IN THE NEWS: Virginia is not doing a great job of attracting new people. In fact, data from state agencies and the US Postal Service show the state is losing more people than it's gaining. Most of those leaving are young adults and families who are getting priced out of the state. A new poll from Founder's Insights shows Virginia voters are, like always, most interested in the economy. This year, abortion is another key issue on many voters' priority list. Plus, Michael and Lauren discuss the media reaction to the Susanna Gibson story--its origins from Republican operatives and how Gibson's team has handled the resulting PR. At the Watercooler: Congressional Black Caucus Week and the debrief on the Richmond forum on affordable housing. T

Episode Transcript

Michael Pope 

I'm Michael Pope.

Lauren Burke  

I'm Lauren Burke.

Michael Pope  

And this is Pod Virginia, a podcast that is looking forward to early voting starting this week. Lauren, Friday of this week is the beginning of voting.

Lauren Burke  

Time flies, Michael. That's all I can say: time flies it already? Here it is, everybody's voting. We're gonna have all those early voting events, and it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Michael Pope  

Let's get to the news. Outsized immigration, Virginia is not doing a great job of attracting new people. In fact, data from state agencies and the US Postal Service show that Virginia is actually losing more people than it's gaining.

Hamilton Lumbard  

We've had some of the largest numbers of people leaving Northern Virginia on record.

Michael Pope  

That's Hamilton Lumbard at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVA. He tells me that the migration trends that are happening in Northern Virginia and, to a lesser extent, in Hampton Roads are also happening in urban areas all over the country.

Hamilton Lumbard  

With the shift to remote work and record-high housing prices. You're seeing a lot of people looking for places where they can get more for their money. Generally speaking, when you look at Virginia, it doesn't compete well when you're looking at housing costs.

Lauren Burke  

I've heard the governor talk about this on Labor Day and at one of his Parental events, Parents Matter events in Fredericksburg, about this idea of the moving trucks going out of Virginia and him talking about moving truck data. I'm not sure that data is accurate, but he sure likes to talk about it a lot. 

Michael Pope  

Yeah, actually, it's funny because the folks at UVA, obviously, take a very academic approach to what they're doing; this was UVA after. They looked at State Agency data and US Postal Service data. They do not look at moving truck data. But I guess the governor has this thing about moving truck data. And I mean, I guess if you look at it a certain way out, migration isn't necessarily a problem. However, the folks at the Weldon Cooper Center are looking at their data, the State agency data, the postal service data, and they are seeing huge numbers of people leaving Virginia, and larger numbers than they are arriving here. And it's also really important to think about the demographic of people who are leaving. Here's what Hamilton Lombard had to say about that.

Hamilton Lumbard  

When you look at who's leaving. It's not evenly distributed. It seems to be dispersed among young adults and families. 

Michael Pope  

Young adults and families are saying Sayanora, Northern Virginia, it's just too effing expensive to live here. You're gonna move to places like Raleigh, Charlotte, or Jacksonville. So, like, they're eating our lunch in North Carolina and Florida, Lauren, like people are getting out of Virginia because it's just too expensive to live in Virginia?

Lauren Burke  

Well, certainly, Northern Virginia. I know so many people who really require certainly two incomes to make it in Northern Virginia. I'd be surprised to hear anybody say that; in some of the other areas of Virginia, particularly Hampton Roads, I find that to be fairly affordable. But you know, as somebody who's half my family's from Virginia and the other half from New York, when people say things are expensive, and you've grown up in New York, you're used to hearing astronomical housing prices. And to me, in Hampton Roads in particular, particularly, it's sort of like not that expensive, but certainly, you've got to have set aside, and in Arlington, Fairfax, that area, certainly if you're renting, you've got to have at least $2,500 bucks a month. That's pricing out a lot of people, and as you saw with the Arlington County Board race, that was the whole discussion; the missing middle was the entire race. And I think a lot of residents really do like the single-family house setup. And that's not really making it particularly easy for working-class individuals to stay in expensive areas like the DMV.

Michael Pope  

That missing middle conversation that happened in Arlington is really important to think about because it's about to be replicated in Alexandria. So the city of Alexandria is about to start considering a zoning change, a pretty dramatic zoning change that they have titled something; oh, man, the title of this is kind of ridiculous. It's like Zoning for Housing, Housing for All. Doesn't really roll up and down. It's like missing the middle in the sense that they're trying to do something about having more housing. One of the things Hamilton Lamar told me when I talked to him about the outmigration trends is that the construction of housing just is not keeping pace with demand. So one of the reasons for the high cost of housing is that there's not enough of it. And so scarcity drives high prices. And so that's one of the reasons why the cost of living in Northern Virginia is so astronomical, and that you might actually be able to do something about that if you build more housing, especially in the middle of the markets and not at the extremes. We're not talking about low-income housing here. We're also not talking about rich people housing; we're talking about something in the middle. That's why Arlington called it the missing middle. However, that is pretty controversial when you start talking about zoning changes and dramatically increasing the number of people that live in your jurisdiction. And can the sewage system handle it? Can Is there enough water runoff for it? There, there are a lot of questions you have to ask about that sort of thing. And we saw what happened in Arlington that's about to be replayed in Alexandria.

Lauren Burke  

Absolutely. And they're tearing apart. Columbia Pike right now because I think they're building a bigger sewage pipe right on that avenue. There's always a bunch of orange cones out there. But it amazes me how much money it takes for just a basic middle-class family to afford basic stuff like just to afford to buy a house. I don't want to say all, but it's impossible but very difficult to do in Arlington; I think the average home price for a single-family home I think it's over $800,000. I know several people who live in Arlington, and most of them who have houses bought the House a while ago; they bought the House 15-20 years ago before everything went a little haywire. But I happen to know of a lot of federal law enforcement officers, and their starting salary for federal law enforcement on Capitol Hill is $77,000 up to 21 years old when you start and make $77,000. And some of that is a reflection of the shortage of police. But still, they're having trouble. They have to still sort of be going out to Manassas and Springfield; they're not able to afford Arlington. You just need the two salaries at a minimum, and the two salaries typically have to be into the six figures.

Michael Pope  

Well, let's move on to our next story. It's the economy, stupid. That was the catchphrase back in 1992. And it still holds true today. Parker Slaybaugh, at the newly created Founders Insight, has new polling that shows likely voters are most interested in the economy.

Parker Slaybaugh  

24% say inflation was the top issue for them when they head to the ballot box. Interestingly, I think when you combine that with a similar issue being economy and jobs, that number rose to 33%, saying that these economic type issues are going to be the most important issue when they head to the ballot box. I don't think that's a huge surprise to anybody. People usually vote with their purses.

Lauren Burke  

Yeah, absolutely. Typically, what you hear from people is anything that involves putting food on the table and the bread-and-butter issues that impact our daily lives. Obviously, the price of gasoline and the price of groceries are the things that people want to talk about. 

Michael Pope  

Do you know what is interesting about that poll that Parker Slaybaugh recently came out with? Inflation was the number one issue, but the number two issue was abortion, which is really important for a number of reasons. It's worth noting Parker slimeball recently worked for the Youngkin administration. So he left the Youngkin administration to start  Founders Insight and now has this polling data from Founders Insight. So you might be tempted to think of Founders Inside and Parker Slaybaugh as a Republican operation. However, he tells me it's a nonpartisan nonprofit, so it's not a Republican polling firm. However, it is important to note his background and also the fact that abortion is the number two issue in this poll. So, number one is inflation. That's the chief concern among voters, but Parker Slaybaugh's polling says abortion is issue number two. Here's what he said about how candidates need to handle that. 

Parker Slaybaugh  

How are they framing the topic of abortion? How are they discussing? What is their position on abortion? And then I think it's really going to come down to what the voters in those specific House districts and the specific Senate districts, who do they think is the candidate that most aligns with their view.

Michael Pope  

You would imagine that candidates who want a total abortion ban actually do play in some districts; that kind of depends on where you're running. I mean, this is a race that we're talking about, where the top of the ticket is the Senate. And so if you're in a Senate District that wants to see a total ban on abortion, that's the politics of your district, or if you're in a House District that wants to see maybe the 16-week ban. You know, the Republicans have all this polling that they feel like they can make a case to voters that the 16-week ban is something that has majority support; I guess we're gonna put that proposition to the test here with the election.

Lauren Burke  

Absolutely, it's gonna be put to the test. I actually think the 16-week ban, they had to do something on the weeks, of course, because the democratic talking point that I think hits them hard, right to the solar plexus, is this idea that you have anybody your business, in somebody's medical life or somebody's personal decisions about whether or not to have kids, which can be complicated by other medical issues that are nobody's business. So the idea that you're going to have a total ban, of course, scares most people. And, of course, sounds like the government; being in your life doesn't just sound like that. I think the Republicans just came back with these weeks as an answer to that. And I'm not certain that that's a particularly good answer for a party that has prided itself on keeping the government out of people's lives until it's women and abortion. Isn't that interesting? So, I just don't know if that works for them. You know, it's funny what you hear from candidates, what they hear at the doors. I always ask people who knock on doors a lot, what exactly are you hearing? Mental health comes up, transportation comes up, and certainly things like gas prices and groceries? But of course, abortion for most people, most people I've talked to, abortion is one or two. So this, this really makes sense. Parker's results really sound familiar to me. 

Michael Pope  

Yeah. All those issues you mentioned actually do come up in the poll; I wanted to kind of focus attention on issue number one and issue number two. So, if issue number one was inflation. And as Parker points out, you could actually group that with other economic issues. And then it's the leading issue by far. But here's abortion. Clearly, it is top of the mind for many voters, and I think a lot of Republicans are worried. And they probably wouldn't say this, necessarily, you know, on Pod Virginia or when the microphones are rolling. However, I think a lot of Republicans are worried about a tidal wave. And this election sort of demolishing the Republican majority of the House on the issue of abortion?

Lauren Burke  

Well, yeah, after what we saw on the ballot initiatives, we've seen some other states that I think it's surprising some of the results we've seen on the abortion issue that Dobbs decision is is on the ballot. And now they have to deal with it. I mean, this is what they pushed for. This is why they wanted to control the Supreme Court. And now it's going to be brought to a test, and Virginia is going to be the first big test. Everyone has this issue on their flyers on the democratic side and in their commercials. So yeah, we're about to find out; we've already gotten some hints as to what's about to happen; obviously, Lashrecse Aird defeating Joe Morrissey that was about abortion. That was so, so we're gonna get the bigger test, obviously, in 50 days.

Michael Pope  

All right. Well, it's time to move on to our next story. And I think a lot of our listeners are probably saying to themselves, wait, wait a second. What about Suzanna Gibson? They haven't talked about Susanna Gibson yet. Well, let's move on to our next story. Pearl clutching and kink shaming. So Lauren, this story started by the Washington Post has really stirred up a hornet's nest. And I have to say, my initial reaction to this story was, is this really newsworthy? If you've been living under a rock, and you haven't heard about this story, this is a candidate for the House of Delegates, a Democratic candidate, who was on a public-facing website, doing sex acts for tips, and it's now sort of hit the public spotlight. No laws were broken. There's no allegation anybody did anything illegal. This woman and her husband did things on the internet that have a prurient interest, and people are surely talking about them. I'm really actually not convinced this is newsworthy, right? So, like, what are your thoughts on this?

Lauren Burke  

I'm convinced it's newsworthy. I think that when people run for public office, we judge them on a great many things. I mean, I remember it was a few weeks ago that we saw Ron DeSantis at the Iowa State Fair, having a very awkward interaction with a kid about candy having too much sugar. When people run for public office, they know that they open themselves up for all sorts of evaluations on decision-making on things that they're doing. And I think that's fair game. Certainly, when it involves something that is not the typical thing that you would expect a candidate for public office to be doing. And I don't think it's really just an issue of, okay, it's not illegal. I mean, we had a, we had a member of Congress named Katie Hill a few years ago, who resigned after she had had an affair with two of her staffers and some pictures came out, Nancy Pelosi threw under the bus. I mean, none of that was illegal. The question is, is the type of person and that decision-making is the type of character you want in public office? We make that judgment all the time. I definitely think this is a story, and certainly, for the Democratic Party, I think it's a story because there's a time of Donald Trump right and grabbing women by the new, you know, what, and really drawing a line in the sand that, misinform, disinfo, lying, and amoral behavior is problematic in our politics.

Michael Pope  

Amoral behavior. I mean, you're really opening up a can of worms there. In fact, I think the story is going to open up a can of worms. So what happens the next time around. So keep in mind, the reason that we're talking about this story is a Republican operative approached the Washington Post with this information and credit to the post. They actually spell this out in the story. So we got this from a Republican operative, who tells us that he's not involved in the David Owen campaign. This is a Republican running against Suzanna Gibson. So the agenda here of what everybody's talking about is being set by a Republican operative. So ask yourself about that, first of all, and then second. So you set a precedent now that you're going to report this story about what this Democratic candidate has done online a year ago? What about the male member of the House of Delegates who posted pictures on social media? What about the elected official who likes to corral with prostitutes and do cocaine? There are many. So, if you've already walked down this road where you did the story about this person, what about all the other stories that you could be doing that are kind of similar in a way?

Lauren Burke  

Well, I mean, I think once again, I don't think it's a big problem to sort of evaluate people's behavior just in general. I mean. The Democratic Party, in particular, I think, has this issue as a thing, right. I mean, we certainly should be reporting about Delegate Ferris, who last week was indicted for trying to run somebody over. I mean, give me a break. That's a story that behavior, is a story of a sitting member of the House of Delegates, and then you've got, in Hampton, they're trying to Chris Bowman, who's a member of the City Council, there have been some demands for his resignation, for soliciting prostitution. The women's caucus in the Senate put out a press release on Joe Morrissey earlier this year that had to do with the issue of, you know, your behavior, your conduct is a distraction. And so, I mean, the Democrats do that all the time. They make statements about that all the time. The Republicans have it easy because the Republicans don't care about any of this. That's why they're about to nominate Donald Trump again. They don't care about the assault on police officers at the US Capitol in January. I mean, they don't care about anything; misinfo and disinfo are what they do. But in this particular case, because the Democrats do tend to market toward someone's behavior, and tried to sort of make that an issue sometimes. I'm not sure why you cannot make it an issue in the case of Ms Gibson if you want to be consistent with your messaging, consistent with what you tell voters you care about. Well, here we are. Part of the argument that you're hearing with Ms Gibson is that this was somehow revenge porn. Well, she put this online, she decided to put this online into the public space, nobody hacked into her phone, nobody broke into her house and got into her computer. So this now becomes a part of how we evaluate you running and wanting to be a member of the House of Delegates.

Michael Pope  

You raised a really interesting point that's worth thinking about revenge. Is this revenge porn. So, as you point out, she posted this online herself, right. So, like, this is a public-facing website that she put this on. So this is not sort of secret as a secret document that was revealed as part of something, so that means that's what people typically think of as revenge porn. However, I think you could make the case that even if you take a public-facing document, that could also be revenge porn; just because it was in the public sphere doesn't mean it's not revenge porn, right? I mean, there's an argument that could be made.

Lauren Burke  

I think the fact that it's nobody's fault other than her own that we know about this. Is it revenge that we know about something that is on a public-facing site with no password that anybody could look at? That's somehow everybody else's problem? I mean, to me, take some responsibility for the fact that, for whatever reason, you wanted this to be public, and you're running for public office. And we've had people who've resigned from public office over affairs, Mark Sanford and Vito Fossella. I remember that they had just resigned over an affair; it wasn't necessarily an illegal thing. Anthony Weiner, in that entire embarrassing episode, resigned over that. It wasn't just the thing, of course; it's the lying, it's decision making. I think, in this case, I really couldn't care less. And I feel like from what you're saying, you could care less as well about what people are doing. Unless I'm interested in the guy or something. I don't care what anybody else is doing inside their marriage, whatever. But you're running for office, you're in a public space, and you want to be a public official; I think it's fair that people will ask themselves the question, well, why are you doing this thing? And you were doing it recently, by the way, this is not 20 years ago; it was last year. And that's why I think, too, you see Senator Kaine and Abigail Spanberger running for cover. I mean, they're not saying anything because they realize that this is not necessarily what you look for in somebody you want to endorse for public office. But if the folks in Short Pump think it's cool, we're gonna find out in 50 days. For the folks voting in that race, it's ultimately their decision,

Michael Pope  

It might end up helping her. That's another part of the story. Obviously, she's trying to do fundraising on top of it. Is that going to work? And is there an argument that could be made to voters about all of this on the campaign trail?

Lauren Burke  

Well, yeah, I think the bigger issue here, aside from people's personal behavior, is control of the House of Delegates in Virginia. And, this race, quite frankly, is one of like five that was predicted to be one of the closest along with, of course, House District 82 and House District 97, which, of course, is Michael Fagan's and Karen Greenhalgh's. District 82 is Kimberly Adams and Kim Taylor. But the point is, this race is not just some race, Susanna Gibson and this is another reason why this is a story. How's District 57 Gibson vs. Owens? It is a close race and could decide the entire thing.

Michael Pope  

It's actually a really very important part. So, there are 100 races for the House of Delegates. But that doesn't mean there are 100 competitive races or even 100 Interesting races; there are only four toss-up races. You mentioned the one in Virginia Beach there, Feggans vs. Greenhalgh. There's the Petersburg one with Kimberly Pope Adams vs. Kim Taylor. There's a Prince William one with Joshua Thomas vs. John Stirrup. And then this one, this Henrico one, is one of the four toss-up races in Virginia. This could determine who controls the House of Delegates. And here we have a Democratic candidate who is in a crisis. Now, Lauren, you are not just an expert on crisis communication; I would call you a global expert on crisis communication. What's your advice to a Democratic candidate here,

Lauren Burke  

I oftentimes I'm an accidental expert on crisis communications; crises come up all the time. Of course, in campaigns, I actually think what they did was pretty was pretty brilliant. They're sort of arguing that she's some sort of a victim of something. And her attorney happens to have worked with one of the best defamation attorneys in the world. And so he's doing a good job at keeping the conversation on on revenge porn, and how did this become public? And, of course, how it became public as his client, but I would say that how they've handled it so far, it's been pretty good. And they've gotten some very good help from a lot of Democrats. And again, one of those examples course is Senator Louise Lucas, who was a special character. Louise Lucas can really message anything and pretty much get away with it. So she goes off Twitter, and she's like, yeah, okay, so that story ran, let's, let's hold a fundraiser. I mean, who can who can do that other than Louise Lucas? Probably nobody. And you can see, you can just see from the silence from the Democratic Party and, Tim Kaine was sort of forced into the discussion because he had an interview, and somebody hit him with the question, and Congresswoman Spanberger was chased down by, of course, the Washington Times reporter on the hill, and, sort of, you know, answered and got out of it. But you know that it's destabilizing, and shout out to Ms. Gibson, I'm sure it's not an easy thing to be dealing with. She has a young family, and I've seen that up close; in terms of clients I've had, it's not easy to deal with. Whether or not you feel you're right or wrong. It's just difficult to be dealing with that type of subject matter. And my advice is to keep doing what you're doing. It seems to be working; she seems to be surviving it, and we'll see what happens, obviously in 50 days.

Michael Pope  

Alright. Well, let's take a break when we come back. We'll play a round of trivia and read your comments.

We interrupt these commercial messages to bring you some breaking news. A Northern Virginia family that recently relocated to Jacksonville is indeed saving money. But the family misses the culture and normality of living in not Florida. Now, their summers are hotter, their neighbors are gators, and their governor is much more evil. All right, let's head around the Commonwealth.

Lauren Burke  

At what was seen as a largely political move, Governor Glenn Youngkin pardoned a man two full years after he was sentenced for disorderly conduct.

Michael Pope  

When asked if he had any good reasons for doing this now. Younkin responded I have many reasons. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue reasons, to be exact.

Lauren Burke  

Legal abortions are up 60% in Virginia as it becomes a rare safe haven in the south. 

Michael Pope  

We respect women, said lawmakers before ruining a woman's life for having sex with her husband.

Lauren Burke  

Fauquier and Prince William Counties remain in drought watch.

Michael Pope  

Finally, the thrilling sequel to watching paint dry, watching everything dry. Oh, Lauren. One of the most popular features of our show is around the Commonwealth. Thank you for playing along with that. All right, let's move on to our trivia question. So last week, we asked you a trivia question: who was the Republican Senator who helped Glenn Youngkin secure the nomination for governor? So, the answer to the trivia question is Senator Ted Cruz.

Lauren Burke  

Daniel Hurst and Jamie Lockhart got the right answer on X.

Michael Pope  

Yeah. And Lauren Kaiser got the right answer on Facebook, although she took issue with our description of the Republican nomination process as a virtual convention. So that's what I called it last week: a virtual convention. And I said that because it wasn't a primary, and it was also not in person because this was during the pandemic restrictions. So maybe I should have called it a virtual caucus. I don't know. Lauren Kaiser responded this way. "No. Part of it was virtual. And we don't use caucuses in a nomination method. I think I'm blanking on the exact term we used". This is what she wrote. "But it was a remote in-person convention with RCV ballots at one of three dozen locations around the state felt more like a firehouse primary, but with the required pre-registration of a convention."

Lauren Burke  

Okay, Michael? Well, that was as clear as mud. 

Michael Pope  

Yeah, well, whatever you want to call that thing, the nominating process where Glenn Youngkin secured the nomination. Ted Cruz helped Glen Youngkin defeat a group of candidates that included Pete Snyder, Amanda Chase, Kirk Cox, Sergio de la Peña, Peter Duran, and Octavia Johnson. 

Lauren Burke  

Wow, that was a crowded field. 

Michael Pope  

Yes. And that's exactly why the Ted Cruz endorsement was so important because it helped Youngkin secure that nomination and made the case to Republicans in advance of that remote, in-person, virtual, not virtual, firehouse primary that wasn't a primary and didn't happen in the firehouse.

Lauren Burke  

Okay, so we had three winners this week, Daniel Hearst, Jamie Lockhart, and Lauren Kaiser; tell them what they've won.

Michael Pope  

All right, we got two prizes, two potential prices here, and an Al Gore 2000 t-shirt with the less popular campaign slogan. "It's the ecology neophyte". Or a poster for drought watch, ultimately much scarier than Shark Week.

Lauren Burke  

Okay, Michael. What's the trivia question for next week?

Michael Pope  

All right. Hopefully, it won't be quite as dry as that. Alright, so the trivia question for next week is about that giant neon Star in Roanoke. Lauren, have you been to Roanoke and seen that star up on the hill?

Lauren Burke  

Ah, I've been to Roanoke a few a lot of times, actually, but I've not seen the star up on the hill.

Michael Pope  

All right. Well, people who are listening to this podcast who are in Roanoke or have been to Roanoke, you probably have seen this thing. It's eight stories tall. It sits on Mill Mountain, so you can see it from everywhere in downtown Roanoke. And so the star was originally put there as part of a Christmas celebration. So here's the trivia question. What year was that famous Roanoke star installed on Mill Mountain as part of that year's Christmas celebration?

Lauren Burke  

If you think you know the answer, hit us up on social media. 

Michael Pope  

All right, let's head over to the water cooler. Lauren, what is everybody talking about around the water cooler?

Lauren Burke  

CBC Week, which is Congressional Black Caucus Foundation week, is next week, and Vice President Kamala Harris and the President. Joe Biden, of course, will be speaking at the gala next week, which actually lands on Saturday. The Vice President was in Hampton; she was at Hampton University last week, which was the start of a sort of protecting our freedoms tour, which he started in Hampton University. There was a very large crowd of students that came in; they allowed the students to ask three questions. They actually had some very good questions, as usual. It's not the journalist asking questions. These are the people who show up and happen to ask questions about sea level rise, guns, etc. It was a very interesting event; unfortunately, two African-American members who probably would have been good to have been there were not there. That would have been Congressman Scott and the historic Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan because they had to vote on Capitol Hill. And I thought that was a little bit odd because, of course, Bobby Scott is the chair now ranking member of the Education Committee, so it was actually the perfect thing he could be at, particularly given that he is involved in moving billions of dollars into HBCUs. So that was a little bit odd in that sense, but leader Scott was there, Senator Mamie Locke was there, and the young mayor of Newport News, Phil Jones, was there. I think he met the Vice President at the airport. So it was an interesting event. And she's turned around, started in Virginia, went to North Carolina, and she's got to think five other stops after that. What about you, Michael? What's the latest? You've heard about the water cooler?

Michael Pope  

Well, I was at a great forum in Richmond last week on affordable housing. You mentioned that a lot often at events. It's not the journalists who asked the best questions. It's the people in the audience. And that certainly was the case at this forum, which, in the second half of it, they just opened up the microphone to anybody there who wanted to say anything or ask any questions. And wow, things got very interesting at this Richmond forum. So this was a coalition of people put this thing together: the Virginia Housing Alliance, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, the Legal Aid Justice Center, and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. And they basically invited all of the candidates in the Greater Richmond area to come and talk about affordable housing and answer questions about issues involving affordable housing and eviction, the eviction crisis, and all that sort of thing. So, only a handful of candidates took them up on the opportunity; Senator Hashmi was their Delegate, and Betsy Carr was there. They were the two incumbents. Also, Ray Cousins is running unopposed for a seat that covers Churchill and Manchester. Natan McKenzie was there. He is the Democrat who is running against Glen Sturtevant. In a different universe where Amanda Chase beat Glen Sturtevant and that primary, then Natan Mackenzie would be the Democrat running against Amanda Chase, but that's not the case. Rachel Levy was also there. She is the Democrat who's running against Buddy Fowler in the 59th. That covers Louisa and Ashland. And then also Stephen Miller-Pitts was there. He's the Democrat running against Carrie Coyner in Hopewell and Chester. So it was a great event. There were lots of really interesting questions from the organizers and great questions from the crowd. And Lauren, this won't surprise you. Many people came up to me and said, hey, listen to Pod Virginia. I love your podcast!

Lauren Burke  

That's great. That's great. Affordable housing is a huge, huge issue. And it's one of the toughest issues for policymakers to try to make better. So that's great. That's good to hear.

Michael Pope  

All right, Lauren. Let's go ahead and open up that pod. Virginia mailbag. What are our listeners talking about? 

Lauren Burke  

We got some feedback about your interview with Mark Rozell and John Milliken about their new book, The New Dominion. Well, Latham heard the episode and asked this. "Did you ever read VO Keys's chapter on Virginia in his book, Southern Politics in state and nation?" Y

Michael Pope  

Yeah, I totally read that when I was in graduate school. It's a classic book from 1949. That helps explain the Bryd machine as an oligarchy of the few that maintain power with a really small portion of the electorate. So VO Key points out some really interesting stats that are worth thinking about. Only 10 or 12% of Virginians were able to vote during the heyday of the Bryd machine. So that is your percentage of voting-age eligible adults who actually were casting ballots 10%. This is extremely low, the lowest in the country at that time. So VO Key points out that meant that the Bryd machine really only needed the support of 5% or 7% of the voting-age population to control party nominations. So Key has a really famous line explaining this: "by contrast, Mississippi is a hotbed of democracy."

Lauren Burke  

That's amazing. We also heard some feedback on that episode from Henry David, who posted a few other key elections Mark Rozell and John Milliken should consider adding to their list, the 1994 Senate race between Chuck Robb and Oliver North and the 1978 Senate race between John Warner and Andrew Miller. 

Michael Pope  

Yup, both great contenders there. That 1994 Senate race is actually the subject of a great documentary called The Perfect Candidate. Have you ever seen the movie Lauren?

Lauren Burke  

I saw it a long time ago. Everything about Chuck Robb is interesting. I can barely. I have to go look at it again because I can barely remember what happened. But yeah, that that whole thing would Rob vs. North was was a really interesting, interesting race.

Michael Pope  

Yeah. Well, we also got some feedback on my appearance on C-SPAN, which C-SPAN I was on C-SPAN 2 a couple weeks ago, and it was so popular. They had me back on a second time on C-SPAN 3. Former Delegate Rob Krupicka posted this. I'm glad my letter-writing campaign to bring you back has worked. So thank you, Former Alexandria City Councilman and former member of the House of Delegates. Rob Krupicka for starting that letter campaign that had me appear on C-SPAN a second time! All right. Let's celebrate some birthdays.

Lauren Burke  

Today, Monday, September 18th. Is the birthday of Delegate Clinton Jenkins, who is currently running for Senate, while his wife Karen Jenkins is running an HD 89 for the House of Delegates.

Michael Pope  

Yeah, husband and wife are both candidates. You know, it is rare that you find that sort of thing. Today, Monday, September 18th, is also the birthday of Delegate Tony Wilt of Rockingham.

Lauren Burke  

Tuesday, September 19th. Is the birthday of Senator Jeremy McPike of Prince William

Michael Pope  

Wednesday, September 20th. Is the birthday of Delegate Candi Mundon, King of Prince William.

Lauren Burke  

Friday, September 22nd. Is the birthday of Senator Frank Ruff of Mecklenburg

Michael Pope  

Saturday, September 23rd, is the birthday of Senator Joe Morrissey of Richmond.

Lauren Burke  

Sunday, September 23rd. Is the birthday of Delegate Chris Runion of Rockingham, and Sunday.

Michael Pope  

September 23rd is also the birthday of delegate Michael Weber of Fauquier.

Lauren Burke  

This week is also civics education week.

Michael Pope  

 I think we need a lot of civics education. Thursday is a small business day.

Lauren Burke  

Friday, September 22nd. Is the first day of early voting and verse.

Michael Pope  

Early voting! It's actually here. Yeah, followed up; interestingly enough, the next day on the calendar is the autumnal equinox, so how do you fall?

Okay, that's it for this episode of Pod Virginia's transcripts, which are available on the website. And follow us on social media for more chatter on Virginia politics.