part of a very busy political day here in the Commonwealth as we gear up for the general election. But before we get into that, addressing the elephant in the room, Lauren, obviously, I'm filling in for Michael Pope this week.

Lauren Burke 

Yeah, he's got a special anniversary, 20 years of matrimony; he must have gotten married when he was 17, wow.

Cameron Thompson   

When I saw him post the photos, I was gonna say he doesn't look like he's aged a day, with the exception of a little bit of gray. I don't really know where he's off celebrating, but I know from his social media posts. He ran into the Idaho potato truck somewhere. So it looks like he had a fun time doing that. 

Lauren Burke   

Absolutely. I love it. It's nice to have a break from this hot weather. Before we get to Friday, we need to wrap up the primaries. That's where we start with our first story: Good vs. McGuire. While the rest of the congressional primary races have been called, the Republican primary for the fifth district remains too close to call, and it seems we are headed for a recount. That's what House Freedom Caucus Chair and incumbent Congressman Bob Good says; he intends to pursue a full investigation in his race against challenger, Virginia State Senator John McGuire. 

Bob Good    

We've got a lot of boots on the ground; a lot of people, including the grassroots, are behind us. That's why we're in this fight. This fight, as you know, is much bigger than my opponents and me. It's much bigger than Virginia's Fifth District. This is not only the template, as you said, for the election on November five, but it also is representative; it's the swamp vs. the Freedom Caucus. Are we going to allow this seat to be bought by the McCarthy revenge tour? We're going to make sure that every day, to the best of our ability, every legal and legitimate vote is counted and only every legal and legitimate vote. We're going to pursue every suspicion of malfeasance. We're investigating that, and we're going to have some extra time to investigate it during the recount process.

Cameron Thompson   

As of this recording, Sunday afternoon, the Virginia Department of Election website shows a 333-vote lead for McGuire, with 62,000+ votes cast. That's up 11 votes from when I checked it on Friday, which was the deadline for mail-in ballots postmarked on election day to arrive. It's within that 1% margin that allows for a recount. Above that, if it's between half percent and 1%, it'll be good to know who'll have to be the one footing the bill. While McGuire declared victory on election night, Good has not conceded. He spoke about his plans to challenge the vote on Steve Bannon's podcast 'The War Room,' and he posted clips to Twitter where Bannon framed this as a dry run for November. Since that appearance, Good has put out a few more tweets indicating how he's viewing this, including one on Thursday where he said there were three fires; he put quotes around the word fire in three precincts; the fires led to a 20-minute evacuation, and he asks if anyone knows if there's ever been a fire at one location during an election. That was reported by Lynchburg TV station ABC 13, and other outlets who looked into that tweet reported that the registrars in those three localities all said there were no fires, but fire alarms were triggered. Huff Post reports Good's campaign acknowledged there were no fires, and when asked if the tweet was to suggest McGuire's campaign had something to do with what happened, they replied quote, no one is suggesting anything, end quote. The same report cites McGuire campaign staffers saying quote, rather than accept his fate and the will of the people, Bob Good has chosen to undermine the integrity of Virginia voters; his antics are beneath the dignity of a soon-to-be former elected official, end quote. On the flip side, ABC News reported that comments from McGuire about making the election results quote too big to rig; when asked about those comments, McGuire said that it would be healthy to question election results in general. Since then, Good tweeted on Saturday night that there needs to be a do-over in Lynchburg and linked a press release from a Lynchburg City Council candidate who is down by 21 votes in his race that raises questions about the ballot counting process. He also retweeted another account about the issue that ends with Stop the Steal. 

Lauren Burke    

Stop the steal, of course, is a phrase we heard on January 6. Good was among the members of Congress who didn't vote to certify President Joe Biden's 2020 win. Of note is that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in that election. McGuire, for his part, attended the January 6 rally but says he didn't enter the Capitol.

Cameron Thompson     

The state board of elections will certify the results on July 2, and then Good can officially request a recount; this story is far from over. Lauren, it hasn't even been a week since Election Night. What have you been saying about how this is playing out?

Lauren Burke  

Well, the irony could not be deeper. We're talking about two Republicans, two MAGA Republicans who contested President Biden's election. Now, one of them is having a meltdown, contesting an election in which it looks like State Senator McGuire is the victor. I'd be surprised if that changed. You talk about something coming up to bite you that you claimed on someone else. It seems Bob Goods' policy is that I'm going to contest elections when I don't like the outcome of the election. That seems to be the obvious pattern. If he had won and State Senator McGuire questioned the outcome, no matter how close, he probably would have said, Wow, that's crazy; actually, no, I won by 300 votes. But this is one of the most ironic moments we've seen in a long time. It is a victory; I think State Senator McGuire will end up being declared the victor. He's someone who is pulling off something that I think the Democrats should be a little bit concerned about because what it does reflect is some of the power and influence of the Trump vote in Virginia. We do know the participants and voters in primaries tend to be the most involved politically. But frankly, Trump has endorsed a bunch of other people in Virginia, all of whom have lost, including the Gillespie race vs. Ralph Northam, where Gillespie was endorsed by Trump, and he lost. I'm not sure what the big Trump power was until this moment. I think it reflects some of Trump's energy.

Cameron Thompson     

I know that's been the question: How much does that Trump endorsement carry here? Why do you think it helped carry the day for McGuire in this case? 

Lauren Burke  

That's a good question. It would seem to me that these voters come from the same sort of group. I think that the constant money coming in and the constant drumbeat against Good worked. Obviously, it's a razor-thin margin. It's almost like the type of thing you could declare a de facto tie because 300 votes is such a small margin. But still, it would mean that the state senator has won and proven that Trump's energy did work in his favor.

Cameron Thompson

Of course, as you know, what led Trump to endorse McGuire was the fact Good endorsed DeSantis earlier in the Republican primary. At this point, Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party. But it sends a message to anyone in the Republican camps you have to make sure that you're not endorsing anyone else, not that something like that could come up at this point. But just ensuring you're locking down that Trump endorsement.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, absolutely. We're gonna talk about a little bit more of that in our second story, which is Trump time. Former President Donald Trump featured heavily in the Good McGuire race, endorsing McGuire over Congressman Good after Good backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the GOP presidential race. Now that Trump is the nominee, he's been focused on November against President Joe Biden. This Thursday will be the first televised debate between the two, and the next day, he will hold a rally in Chesapeake at the historic Greenbrier farms. On June 28, Biden will hold a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Cameron Thompson

Now, Trump lost Virginia to Biden by 10 points in 2020. No Republican has carried the state since President George W. Bush in 2004. However, the Trump campaign said they see Virginia as in play. A Roanoke College poll says President Biden and former President Trump are tied at 42% of the vote in a head-to-head matchup. Lauren, is this just typical political play we're seeing from the Trump campaign? Trying to scare the Biden campaign into spending extra resources in Virginia rather than in a more expected battleground state? Or is this going to be the start of an earnest push? Obviously, he's taking this up as his location for the first rally after that televised debate is Chesapeake.

Lauren Burke    

I think it's going to be the start of earnest push. Donald Trump has an advisor who is connected to Virginia, who is Chris LaCivita, who's a senior adviser on his campaign. That's likely why all of this Virginia is in play. Things got started. But what backed up those comments were a few polls that came out. I'd actually like to see more polling. Two polls came out that indicated the race in Virginia may be close. I have a not difficult time believing that since last statewide and Virginia in 2021, reflect that; yes, a Republican can get elected statewide. Of course, the style of politics that Governor Youngkin displayed during his campaign, not so much during his governorship but during his campaign, was to get voters to believe that he was a more moderate Republican than he would come to govern. He didn't reflect the MAGA Republican style of campaigning that we've seen, say from Ron DeSantis, and he beat Terry McAuliffe. I do think there are some indications that Virginia may be in play. But again, I would like to see more polling on that. 

Cameron Thompson

Hypothetically, I've seen some punditry on this; if President Trump is able to carry Virginia, that's likely a part of a much broader sweep. Virginia is not becoming a swing state. If he's unable to carry Virginia, it's really going to be one of those tight races. It's coming down to the Michigan or the Ohio.

Lauren Burke   

Yeah, I think Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin are what it comes down to in the end. Certainly, if Biden were to lose Virginia, that would make the math extremely difficult. Still, I do think that Wisconsin and Michigan are actually the two states that are truly in play.

Cameron Thompson

As you mentioned, regarding the rally this upcoming Friday, Trump's not going to be the only big name there. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will be there as well. The two were actually at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference this weekend, and Youngkin tweeted a portion of his speech where he was touting Trump.

Glenn Youngkin   

We must put builders back in charge, and that is our mission between now and November 5. We must expand our majority in the US House of Representatives, take control of the US Senate, and put Donald J. Trump back in the White House. 

Lauren Burke   

The two met for the first time in person earlier this month at Trump's golf course in Northern Virginia. Sources say Youngkin can talk to him about how to win Virginia. When asked by Fox News about the 10-point difference in 2020, Youngkin pointed to his two-point victory in 2021.

Cameron Thompson  

One thing they didn't talk about was Youngkin as Trump's vice presidential pick. The meeting created speculation about that possibility, and Trump said YounGkin was on his shortlist. But he later said that his likely pick was in the room with him during his return to Capitol Hill last week. Another source says he's not really under consideration. This was a quote, freakout more for the likely candidates for former President Trump. Lauren, do you see Youngkin as a possible pick? Do you think he's actually on that shortlist?

Lauren Burke   

Yeah, I strangely do. I can't imagine they didn't talk about that. I also can't imagine this entire thing; the meeting at the golf course and now the rally in Chesapeake isn't some sort of audition. Are you going to tell me that if Donald Trump offers Governor Youngkin the vice presidency, he's going to turn that down? There's got to be some reason for that, particularly since Youngkin really did a very vigorous job of keeping Donald Trump out of Virginia in 2021, which I think was a major reason why he ended up defeating Terry McAuliffe. Because he was trying to run and appear moderate. And so, to do that, you can't have Donald Trump standing next to you on its own stage. So, I think it would be very surprising that the whole vice presidential conversation hasn't come up. The thing, of course, is that Donald Trump is such a narcissist that I can't imagine that he would ever pick Glenn Youngkin because Glenn Youngkin will steal the attention, he's taller, he's got a bunch of money, he's better looking. That, to me, suggests he is not the pick. It's gonna be somebody else. When you're a narcissist, and you want all the attention, you want everything to be about you. You're not going to pick a guy that is younger than you, somebody considered a rising star in the Republican party. I think it's unlikely to happen.

Cameron Thompson 

You don't think he'd overlook it, are you saying? What are the potential benefits of Youngkin being selected for VP?

Lauren Burke  

The benefits are that he's a rich guy, and Trump needs Virginia. Trump is trying to win Virginia, a state his team is considering to be a swing state. Whether it is or not, factually, I think it is yet to be figured out. But they're considering it to be a swing state. They have this governor in Virginia, and they think maybe we can actually win Virginia. That I think would be the benefit. However, Trump's ego is so huge that I would be very surprised if he picked Youngkin. I think Trump's going to go for the Mike Pence type, a quieter person. It'll probably be a map-related pick, maybe somebody from Ohio or Michigan. I doubt it would be Youngkin, but we will see.

Cameron Thompson

I found on Sabato Crystal Ball website. When you talk about what a VP pick brings to the table for the President, he listed Trump's 15 potential candidates for VP, the elected officials in the Senate, House, and governor's mansions; Youngkin is the only one who represents a state or district that Trump didn't win in 2020. Asking you, and you haven't selected who you think Trump will select, but do you think one of those options is from the Midwest? 

Lauren Burke 

I really have no idea who he's going to pick. I don't know if they have any idea. I just hope it's not Tom Cotton. It's not as though other folks aren't as dangerous. But I think Senator Tom Cotton is particularly dangerous. I don't know; I really have no idea. I don't know if anybody else has any idea what Donald Trump is going to do on this. The only marker is ego for him, who is less likely to steal his thunder standing on stage, and a guy that is 6'9" who's like 20 years younger. I don't see that happening. But we will find out very soon because the conventions are upon us.

Cameron Thompson

I think he has been quoted as saying that he'll probably be announcing his pick at the Republican National Convention next month in Milwaukee. So, I'm sure we'll have a few more weeks of speculation.

Lauren Burke  

That's absolutely right. Okay, let's move on to our next story; Senate session. Trump's visit will be taking place on the same day the Virginia House of Delegates returns to Richmond, where they're expected to fully repeal changes to a tuition waiver program for spouses and children of military veterans who are killed or severely disabled. The program is called the Virginia Military Survivors and Dependents Education Program or VMSDEP.

Cameron Thompson 

Earlier last week, I was covering the Senate, and they met to do something similar to the House repeal. Another busy day, it was the same day as the Tuesday primaries. Lauren, before we dive into the details, as someone who's been around Virginia politics for some time, what were your initial thoughts on what didn't happen that day?

Lauren Burke 

You know what? I was paying absolutely no attention to that Senate session. I was driving around to various polling locations and precincts, mostly in the 7th congressional district and the 10th congressional district. Shout out to Brianna SewellcH33ckN@ME, who I ran into on that day. I had no idea until I started looking at my social media and noticed there was some blow-up going on in the Senate. My initial reaction to it, when I finally settled in the next day and read Greg Snyder's piece in The Washington Post, was there was a great deal of confusion. I think what happened was a good example of what happens when lawmakers don't communicate with each other about what they're doing. It appeared to be a colossal waste of time in the Virginia Senate.

Cameron Thompson 

Rewinding a little bit for those who aren't sort of aware of the background of the VMSDEP, it was expanded back in 2019. State colleges and universities have said that that's led to an explosion in enrollment and in the costs associated with the program. Reports indicate the Youngkin administration actually asked state Senator Bryce Reeves to carry a bill changing eligibility requirements, but Reeves changed the bill to a study; the Senate passed it, and the House continued it the next year. Language for the restrictions was in the first budget passed by the GA; it was removed by Youngkin in his amendments; that budget was obviously scrapped, and the language then survived in the compromise budget that was signed by Youngkin last month.

Lauren Burke    

After the backlash, Youngkin called for the special session, created the task force, and advocated for full repeal. When the state Senate came to town last Tuesday, June 18, the Senate Finance Committee meeting started over an hour late as lawmakers gathered in groups at the dias or in the back room. When they finally came to order, Senate Finance Chair Senator Louise Lucas said they wouldn't vote on any bill that day and created her own task force.

Cameron Thompson

Lucas was carrying bills for a partial repeal of the changes to VMSDEP and also a bill to legalize skill games. In her comments on the dias, Lucas said the House insisted on the language in the budget and that Youngkin said he wouldn't consider skill games unless VMSDEP was fully repealed, or rather, the changes were fully repealed. She didn't want to pit constituents against each other. This was Lucas after the day ended when asked what you say to the VMSDEP families who showed up in mass advocating for a full repeal and feeling like they haven't gotten a fair hearing throughout all this.

Louise Lucas  

We want to make sure that they do get a hearing. We want them to know we've been listening to them all the time. I want to make sure that they understand that we are going to work as hard as we can to make sure that the program is sustainable and that they are grandfathered. Nothing's gonna happen to any of their benefits. They going away. Not gonna happen.

Cameron Thompson

After that, Lucas rejected a motion from Senator Reeves to have his full repeal bill heard. There was talk of delaying the current VMSDEP changes until October, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Surroval says they needed 80% of the Senate to be able to do that, and Republicans wouldn't support that, holding out for full repeal; instead, this was removed after the session ended.

Bryce Reeves

Your question is, Should one person have this much control over the legislative process? We had options that we could've used today. But I think it would have radically changed the way we do business going forward. Too often in politics, people try to put on more heat to get the temperature even higher. And I don't think that's what many of us want; we don't want to do. I mentioned the nuclear option earlier, but we didn't take that today. We could have forced that vote by discharging the committee. In my time and 13 years, we've never done that. It builds a lot of animosity, and we are here to work for the people. We're not Congress.

Lauren Burke   

Lucas says she's working on another bill to address the issue that will be taken up when the Senate returns on July 1. But it likely won't be a full repeal; Leader Surroval says he's not in support of full repeal because it would lead to a rush of applicants who might not have been planning to do so in order for them to get in under the less restrictive rules; overwhelming the already overburdened program. 

Cameron Thompson

To add to all this, when the House returns on Friday, they only have a full repeal bill on the docket, and if it is passed, it will head to the Senate. When Senator Lucas was asked what she would do with that bill, she said she'd make up her mind on July 1. Lauren, all sides are throwing blame on this thing. They're playing politics and not policy on both how we got here and where to go. How does this end with the House going with the full repeal and Senate leadership not really wanting the full repeal but rather a partial repeal?

Lauren Burke   

I think it's really difficult in Virginia to argue against veterans in any way. However, leader Surrovells's point is very well taken into account in terms of the money involved in this program. Folks who are from outside the Commonwealth of Virginia are a part of that issue; they're going to have to fix that. They're really going to have to talk to each other, which, of course, we did not witness on June 18. I do think there is pressure politically and otherwise. It's certainly a bad look, even though some serious issues have to be worked out regarding financing this program. It's just almost impossible to go against veterans. I would suspect that we're going to be hearing about some meetings on this within the leadership of both sides pretty soon; this week is when we should expect that.

Cameron Thompson

One more thing to note, on the same day that the House is meeting to take this up, the task force created by Senator Lucas will be holding their first meeting. Putting my Michael Pope hat on, something he always talks about in this program is open government, the public, and reporters being able to hear about this process. I think it'd be fair to guess that he'd say. We know the VMSDEP families have been saying throughout all this, aside from the bill that called for the study, most of this was being done behind closed doors during the budget negotiation process. This hasn't gone through the full committee hearings that you might have for that. Any idea why it's gone this way? 

Lauren Burke   

I think it's gone this way simply because everybody involved is unable to communicate. I believe the task force leader that Chairwoman Lucas named is Senator Barbara Favola, a very capable member of the Virginia Senate. I believe she leads in the number of bills signed into law for this session in the Senate. Her hearing and meeting would be a key moment and a jumping-off point for this course correction on VMSDEP. We'll see what she comes up with at her task force hearing. But the player's meeting is probably the next news that we'll get out of this. Once again, I can't imagine something will be decided that the veterans in Virginia are not happy with.

Cameron Thompson

The thing with all of these task forces is that they're all looking to 2025 with recommendations, and that is the way it stands right now. The new fiscal year starts on July 1, when the Senate is meeting. We've got a stare-down contest between Senate leadership and what looks like is going to be the House and Governor Youngkin. It looks like there are quite a few senators supporting full repeal here. If it's a question about which side blinks first, which side will it be?

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, well, yeah, I don't think that a side is going to blink first. The thing of it is, it's this legislative moment, it's the General Assembly, and the ball is in their court. The leaders of the majority are going to have to fix this. Obviously, they have input from the Republicans, and Senator Reeves is a leader in military policy. I don't think this will go on too much longer because the headlines are punishing. It's a very easy program to understand a very easy issue to understand, and the media is likely to keep talking about it because of our big and important military constituency in Virginia. Let's take a break. When we come back, we'll play a round of trivia and head over to the water cooler.

Cameron Thompson 

All right, let's play some trivia. Last week, we asked you which Virginia Senator got into a duel with Henry Clay.

Lauren Burke   

The answer is Edmund Randolph of Williamsburg. We have some winners, including Pod Virginia trivia mainstays Matthew Montgomery and Joe Crook. But the quickest on the draw was Justin Srsic.

Cameron Thompson  

Shout out to Albert Pollard, who posted that it was Delegate Jack Reed of Henrico's quote, but the bullet was stopped by a Kevlar vest on the back of his door, end quote. 

Lauren Burke

Deep cut.

Cameron Thompson

Congratulations to Justin Srsic. We wish we could give you a prize for winning a copy of the Hidden History of Alexandria, DC, which goes into great length about the duel between Edmund Randolph and Henry Clay. 

Lauren Burke

But sadly, there is no budget for the trivia contest. So Better luck next time. 

Cameron Thompson

But Michael Pope wants you to know that you should purchase a copy of his book, The Hidden History of Alexandria, DC, which explains the 50-year history of how Arlington and Alexandria were once part of the District of Columbia. 

Lauren Burke

That sounds like a great book. 

Cameron Thompson

It certainly does. And I only have one Michael Pope book in my library, the Bryd Machine. It seems this is the next one I'm going to add.

Lauren Burke  

Okay, so what's our trivia question for next week?

Cameron Thompson

Well, this Saturday, June 29, is Virginia Constitution Day. We're going to have a trivia question about the Virginia Constitution. To be more specific, we're going to have a question about one of the Virginia constitutions, which Virginia constitution eliminated the requirement for men to own property in order to vote.

Lauren Burke 

Universal manhood sufferings. Great question. If you think you know the answer, hit us up on social media; you might even win a prize. 

Cameron Thompson

Okay, let's head over to the water cooler. Lauren, what's the latest you've heard around the watercooler?

Lauren Burke   

I'm gonna talk about the Virginia Democratic Convention, which I thought went off quite well. They haven't done it in eight years. I believe the last one was eight years ago, which, if I remember correctly, was at George Mason University, and it was quite exciting. It's very nice to see, meet, and talk to Democrats in the party who are in other jurisdictions that you don't see very much in the Richmond area. This was at the Richmond Convention Center. I was talking to a bunch of folks from the ninth district and the fifth. I enjoyed seeing a lot of people that you typically don't see around often. It was an opportunity to meet and greet and network a little. There was some unexpected news; I actually went there to hang out with my friends in the third district. I was mostly sitting in the third district section, enjoying the sights and sounds. There was a protest, interestingly enough, on President Biden's policy in the Middle East and Gaza regarding Israel. There was a pro-Palestine demonstration during the convention when resolutions and decisions were being made about the party platform. A point of order came up; there had been a rumor that something was going to come up, but I was expecting a discussion, and then somebody hit the gavel, and that would be that. Well, it turned out to be a little bit more than that. There was a full-on demonstration at the convention. I actually thought security was a little bit slow to start moving. I left a little bit early, but what ended up happening was the convention center was locked down, and you couldn't leave and then come back in, which actually was a significant thing because the convention food was really expensive. Most people would say to themselves, wait a minute, why am I spending $4 for a bottle of water when I can walk outside for a second, go across the street or get Starbucks or something like that, and then come back? I'm sure some people did that; I was one of them, but I was heading out anyway. It was all good, but there was a new pretty sizable, I'd say around 25 to 30 protestors. What it shows to me is that the President's policy on Gaza and Israel is going to be an issue in November. Certainly, in a swing state like Michigan, with a large Arab American population likely to come up, they already showed their power in terms of voting uncommitted at the primary in Michigan. I do think in Virginia, it is a little bit less of an issue. But still, we saw protests on our college campuses in Virginia not too long ago, a few weeks ago. It was kind of an interesting moment. It turned out that Speaker Scott was presiding over the convention at that time, and he handled it really well. As somebody who's a trial attorney in court and has to deal with motions and judges telling you to procedurally do things in a certain way, he's used to the tumult of parliamentary procedure; he was good. Also, it is good to mention that this is what we do in this country when it comes to protests when we don't agree with them. Their voices were heard. It was an interesting moment there. But it really is about a bigger issue in regard to policy on the President's level, and we'll see how that issue goes.

Cameron Thompson  

I was going to ask about that voting bloc and their care for what President Biden does on this issue. Do you think it's more of a situation depending on if he does what they don't like? Or hasn't he made any changes in his stance? Do they just not show up to the polls in November and cost him votes? Or are they switching over to Trump and potentially damaging the votes he could get even more? Or are they just staying home?

Lauren Burke   

I don't know. What's funny about the issue with regard to Israel and Gaza is that Trump would actually be more in favor of the policy that the pro-Palestine side does not like. At least with Biden, there is the occasional questioning of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; you're not going to get that with Donald Trump as President. We had some reporting in the Washington Post recently with regard to voters being jaded by the lesser of two evils argument and not liking either choice. That's a serious problem. It has come up before, and I think it's a big issue for younger Democrats. And it's not good for the Democratic Party because it's usually those younger Democrats who are the energy of the party, the people who are knocking on the doors. You need those younger Democrats enthusiastically involved, as we saw in 2008 with President Obama. Nobody's expecting it to be President Obama-level enthusiasm, but that group of younger voters is really important and, I think, not talked about enough. What about you, Cameron? What's the latest? You're hearing around the water cooler?

Cameron Thompson

For me, just because I'm from Canada, I guess maybe it's the ice cooler. Any chance I get to talk hockey, I'm going to take that chance. I know the NBA is over; there's no NFL. It's mid-season baseball. So, hopefully, everyone's been watching what's happening with the NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers, which is a Canadian team. The Oilers were down three nothing but have been on this sort of Cinderella comeback, coming down from 3-2, ties 3-3, and game seven will be Monday night. It's a do-or-die situation. The last Canadian team to actually win the Cup was back in 1993. So it's been a few decades. Even though the Oilers aren't my team, the fact is that there is potential for them to bring the Cup back to Canada. I'm wholeheartedly for it. Have you been following this at all? 

Lauren Burke 

No, I haven't. I'm one of these people; once my team was out of it, I kind of stopped following. The Rangers, the New York Rangers got last round ago, so I'm not really paying that much attention. The other team I tend to follow is the Washington Capitals. And so both teams are out. So, I have no idea what's going on. I learned a lot from what you just said, Cam.

Cameron Thompson 

I was gonna give a, can you name a single player on the Oilers or the Panthers?

Lauren Burke  

I cannot. I know who Wayne Gretzky is, but that's pretty much it, as far as I know.

Cameron Thompson

He was an Oiler at one time.

Lauren Burke  

That's pretty weak, that, that is the only thing I know. But you know, I do love seeing hockey live. I think a lot of people don't have respect for the speed of it when you watch live; when you watch on TV, you don't really get how fast these guys are going and how big they are. It's pretty amazing in person. 

Cameron Thompson 

One more thing on this. I remember back in; I think it was the 90s when they were trying to grow the sport in the US; I remember hearing up in Canada where Fox Sports was putting the microchip in the pucks so you could see the blue comet on the screens. Do you remember that at all? 

Lauren Burke  

That sounds really familiar. That is really cool. It's amazing the camera angles that we now have, that you didn't have 20 years ago. The one in the net, the camera that's on the top of the net, gets some unbelievable footage. But I think I do remember when the puck when they did the thing with the puck. That is very cool.

Cameron Thompson

Yeah, well, I've got a beer league game after this recording, so hopefully, I'll do as well as the Oilers.

Lauren Burke   

Oh, very nice. Cameron, go ahead and open up that Pod Virginia mailbag. What are our listeners talking about?

Cameron Thompson 

We heard from someone on X who goes by the name Belfabulous, and he posted this quote. This is a great podcast; I highly recommend it.

Lauren Burke   

Well, that's fabulous, Belfabulous.

Cameron Thompson

I totally agree. Big fan. I never miss a show. 

Lauren Burke 

Me too. 

Cameron Thompson

You probably listened to them twice if you were recording in real-time, and then you would listen to yourself after the fact.

Lauren Burke   

No, I usually don't listen to myself much at all. It's sort of funny; after I'm done, I typically don't listen to it.

Cameron Thompson

Gotcha. Well, we also heard from J. Strozier about the episode with Suzanna Gibson and sent this email quote on your show; Suzanna Gibson claims she lost the race due to high turnout in Goochland, essentially blaming Goochland while claiming there was no fallout from the scandal and that she was a victim of the scandal. I found her words insulting to her Goochland Dems; she likely did lose because of the scandal, and one wonders whether her reaction to the scandal helped or hurt her. Regardless, she had people working hard in our county to elect her in spite of what happened. She must take responsibility for her loss, even in the face of the bad actions of the Republican quote, operative, end quote. 

Lauren Burke   

Wow. We've talked to Suzanna Gibson. She was a guest on the show. She does take responsibility, I mean, as everyone does. It is interesting to note, though, regarding Suzanna Gibson, that the Washington Post has a whole big story on consensual relations with her husband. And there's no story whatsoever on what just happened in Loudon 10 with regard to allegations? Now, maybe they investigated, maybe they didn't find anything and found out that they didn't want to print. But there's a double standard there. I find it very interesting that there's no story from The Washington Post, and yet the Suzanna Gibson story was written. And so I would say that, more globally, Suzanna Gibson has been very good at being transparent about what happened there and was really abandoned by a lot of folks in the party after that story came out and forged on. Very few Democrats continued to publicly support her; I know that state Senator Louise Lucas was one of them. But there were very few, and everybody else sort of went quiet. So I'm not taking any criticisms, Suzanna Gibson. That's all I'm saying with that.

Cameron Thompson

I know she has created a PAC in light of this. She testified—I can't remember if it was by letter or virtually—during this past session. Do you see her coming back into Virginia politics and running again for that same House seat or some other route?

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, I can see that. In some way, she'd never left; she created the PAC. She actually recently wrote an op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about the era that we live in, with technology, video, so forth, and so on. And, of course, these issues are going to come up again. But to me, her level of transparency has been exactly what the media and everybody else in the public would want in the situation. And so I think it's going to be interesting to see what she does next.

Cameron Thompson 

Okay, let's celebrate some birthdays.

Lauren Burke  

This week, Tuesday, June 25, is the birthday of Delegate Ellen Campbell of Rockbridge, 

Cameron Thompson

Wednesday, June 26. That is the birthday of Delegate Bill Wiley of Winchester.

Lauren Burke   

Friday, June 28, is the birthday of former Democratic House leader David Toscano.

Cameron Thompson

Sunday, June 30, is the birthday of Delegate Sam Rasool of Roanoke. 

Lauren Burke   

That's it for this episode of Pod Virginia. Thank you, Cameron, so much for guest hosting. You're fantastic. You've got that radio and TV voice that we all love.