Pod Virginia 6/18/21 Pod Virginia 6/18/21

How can businesses protect workers from heat stress?

How can businesses maximize productivity in extreme conditions? Kim Bobo at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and Rachel McFarland at the Legal Aid Justice Center advocate for worker protections and describe how they successfully urged new regulations to prevent vulnerable workers from developing heat stress.

Pod Virginia 6/11/21 Pod Virginia 6/11/21

What do we think about the Democratic Primaries?

The 2021 Democratic Primaries are finally behind us. Now it's time to decompress and analyze the results. This time we're joined by Mark Rozell, Dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government, as well as Kyle Kondik at the UVA Center for Politics. What do we think about the Democratic statewide nominees? What about the results in the House races? Listen and find out.

Pod Virginia 6/3/21 Pod Virginia 6/3/21

Thinking critically about Critical Race Theory

What is Critical Race Theory? Dr. Jatia Wrighten is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at VCU and an expert in Critical Race Theory. Sean Perryman is a democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor and the former head of the Fairfax County NAACP. They help the Transition Team understand what it is, and the role Critical Race Theory plays in American society, and how it's being weaponized against Democrats in the 2021 elections.

Pod Virginia 5/25/21 Pod Virginia 5/25/21

Democratic candidates make their closing arguments

Graham Moomaw, Virginia politics & policy reporter for the Virginia Mercury joins the Transition Team, along with Trevor Southerland, the former Exec. Director of the VA House Dems to discuss the last Democratic gubernatorial debate and the closing arguments that each of the candidates are making.

Pod Virginia 5/14/21 Pod Virginia 5/14/21

Evaluating the GOP Statewide Nominees

How much do you know about Virginia Republican nominees Glenn Younkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares?

Dr. Quentin Kidd of CNU's Wason Center and Jackie DeFusco of Richmond's News Channel 8 (WRIC) evaluate the GOP nominees for the 2021 statewide elections. They identify likely campaign issues, relative challenges and advantages for the nominees, and the likelihood that any of them might beat a Democratic opponent in November.

Pod Virginia 5/7/21 Pod Virginia 5/7/21

Who are the Democratic candidates for Attorney General?

Brad Kutner of Courthouse News and Mel Leonor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch have been covering AG candidates Jay Jones and Mark Herring. What are the issues and which candidate has the edge? Our guests break everything down for the Transition Team and tell us who they think is most likely to win.

Pod Virginia 4/29/21 Pod Virginia 4/29/21

Who are the Republican Candidates for Governor?

Former Delegate David Ramadan (R-Loudoun) and conservative analyst Matt Colt Hall, a reporter for the Virginia Star, brief the Transition Team on the GOP candidates for governor and assess their chances of winning the nomination.

Pod Virginia 4/22/21 Pod Virginia 4/22/21

Which incumbent Democratic Delegates could lose their primary?

Chaz Nuttycombe the Executive Director of CNalysis evaluates the Democratic House Primary races with the Transition Team.

Which races does he think will prove most competitive? Are any incumbents going to lose? This episode covers all that and more.

Pod Virginia 4/15/21 Pod Virginia 4/15/21

What makes a journalist run for elected office?

Delegate Danica Roem and Chris Hurst discuss their transition from journalists to lawmakers and how it informs the issues they care about. We cover everything from FOIA laws to local issues.

Pod Virginia 4/7/21 Pod Virginia 4/7/21

What happened at the Democratic Debate for Governor?

Dr. Quentin Kidd from CNU joined the Transition Team to analyze what happened at the first televised Democratic primary debate for Governor. Is Terry McAuliffe still the front-runner? What the heck did Justin Fairfax say this time?

Kidd is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Government and Director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

Pod Virginia 3/31/21 Pod Virginia 3/31/21

Evaluating the GOP candidates for Lieutenant Governor

Pod Virginia 3/25/21 Pod Virginia 3/25/21

Protecting the Right to Organize

Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) and Doris Crouse-Mays, President of the Virginia AFL-CIO brief the transition team on the congressman's PRO Act to protect the right to organize. All of Virginia's Democratic house members and Sen. Tim Kaine are co-sponsors of the bill, which would weaken state Right-to-Work laws at the national level and enforce penalties for worker misclassification.

Pod Virginia 3/16/21 Pod Virginia 3/16/21

What happened at the first Democratic debate for Lieutenant Governor?

There are 8 Democratic candidates vying to be the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. They all came together at the "Peoples' Debate," the first time many voters have had a chance to meet them. What happened and how did everybody do? We break it down with Trevor Southerland.

Pod Virginia 3/12/21 Pod Virginia 3/12/21

Why does Virginia need campaign finance reform?

Del. Marcus Simon (D-Falls Church), Chairman of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, and Shruti Shah with the Coalition for Integrity brief the Transition Team on the need for campaign finance reform in Virginia. We discuss a history of perceived corruption in the legislature and the fact that any person or corporation can contribute an unlimited amount of money. Finally, we preview the campaign finance reform study that passed in the General Assembly this year.

Pod Virginia 3/3/21 Pod Virginia 3/3/21

What happened in Virginia’s 2021 General Assembly session?

Journalists Jeff Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Amy Friedenberger of the Roanoke Times join the Transition Team to evaluate the major legislation in the 2021 General Assembly session. They break down what passed, what didn't pass, and what else is there to look forward to in 2021.

Pod Virginia 2/24/21 Pod Virginia 2/24/21

Why are Virginia felons disenfranchised?

Virginia's legislature is considering a constitutional amendment that could make felon re-enfranchisement an automatic process. Episode guests are A.E. Dick Howard, a UVA professor and author of Virginia's 1971 Constitution, and Paul Levengood, Executive Director of The Marshall Foundation and former president of the VA Historical Society. They brief the Transition Team on why the Blue Ribbon Commission to update Virginia's 1901 Jim Crow constitution still included felon disenfranchisement and what the General Assembly should do about it now.

Pod Virginia 2/17/21 Pod Virginia 2/17/21

Should Expungement be Automatic or Petition-based?

Should expungements be automatic or petition-based? What are the relative advantages of the House and Senate versions? We also wargame the conference committee process to determine which provisions of each bill might be included in the final versions.

Guests: Andy Elders of Justice Forward VA, and Cynthia Nwarache with OAR of Richmond, both advocates for expungement reform.

Pod Virginia 2/10/21 Pod Virginia 2/10/21

Transition VA Celebrates One Year

Transition Virginia turns 1 this week! To celebrate, we have our very first guest back on the show, Whittney Evans, from Virginia Public Media (VPM), and the team listens to messages from its friends and listeners.

We also debut exclusive, never before heard audio of Amanda Chase having a meltdown.

Pod Virginia 2/3/21 Pod Virginia 2/3/21

Perception, Reality, …And Justice For All with Del. Danica Roem

Delegate Danica Roem (D-Prince William) joins the Transition Team to discuss her bill to outlaw the panic defense, which allows defendants to use a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity against them in court. She explains why the 1998 murder of Matthew Sheperd left her and the LGBTQ+ community traumatized. We also talk about a related bill in the state Senate that would expand the definition of what a hate crime means. Finally, we take a break from politics and rank all the Metallica albums from her least favorite to most favorite.

Thomas Bowman 1/29/21 Thomas Bowman 1/29/21

Diving into the weeds on marijuana policy: a joint effort

Part 2 of our series on marijuana policy. Jenn Michelle Pedini of NORML is back on the podcast to discuss the status and policy challenges around legalizing marijuana in the 2021 Legislative Session. Ngiste Abebe, of Columbia Care. She served on the governor’s workgroup last year and Ngiste is a member of the Cannabis Trade Federation’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce and Virginia Medical Cannabis Coalition. We dive into the weeds on marijuana policy and the policy debates around equity and inclusion…

EPISODES