A few minutes ago on WAMU’s Politics Hour, newly minted Virginia Democratic Lt. Governor nominee, State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, had a bunch of interesting things to say. See below for audio and a few highlights (bolding added by me for emphasis; my view in italics/parentheses after Sen. Hashmi’s comments).
- First, she argued that she won largely because what resonated with voters was her length of experience in the State Senate, plus the “legislative measures that I’ve worked on and passed…around education and health care, reprodutive rights, housing, the environment…that was a message that voters really responded to.”
- On Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), Sen. Hashmi said it’s definitely worth considering [RCV] for future statewide races, that “there is a positive benefit, especially when you have complex races with many candidates, to do RCV, so that there’s more opportunity for voters to be able to express their preferences,” but that in this specific primary, “the results would have been the same.” (My view is that Sen. Aaron Rouse and former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney split some of the same “base” – particularly African-American voters – and also that the the anti-Stoney vote wouldn’t have been there in the Richmond area if Stoney hadn’t been in the race. So bottom line, we don’t know how things would have turned out if RCV had been used, but my gut tells me that it would have helped Rouse.)
- On her success in Richmond (which she won overwhelmingly), Sen. Hashmi said “I actually live in Richmond…my first district prior to redistricting was the majority of the city and I certainly have had strong connections in Richmond, Chesterfield, Henrico and Hanover.” She added: “I spent almost 20 years in the community college system teaching American literature, and= so the students that I had in my classroom were community members, they represented the full spectrum of central Virginia’s communities, with all of its diversity. And those were considerably strong relationships that I had the opportunity
to build, living here with my family for over three decades. And I think those relationships, that work that I had done prior to running for office, laid a strong foundation for me. I flipped this seat in 2019, it was Republican held for almost three decades. And again, I was able to flip the seat from red to blue based on those relationships and the coalitions that I had established. And so we knew that we were running strong in the Richmond area and especially given the work that I’d done for six years representing this community and so many different constituents. All of that played a very important role in the strong voter turnout that we saw and the tremendous support, the enthusiastic support that I saw consistently during this election period.” (My view: there’s no doubt that this was the case.) - On the lack of Northern Virginia representation on the Democratic ticket, Sen. Hashmi said: “Richmond may be my district, but Virginia is my home. And I think that is exactly true for all three of us who are now on the ticket; we are here to speak on behalf of all Virginians to represent the full breadth and scope of our Commonwealth and to respond to the unique issues and concerns of every region. And I think the listening conversations, the engagement that we have already been a part of helps us to understand the concerns as they are in different localities. My daughter has lived in Fairfax County for 15 years, and so that plays an important part for me as well.” (My view: In the end, I strongly doubt that Democratic voters in Northern Virginia are going to stay home this fall, certainly not because there aren’t any candidates from Northern Virginia on the ticket; there’s simply WAAAAYYY too much at stake for that, plus a lot of people in Northern Virginia are super-angry-for-very-good-reason Federal or former Federal workers!)
- On her (far-right-extremist) Republican opponent, John Reid, Sen. Hashmi said: “I’m not going to get into Mr. Reid’s misleading attacks on me; he’s just trying to hide the fact that he is actually in favor of stripping Virginians of their health care and Medicaid, that he has aligned himself fully to the Trump agenda, he’s ready to ban abortion here in Virginia, he’s actually supported Donald Trump’s drastic federal job cuts which are having a devastating impact on Virginians, and he wants to cut funding for our public schools. This is not the values of the Virginians I’ve been talking to. The folks I’ve talked to really want to see government working for them, supporting their public education, ensuring that they have access to quality health care and making sure that we are actually protecting our infrastructure and economic opportunities that we have here. I’m ready to work on the issues that really matter.” (My view: Excellent answer!)
- On the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week on transgender youth medical care, Sen. Hashmi said: “We have a constitutional amendment in front of us that would protect the right to marry who you love. And it is very ironic that Mr. Reid has already stated that he would not support that constitutional amendment. So I see myself fighting for his rights even though he has abdicated any responsibility in supporting the critical and essential rights of all Virginians in this regard. I’m going to fight hard for his rights whether or not he is willing to stand up. When we’re taking a look at that Supreme Court ruling, we’re going to have to see how it impacts our communities. And Virginia code has already spelled out the medical scope and responsibilities and the legal structures that we have here. And that is something that we’re going to have to assess in light of the recent ruling from the Supreme Court.” (My view: Superb comeback to Reid’s nonsense!)
- On being a Muslim candidate, Sen. Hashmi said the tagline in her first campaign was “Ghazala Hashmi is an American name,” and argued she’s out to prove that “the vision of Donald Trump’s America was not the vision that most Americans subscribe to or that Virginians value.” She stressed the value of the diversity we have in Virginia, that Virginia is/needs to be “a place that is welcoming, inclusive and home to so many diverse communities.” (My view: Nailed it! Also, I’d just add that there’s zero place for any form of bigotry in this election, but unfortunately I fear that the Republican ticket – with zero positive/constructive ideas or vision to offer – will use all kinds of “dog whistles,” including Islamophobic and transphobic ones. Every Virginia voter should strongly reject that garbage and vote accordingly!)
