This morning, Sen. Adam Ebbin (D) and Del. Alfonso Lopez (D) held a town hall meeting at the Walter Reed Community Center in Arlington, at which a number of topics were covered. I couldn’t embed the entire video, because it’s not set on “public” for some reason, but see below for the conclusion, which I recorded the “hard way.” Here are some highlights:
- Del. Lopez announced that he’s “lost 31.8 pounds, so if you see me eat pizza, slap me in the face.”
- Del. Lopez said “this year’s a lot better than last year – being in the majority in a Jefferson Manual state…all the power’s in the majority…41% more bills that have been filed this year…that’s because there’s all this pent-up demand for good policy, from gun violence prevention to social safety net issues to actually addressing climate change for the first time in Virginia…”
- Del. Lopez: “I’m very proud of the fact that I believe I have peace in the valley on project labor agreements coming back to Virginia, so that our labor brothers and sisters will finally be having the option of being able to put in controls that allow them to be paid a livable wage.”
- Del. Lopez: “I’m very proud of the fact that, working with my good friend Rip Sullivan, we were able to draft the Virginia Clean Economy Act over the last several months, which is going to be, I believe, be the vehicle that moves us in the right direction on renewable energy…I’m incredibly proud of the fact that we’re going to finally pass immigration legislation in Virginia that blunts what we’re seeing across the river from the Trump administration…[including] in-state tuition for DREAMers.”
- Del. Lopez, after explaining what Virginia’s “Red Flag” legislation would do, stated: “The issue that I keep having with the Second Amendment folks who believe incorrectly that any limitation on access to firearms is a violation of the Second Amendment of the Constitution is that we have a fundamental disagreement. And what I also will take issue with a lot of the time is when people don’t understand…the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League is an organization that thinks the National Rifle Association is too liberal. They think the NRA is too liberal. And they’re the ones who organized that rally on Monday. Their leader, Philip Van Cleave, was duped by Sacha Baron Cohen, on HBO, into doing a TV show, training two-, three-, four- and five-year-olds in how to use firearms, called ‘gunimals.’ This is the person who’s leading the Second Amendment charge in Virginia. And the fact is that he has had a habit of saying or doing anything to get people riled up. And I find it offensive when he doesn’t get his facts right or purposely doesn’t get his facts right. So I will continue to fight for sensible gun violence prevention legislation, including this red flag law.”
- On who they support for the 2021 Democratic primary for governor, Sen. Ebbin said people being “speculated about” are former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Sen. Jennifer McClellan, Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring. Sen. Ebbin added – and it’s hard to know if he was serious or kidding around – “At this point, I just want to say, I have not ruled out running for governor, but it’s not something I’ve ruled in either.”
- Del. Lopez said “I also think you’ll see some local officials try to run statewide, and I’ve also heard numerous names for Lt. Governor and Attorney General as well…I actually am excited about that debate and that public conversation for each of those statewide offices, because I think we’re moving in a very interesting direction and Virginia’s changing, and who our leaders are going to be is going to be very important.”
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