This week, Michael and Thomas are joined by Bob Brink, former Chairman of Virginia's State Board of Elections, to discuss the ERIC system-- the Electronic Registration Information Center, which allowed neighboring states to share voter registration information with each other and help prevent voter fraud. Governor Youngkin has pulled Virginia out of ERIC, so what does that mean for elections going forward? Originally Aired: May 18, 2023.

• Thomas and Michael discuss the top competitive races in the upcoming election, where Democrats are largely out-fundraising their Republican opponents. The races include:

• Russet Perry vs Juan Pablo Segura in Senate District 31

• Monty Mason vs Danny Diggs in Senate District 24

• Susanna Gibson vs David Owen in House District 57

• Michael Feggans vs Karen Greenhalgh in House District 97

• Kimberly Pope Adams vs Kim Taylor in House District 82

• Josh Thomas vs John Stirrup in House District 21.

• At the Watercooler: Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton announced that she will not be seeking re-election on account of a serious medical diagnosis

• Plus the facts about what really happened with Susanna Gibson--and why there's nothing immoral about sleeping with your husband.

• This week, communications and marketing expert Eileen Cassidy Rivera joins Michael to talk about her new book: Hard Talk: Confessions of an Accidental Marketing and Communications Professional. She discusses the growing importance of marketing and communications specialists for government contractors--providing insights into the coroporate side of conversations with journalists and media. Hard Talk on Amazon

• Virginia is not doing a great job of attracting new people. 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 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 critical issue on many voters' priority lists.

• 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.

• Congressional Black Caucus Week

• We were debriefing on the Richmond forum on affordable housing.

This week, Michael is joined by Professors John Milliken and Mark Rozell of George Mason University, editors of The New Dominion: The Twentieth-Century Elections That Shaped Modern Virginia. They discuss six statewide elections that shaped Virginia politics, how they shaped (and were shaped by) the state's culture, economy, and demographics, and what lessons we might be able to learn from those transformative moments.

Governor Glenn Youngkin is now considering a secret backroom deal worked out by a small handful of senior members of the money committees. The long-awaited budget amendments are several months late for a fiscal year that started three months ago. Part of the reason for the delay was because Republicans were insisting on permanent tax cuts. In the end, they settled for rebates. One of the key sticking points during the debate over budget amendments was the cap on spending for support staff in Virginia schools. The Senate wanted to spend $270 million to essentially eliminate the cap, creating a ratio of 21 students for every support staffer. The final compromise spends $153 million for a ratio of 24 students for every support staffer. Virginia is about to get 15 new mobile crisis units as well as millions of dollars for crisis receiving centers and stabilization units. But the funding is several months late. But critics--including lawmakers--say people would already be receiving help if lawmakers got their act together earlier. At the Watercooler: The farewell speeches from the General Assembly members who won't be returning...a mixed bag. Some fun, some surprises.

On this week's live-to-tape game show, Michael sits down with Delegate Alfonso Lopez, Delegate Marcus Simon, and Alexandria Assistant City Manager Sarah Taylor to get their takes on the latest in Richmond--from the budget special session to the FBI headquarters and spouses running for office.

IN THE NEWS: Virginia is getting a huge infusion of cash from Uncle Sam to help expand broadband coverage to underserved parts of the state -- especially areas where speeds are less than 25 megabits per second. Thanks to a program created by the Inflation Reduction Act, Virginia is getting $1.5 billion for broadband expansion Governor Glenn Youngkin wants Virginia to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and he's already removed Virginia from the Electronic Registration Center. One has to do with the environment, and the other is about elections. David Becker at the Center for Election Innovation and Research tells me the multi-state compact known as ERIC has helped Virginia though Republican administrations and Democratic administrations. Richmond is getting a first look at new plans for a proposed casino from Churchill Downs and Urban One. Voters will have to approve of the casino proposal in November, which is why the developers are taking this opportunity to unveil the new name and brand identity. At the Watercooler: Bobby Scott's Cookout, plus turnover at Virginia's Parole Board. TRIVIA: James Monroe has two non-consecutive terms as governor.

Check out Michael's presentation on the Byrd Machine in Virginia on C-SPAN 2 this Friday, September 1st at 8:45 PM EST Laura Goren and Rodrigo Soto of the Commonwealth Institute join Michael to discuss the latest details on Virginia's budget crisis--while meetings have been happening in secret, we're getting a few details about the compromise. Those include: potentially no permanent tax cuts, potential additional funding for education, potentially removing the age limit on military retirement, potential one-time rebates for Virginians, and a potential return of the sales tax holiday. Again, all of this is what we expect to be in the version of the deal that goes to the Governor's desk, but only time will tell.

IN THE NEWS: Eleven senators are retiring. Five won't be returning because they lost the primary. Three senators are in hotly competitive races and might lose in November. Keep in mind that the Senate has only 40 members. That means we’re expecting to see a turnover of 40 to 50 percent in the Senate. One out of four elections this November has no challenger, candidates running unopposed. Most of those are incumbents, but the list of unchallenged elections includes people who aren't even in the General Assembly yet. Dulles International Airport will be the site for like the largest renewable energy project ever developed at a U.S. airport with solar panels and electric vehicles. When all those solar panels are up and operational, Dominion Energy expects they will power 37,000 homes and businesses by 2026. At the Watercooler: AG Jason Miyares seems to believe local school boards are required to adopt the Governor's model policies, and Michael's presentation on the Byrd Machine will be on C-SPAN this Friday, September 1 at 8:30 PM.

Dr. Mahmut Cengiz, Assistant Professor at George Mason's Schar School, joins Thomas and Michael to discuss the causes and effects of the fentanyl crisis in Virginia, how Glenn Youngkin's has handled the crisis, and how Virginia could move forward to help the lives of those affected.

IN THE NEWS:

• When he ran for governor, candidate Glenn Youngkin was secretly recorded talking about why he couldn't say more about abortion. Now, a candidate for the House of Delegates is explaining why a secretly recorded audio clip reveals he supports a 100 percent ban on abortion. What's going on with these secretly recorded audio conversations, and what are the journalistic ethics around reporting on the findings?

• Last month, the state Department of Education released model policies for school divisions across Virginia relating to transgender students. The model policies suggest that parents should have the final say about names, pronouns and bathrooms – not the students. Now the Spotsylvania School Board is the first to adopt those new model policies.

• Will voters in Richmond have a ballot question on a new casino this November? The question is working its way through the courts even now.

At the Watercooler:

• Democrat Trudy Berry had all the paperwork she needed to run in Mecklenburg, but a clerical error is leaving her out of the race--and she's wondering why the State Board of Elections denied her appeal when similar issues were successfully appealed in the past. Plus, local elected officials are frustrated by the lack of a state budget.

Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw joins Michael for a broad-ranging interview on his time in the General Assembly--from his origins in the 1980s, through his time as Majority Leader, and advice for the next generation of Assembly members. Along the day, he discusses the changing tactics and politics in the legislature, as well as things he might've done differently in hindsight--such as support for the recent redistricting commission.

IN THE NEWS: But 10 percent of Democrats in a recent poll by the Wilder School at VCU say they would prefer Republicans control the House. What's going on there? In the last decade, the population of people over the age of 55 who are incarcerated in Virginia has doubled, increasing from 7 percent to 14 percent. Advocates say that's because of over-policing of vulnerably populations, as well as the abolition of parole back in the 90s. Of the dozen races where Republicans are targeting Democrats running for the House of Delegates, only two so far are races where Republicans are raising the issue of abortion rights — House District 97 in Virginia Beach and House District 82 in Petersburg. What's behind the gap on the topic of abortion, and how do the political conversations intersect with the real stories of Virginians? At the Watercooler: The money committees are set to meet in the coming weeks...but there are still no budget amendments, and it's looking less likely as time goes on.

Vishal Agraharkar of the ACLU of Virginia joins the show to discuss a new lawsuit aimed at restoring voting rights to Virginians convicted of felonies. As a requirement for re-entry into the Union after the Civil War, Virginia was required to pass th Readmission Act of 1870. In an effort to prevent former Confederate states from disenfranchsing Black people, the Readmission Act prohibits Virginia from depriving citizens of the right to vote, except as punishment for crimes that are "now felonies at common law."

Common-law felonies at the time included crimes like murder, but didn't include felonies introduced after 1870, including many drug-related crimes. But Virginia still strips the right to vote from all people convicted of felonies. Agraharkar walks us through the ACLU's lawsuit, which seeks to overturn that precedent, restore voting rights to Virginians convicted of non-common-law felonies, and protect that right to vote going forward.

IN THE NEWS:

• Child poverty numbers are about to spike with the expiration of a whole host of programs--the child tax credit, food stamp benefits, rent-relief program, and even some Medicaid eligibility. Solutions to the child poverty problem could be solved with the record surplus money that's now at issue in the ongoing budget impasse, but lawmakers are still considering whether they want to spend it on tax cuts instead.

• This election will feature a record number of female candidates and a record number of Black candidates for the state Senate– 28 female candidates and 17 Black candidates. And it brings to mind questions on the nature of descriptive and substantive representation, as well as how that representation might look in House and Senate leadership.

• In December, Governor Glenn Youngkin will unveil his legacy budget, which means state agencies are already hard at work crafting the next two-year budget. Meanwhile, the budget amendments that were supposed to be in place a month ago are still caught up in a disagreement between House Republicans and Senate Democrats. When the latest financial projections were released last month, Governor Glenn Youngkin was hopeful they could break the logjam--but Democrats say his projections are "voodoo economics."

At the Watercooler:

• The fight for state Senate leadership might be drawing key Democratic attention from November's races.

• Plus, concerns that Democratic caucus chair Charniele Herring has allegedly not shared fundraised money with the caucus.

Atif Qarni, former Sec. of Education under Governor Ralph Northam, joins the show to discuss Governor Youngkin's latest model policies for how Virginia school systems should treat transgender students. He compares the policies to the 2021 policies that developed in his office under the Northam Administration--including where the new policies are lacking and the false narratives around parents' rights.

IN THE NEWS: Democrats have an edge in fundraising overall, but Republicans are heading into the November election with more cash on hand for House of Delegates races. The latest round of campaign finance disclosures saw a record amount of campaign cash for an off-year election, and we're just getting started. Virginia once had a big advantage over Maryland in landing the new FBI because of its proximity to the FBI Academy at Quantico. But now the government agency that will choose the location is changing the criteria to give less weight to proximity to Quantico and more weight to cost and social impact. At the Watercooler: Thomas discusses the potential for Glenn Youngkin to serve as a less-catastrophic Republican presidential nominee than Donald Trump, and Michael talks about the national politics on the Mountain Valley Pipeline.

Attorney and Virginia election analyst Sam Shirazi joins Michael to discuss the dozen Virginia House seats that Republicans have set their sights on for November's election. With Democrats only needing to win six of twelve (and three of those seats being likely pickups), the Republicans are splitting their effort between offensive and defensive efforts to keep their majority.

IN THE NEWS:

Attorney General Jason Miyares is signing on in support of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The lawsuit calls into question the funding model, which finances regulation of industries with money that comes from the industries that are regulated. Oral arguments in the case are expected this fall.

The Democratic primary was a historic first for voters choosing candidates for the Arlington County Board, which had two open seats. But many voters raised objections about a "single transferable vote," essentially that they were able to cast only one vote even though there were two open seats in an election with six candidates. So the Arlington County Board did a 180 last weekend, returning to a traditional system for the general election.

Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin is working with Democratic Senator Mark Warner to lure semiconductor manufacturing companies to Virginia. They appeared together last week at a summit hosted by Virginia Tech.

At the Watercooler:

• The Youngkin administration's new model policies on transgender students are damaging and restrictive, and the Arlington County School Board has remained completely silent on the issue--despite Michael's best efforts.