The following is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but these are 25 (I know, kind of a random number – 25 for ’25) of the top Virginia political stories of 2025 as I see them…in no particular order – and I’m sure I missed some….. With that, here are the top 25 Virginia political stories of 2025, in VERY rough descending order of significance (they’re all important, though!)…
P.S. Again, obviously, Trump’s extremism, lunacy, corruption, bigotry, lies, sadism, assault on our democracy/rule of law, hung over everything this year, but I’m trying (and hopefully not failing too badly, lol) to keep this list focused on Virginia specifically, not on the insanity in the White House per se.
- Trump, DOGE, the lengthy government shutdown, tariffs, etc. caused massive “federal fallout” for Virginia. Sam Shirazi’s podcast, “Federal Fallout,” summed up a lot of what went down in 2025 here in Virginia, whether we’re talking about elections, politics, policy, the economy, people’s jobs, whatever. Because the fact is, what happens right across the Potomac River has an ENORMOUS impact on Virginia, given how many federal employees/federal contractors and military members call Virginia home; given how much of Virginia’s (particularly, but not only, Northern Virginia’s) economy is dependent on federal salaries, contracts, etc. Also, of course, there’s the fact that, given that Virginia’s gubernatorial election takes place the year after the presidential election, and that Virginia almost *always* goes opposite – sometimes HARD opposite – the party in the White House (ESPECIALLY when the president is wildly unpopular in Virginia, as is the case with Donald Trump). So on the negative side, the Trump administration – Musk/DOGE/”fork in the road,” Russell Vought, the lengthy government shutdown, tariffs, etc. clearly caused great harm to Virginians. On the positive side, “federal fallout” also included (contributing to) massive landslides for Democratic candidates for governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and House of Delegates. But honestly, I’d trade the landslides for a President Kamala Harris, Vice President Tim Walz, and an administration that was sane, competent, non-corrupt, non-treasonous, etc.
- In the Nov. 4 Virginia gubernatorial election, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by a massive 15.4-point margin. Per item #1, Abigail Spanberger won a huge victory on November 4, garnering the most votes of any governor candidate in Virginia history, also with the widest margin of victory for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate in modern Virginia history, and will be the first female governor in Virginia history. Amazing/impressive. Just looking at the jurisdictions Spanberger won gives an indication of the scope and breadth of her win: Loudoun County by 29 points (Terry McAuliffe only won it by 11 points four years ago); Fairfax County by 48 points, Albemarle by 41 points, Henrico County by 39 points, Prince William County by 34 points, Chesterfield County by 18 points, Virginia Beach by 11 points, Stafford County by 12 points, Spotsylvania County by 3 points, Chesapeake by 12 points, etc. She also massively outraised Winsome Earle-Sears. And, bottom line, as a top Democratic strategist once told me, “when you win, you’re a genius; when you lose, you’re an idiot.” So right now, Spanberger’s campaign is a bunch of geniuses, even if a lot of their margin of victory had to do with a highly unpopular Republican in the White House (and Virginia almost always going opposite of that), DOGE, federal furloughs/RIFs, etc. Still, the fact is, Spanberger has now won a bunch of tough races – VA07 Democratic primary in June 2018, VA07 election against Dave Brat in November 2018, VA07 again in 2020 and 2022; and now the Virginia governor’s election by a huge margin. As for Winsome Earle-Sears, her campaign was pretty much a debacle from start to finish…epitomized by her unhinged debate behavior, the bizarre “I AM SPEAKING!” clip, her obsessive focus on where transgender kids go to the bathroom, etc. What on earth were Virginia Republicans thinking when they anointed Earle-Sears as their 2025 Virginia gubernatorial nominee, without even a primary? Who knows, but Virginia Democrats can’t thank them enough for doing so! LOL
- In the Nov. 4 Virginia Lt. Governor election, Democrat Ghazala Hashmi defeated Republican John Reid by a whopping 11.6-point margin. Hashmi made history, becoming the first Muslim woman elected to a statewide office in the United States (also the first Asian-American elected statewide in Virginia), and doing so in a LANDSLIDE, in the face of a viciously Islamophobic campaign by her Republican opponent, John Reid. Also note that Hashmi first had to win a HIGHLY competitive Democratic primary for Lt. Governor, which she did by a narrow plurality (27.5%-26.5%-26.25%) over former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and State Senator Aaron Rouse back in June. Anyway, as a contributor to this list in June pointed out: “There’s also something to be said for the historic nature of Hashmi’s win. She’s a thoughtful legislator who does her homework- isn’t terribly flashy. IMO that’s a huge win for democracy and voters rewarding that brand of leadership.” Bingo!
- In the Nov. 4 Virginia Attorney General election, Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jason Miyares by 6.7 points, despite a controversy over text messages Jones had sent to Republican Del. Carrie Coyner. Jones took quite a path to get there, but still, in the end he *won*, by 6.7 points no less, despite Virginia Republicans feeling like they’d deep-sixed Jones’ campaign by releasing some nasty/bizarre texts Jones had sent to Republican Del. Carrie Coyner back in 2022, and despite many Democrats distancing themselves from Jones (e.g., the Spanberger campaign took Jones’ name off their bus, although Spanberger never publicly called on Jones to drop out). One of the few prominent Virginia Democrats who stood by Jones was Sen. Tim Kaine, who said on October 19: “Those texts, private texts with a colleague, cannot be defended. They cannot be defended. But Jay Jones has apologized earnestly. The Republicans knew about these texts for years. They waited until the ballot was printed. And they waited until hundreds of thousands of people had already voted beginning on September 19th. The voters will make up their minds about these texts. The voters have to make up their minds in our governor’s race. The Republican gubernatorial candidate spoke about pro-choice activists and said, ‘murder is murder, and your time will come.’ The voters have to grapple with that.” Not many joined with Sen. Tim Kaine at the time, but he turned out to be prophetic…
- In the Nov. 4 Virginia House of Delegates elections, Democrats picked up 13 seats, going from a narrow 51-49 majority to a near supermajority at 64-36. Having become the first Black Virginia Speaker in history just two years ago, Don Scott will now have a huge majority in the House of Delegates to work with, going from a bare majority (51-49) to a near-supermajority (64-36). And while the 2025 election’s many Democratic wins in the House of Delegates were the result of several major factors, Speaker Scott’s hard work, top-notch communications/messaging, excellent candidate recruitment and massive fundraising all played huge roles. Great work, and very much looking forward to seeing the House of Delegates churn out legislation to move Virginia forward! (Also, major credit goes to Virginia House Democrats’ campaign chair Dan Helmer, as well as to the candidates themselves – in HD22 (Elizabeth Guzman over Republican Del. Ian Lovejoy), HD30 (John McAuliff over Republican Del. Geary Higgins), HD41 (Lily Franklin over Republican Del. Chris Obenshain), HD57 (May Nivar over Republican Del. David Owen), HD64 (Stacey Carroll over Republican Del. Paul Milde), HD66 (Nicole Cole over Republican Del. Bobby Orrock), HD69 (Mark Downey over Republican Del. Chad Green), HD71 (Jessica Anderson over Republican Del. Amanda Batten), HD73 (Leslie Mehta over Republican Del. Mark Earley Jr.), HD75 (Lindsey Dougherty over Republican Del. Carrie Coyner), HD82 (Kimberly Pope Adams over Republican Del. Kim Taylor), HD86 (Virgil Thornton over Del. AC Cordoza) and HD89 (Karen Carnegie over Republican Mike Lamonea). Nice job, everybody!
- Democrats moved ahead with mid-decade redistricting. With Donald Trump and red-state Republicans in Texas and elsewhere pushing hard to rig the midterm elections in their favor, Virginia Democrats thankfully decided to fight back. So, just before the 2025 election, the General Assembly met and passed – along party lines, not surprisingly, as Republicans are simply incapable of pushing back against Trump, or “Lord Voldemort/he who shall not be named” as Don Scott refers to him – a redistricting amendment which Democrats described as “a break-glass maneuver for a truly unprecedented moment” in our country’s history. Next step – the General Assembly presumably will pass this again in a few weeks, as their first order of business for the 2026 session, then it will go to voters approximately 90 days later, barring the courts stopping it. And what will the new U.S. House map look like? Quite possibly, if you’ve been listening to Virginia Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas and Speaker Don Scott, a 10 Democrats-1 Republican map, up from 6 Democrats-5 Republicans now. If that map takes effect for the November 2026 elections, it will mean that the only Republican incumbent member of Congress from Virginia remaining in a “red” district will be Morgan Griffith in VA09, with even Ben Cline in VA06 in serious jeopardy of losing, along with Rep. John McGuire in VA05, Rep. Rob Wittman in VA01 and Rep. Jen Kiggans in VA02. All of whom, by the way, RICHLY deserve to lose, given the absolutely horrible job they’ve been doing, not to mention the massive damage to their own districts…
- Sen. Mark Warner announced for reelection. Not really surprising, but it’s still significant that Sen. Mark Warner announced his candidacy for reelection to the U.S. Senate for a fourth term. The good news for Sen. Warner is that next year’s political environment could very well look similar (very “blue”!) to last month’s, as well as to the many Democratic “overperformances” we’ve seen in 2025 across the country. Also working to Sen. Warner’s advantage will be the fact that he’s popular, has a ton of money, will almost certainly NOT have to face a well-funded or serious candidate (e.g., Glenn Youngkin), but instead will probably get the “B” or even “C” team, with someone like far-right VA State Senator Bryce “Taking Dems to the Train Station” Reeves instead. And no, Sen. Warner isn’t going to lose by a poorly funded, basically unknown Democratic primary opponent, for anyone who actually thinks – or wants – that to happen, lol.
- Former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) announced her candidacy to regain the seat she lost to Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) in 2022. On November 12, former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) announced her campaign to attempt a comeback for the VA02 seat she held from January 2019 to January 2023. Since then, Luria has raised a ton of money, been endorsed by the most powerful and popular Democrats in Virginia politics, been endorsed by at least two of her (former) rivals for the nomination, etc. So…yeah, Luria’s going to be the nominee, and right-wing-pretending-to-be-“moderate” Rep. Jen Kiggans is in serious, serious political jeopardy, even BEFORE district lines are potentially changed to Luria’s advantage by redistricting. So…yeah, go Elaine Luria – and hopefully good riddance to Rep. Kiggans next November!
- Former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA05) announced his candidacy to regain the seat he held for one term (2009-2011). This past week, former Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA05) announced that he’d be running for the VA05 U.S. House seat he held from January 2009 to January 2011. Since then, Perriello has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, been endorsed by heavy hitters like former Gov. Ralph Northam, Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, several former Democratic candidates for VA05, etc. So yeah, Rep. John McGuire (far-right-extremist, insurrectionist, MAGA cultist, etc.) should be very, very worried.
- Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) died, was replaced by his former Chief of Staff James Walkinshaw after a multi-candidate Democratic primary: On May 21, the family of Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) announced the terrible news, “with immense sadness,” his death from cancer. A few weeks later, after a spirited primary with multiple Democrats running, Connolly’s former Chief of Staff, James Walkinshaw, OVERWHELMINGLY won the primary (with nearly 60% of the vote against nine other candidates) to succeed Rep. Connolly. Then on September 9, Walkinshaw won the special election for VA11 by a 3:1 margin, after which he was sworn in almost immediately, pledging to stand up for the district and to have Rep. Connolly’s legacy guide him every day. Which, from watching him closely the past couple months, I’d argue he has most DEFINITELY done – for some examples, see Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Explains – “Trump is the hero in QAnon and Pizzagate,” But Now “MAGA is crashing out” Because, “at a minimum, Trump knew that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were trafficking young girls”, Video: Sen. Mark Warner, Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA08), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10), James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) “call out the Trump Administration for their illegal mass firing of thousands of dedicated public servants in the midst of the Republican shutdown”, etc, etc. Great job so far, definitely carrying on the “fighter” tradition of his mentor, Gerry Connolly!
- Democrats fought Youngkin over his right-wing appointments to university boards of visitors. For more on this story that went on throughout the year, see Video: VA Senate Privileges & Elections Committee Votes 8-4 to Reject Eight Youngkin Nominees, Including Ken Cuccinelli to the UVA Board of Visitors (VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell issues letter stressing “the General Assembly’s constitutional authority over public higher education institutions and the importance of independent governance”); Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger Calls On UVA Board of Visitors to Pause Presidential Selection; Virginia Senate Leaders File Lawsuit Challenging Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares’ Unconstitutional Overreach on University Board Appointments (Plaintiffs charge Youngkin, Miyares with creating “Executive Branch Nullification,” “constitutional crisis”), VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, P&E Committee Chair Sen. Aaron Rouse, Applaud VA Supreme Court Decision Affirming Balance of Powers re: Senate Rejection of Youngkin Appointments to University Boards (“MAGA rules don’t work in Virginia where we still have a rule of law that Youngkin and Miyares have to follow.” ),Judge Sides with Virginia Democrats, Rules Youngkin’s Appointees Cannot Serve on Public College Boards (“The Trump-Youngkin administration…tried to break the law in their attempt to force our progressive university leaders to bow to their will but, today they failed.”), etc, etc. Bottom line: Youngkin relentlessly assaulted Virginia’s great institutions of higher education, and Virginia Democrats fought back, largely successfully. Nice work!
- The Trump administration pressured UVA, triggered the resignation of its president and the signing of a deal with DoJ, etc.. For more on this story, see [UPDATED with Jim Ryan’s Letter] In Response to Youngkin’s “Sad, Whiny” Letter to Spanberger About UVA, VA Senate Majority Leader Surovell Says He’s “truly embarrassed for Gov Youngkin…After 4 yrs he has no understanding of basic VA govt structure” (Sen. VanValkenburg: “What do they say about digging when you’re in a hole?”), Video: As Dems Prepare for “Trifecta” and Sharp Changes from Youngkin Starting in January, VA Senate Finance & Appropriations Subcommittee on Education Hears From UVA Interim President, VMI Superintendent, UMW President; BREAKING: UVA Interim President Paul Mahoney Announces, “This afternoon, I signed an agreement with the federal government that suspends the five remaining Department of Justice investigations into the University.” (Says agreement “does not require the University to make any monetary payments,” “preserves the academic freedom of our faculty, students, and staff,” “does not involve external monitoring.”); Video: VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell Tells UVA Students re: Trump’s “Compact”: “Appeasement Never Satisfies Bullies” (“If we agree to what the Feds say, we betray Thomas Jefferson’s principles, what he built”); Video: VA Senate Dems Agree That Ouster of UVA President Was “deliberately coordinated, specifically planned-out”; “the Youngkin administration coordinated this with the Trump administration” (Youngkin is “more loyal to the Trump administration than he is to the voters of Virginia, because he’s worried about his presidential ambitions and his political base.”); etc.
- Shannon Taylor, who narrowly lost her bid for the 2025 Virginia Attorney General nomination, announced her candidacy for VA01, as did several other Democrats. In June, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor very narrowly lost the Virginia Democratic primary for Attorney General, to Jay Jones. Three months later, she announced her candidacy for U.S. House in VA01, hoping to be the Democratic nominee to take on the abysmal Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01) next year. Since then, Taylor has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, has been endorsed by Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, as well as by Sen. Tim Kaine, former Gov. Ralph Northam, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08), Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10), Sen. Louise Lucas, Sen. Scott Surovell, and many others. There are several other Democrats vying for this nomination, but as of right now, Taylor looks like the strong favorite to win this nomination. The question is, what will the district look like exactly? As its currently constituted, Abigail Spanberger narrowly won it, but if it’s redistricted a few points more Democratic, it REALLY looks like Wittman could be a goner next November.
- The 2025 Virginia General Assembly, under Democratic control, passed a slew of excellent bills on a wide variety of topics – and Youngkin promptly vetoed most of them. Another year – the last, thank goodness – of the Democratic-controlled Virginia General Assembly passing a bunch of excellent legislation, only to see Youngkin veto much of it – because that’s how MAGA Glenn rolls. For instance, Youngkin vetoed the Right to Contraception Act (WTF???), as well as tons of common sense gun violence prevention measures, etc. Thankfully, in a few weeks, we’ll see a MASSIVE upgrade in the Governor’s Mansion, from Youngkin to Spanberger, as well as a much larger Democratic majority in the House of Delegates. So hopefully, many of the excellent bills Youngkin vetoed will return, this time to be signed into law by Gov. Spanberger.
- With possible redistricting to take place in the spring of 2026, the currently deep-red VA06 drew interest from several Democratic candidates. Currently, VA06 is a deep-red district in western Virginia, but that could change dramatically by next spring/early summer, if Virginia voters approve a redistricting amendment allowing for new U.S. House lines to be drawn mid-decade. If that happens, it’s possible Democrats will go for either a 10D-1R map or a 9D-2R map. In the former case, VA06 would almost certainly be competitive, meaning that the godawful Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA06) could be in his last term of office. Possible Democratic nominees include “Dopesick” author Beth Macy, Pete Barlow, U.S. army veteran Ken Mitchell, and possibly Del. Sam Rasoul and/or possibly former Del. Wendy Gooditis. Stay tuned!
- Glenn Youngkin went even further down the MAGA/Trump far-right-radicalization rabbit hole. This guy used to be considered a “moderate,” “normie Republican,” “6’5″ mystery date,” blah blah blah by the idiot corporate media? Yep, he really was. But in fact, Youngkin has rapidly spiraled down the far-right-radicalization MAGA rabbit (hell)hole, certainly since 2022, when he campaigned for some of the most extreme, loony-tunes candidates in the entire country, such as Kari Lake in Arizona, Paul LePage in Maine, Hung Cao here in Virginia, etc. So this year started off with Youngkin speaking at Trump’s inauguration and, laughably/falsely claiming that Turmp’s second term would user in “the dawn of the golden age of America,” with the “sun set[ting] on weakness…[and] wokeness.” Yes, this is just as unhinged, insane, bizarre, freakish, etc. as it sounds. So how did Youngkin “top” this crap the rest of the year? Easy – by supporting Trump, DOGE, etc., even as they devastated the very state that Youngkin was elected to protect and defend! Just appalling, and in a sane/well-informed world, one in which the media actually did its job, Youngkin’s approval rating should be zero…or ok, let’s say 30%? 35%? Anyway, bottom line, the guy’s been a horrendous governor, the worst in decades (since the days of “Massive Resistance”), and he can’t head out the door soon enough – hopefully to never be heard from again, but unfortunately he’ll probably end up doing MORE damage, this time as part of the Trump administration. Ugh.
- Glenn Youngkin called on John Reid to drop out; Reid said he was staying in, and in the end Youngkin backed down. You could tell this wasn’t going to be a great year for Virginia Republicans based on a bunch of indiations throughout the year. One good one was back in April, when Youngkin called on Virginia GOP Lt. Governor nominee John Reid to drop out of the race, “after GOP researchers found sexually explicit posts online that they believe are connected to Reid.” In the end, Reid did NOT drop out, but Virginia Republicans tore themselves apart – although they did belatedly come back together, kinda/sorta, at least for public consumption. Not that it helped much, given the “blue tsunami” election results on November 4. LOL
- Virginia’s Democratic members of Congress took on the Trump administration. For this item, the first point that really needs to be emphasized is that Democrats control literally ZERO levers of power in the federal government right now (great job, Trump voters and those who couldn’t be bothered to vote at all!), with Republicans controlling the White House, US Senate, US House and de facto the US Supreme Court. So for those who love to bash Democrats, claim they need to do more, blah blah blah, maybe instead focus on HELPING Democrats fight back against the actual source of the problem – the MAGA/Trump Republican Party? Anyway, I’d argue that overwhelmingly – with a few exceptions, such as some of the votes for Trump’s Cabinet (e.g., Sen. Tim Kaine voting to confirm Kristi Noem, which I can’t for the life of me wrap my brain around), and deep differences of opinion on whether Democrats should have voted in favor of ending the government shutdown (Sen. Kaine did, Sen. Warner didn’t) – I’d argue that Virginia Democratic members of Congress have done an excellent job taking on the Trump administration, again mostly without having ANY power to subpoena, to cut off funding, etc. So thank you to Senators Warner and Kaine, as well as Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA03), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04), Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Don Beyer (D-VA08), Suhas Subramanyam and James Walkinshaw for fighting the good fight in 2025; looking forward to a lot more of this in 2026.
- Spanberger named several Democratic delegates to her administration, triggering special elections. Since her election on 11/4, Abigail Spanberger has been busy putting her new administration together. So far, appointments include Del. David Bulova as Secretary of Natural & Historic Resources; Del. Candi Mundon King as Secretary of the Commonwealth; Nick Donohue as Secretary of Transportation; Stanley Meador as Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security; etc. In the cases of Del. Bulova’s and Del. Mundon King’s appointments, those resulted in vacancies and the need for special elections in each of those districts – see here for more on those, with Democratic “firehouse primaries” already scheduled for this coming Tuesday.
- Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s election as LG triggered a special election for her Senate seat, then another special election for Del. Michael Jones’ House of Delegates seat . For the rundown on this chain reaction of special elections, see here, including tomorrow’s “firehouse primary” in HD77 to select a Democratic nominee to fill the seat vacated by former Del. Michael Jones, who was nominated to the State Senate to fill the seat vacated by LG-elect Ghazala Hashmi. In short, lots going on, many moving parts, but fortunately these are all solidly ‘blue” seats, so no worries about losing them to Republicans.
- Virginia’s Republican members of Congress voted in lockstep with Trump’s disastrous policies (for the country and specifically for Virginia), deeply harming their own constituents in the process. It’s been truly appalling to watch as Virginia Republican members of Congress just vote, over and over again, in lockstep with Trump’s disastrous policies – the Great Big Ugly Bill, etc. – even as Trump’s agenda has been devastating in so many ways to the country in general, and to these Republican Congressmembers’ districts specifically. Also, can you think of even ONE example of ANY of these Republican members of Congress pushing back against/standing up to Trump on ANYTHING, despite the myriad of illegal and unconstitutional things Trump’s done, not to mention the massive corruption and incompetence we’ve seen over the past 11 months. So the question is, why would you even want to BE IN CONGRESS if you’re going to be this servile, this pathetic, this worthless? Does the minimal amount of power you have – since you’ve given it all away to the executive branch! – really make it worthwhile to you to sell your souls to the devil? Anyway, ALL of these pathetic people need to be OUT OF CONGRESS next November. Certainly those in competitive districts – Kiggans and Wittman for starters, hopefully others as well – need to be booted the hell outta there. Then they can experience firsthand the Trump economy they think is so amazing, as they try to find new jobs in 2027…lol.
- More broadly, Virginia Republicans refused to stand up for their own state against the Trump administration’s depradations – or even cheered them on!: Similar commentary as point #21 on this item; can anyone remember even a SINGLE INSTANCE in which Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Earle-Sears, Jason Miyares, Senate GOP Leader Ryan McDougle, House GOP Leader Terry Kilgore, or ANY of the Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly, stood up against Trump, even as Trump’s policies are doing massive damage to THEIR CONSTITUENTS? As Speaker Don Scott says, Virginia Republicans are terrified to do so, can’t even say Trump’s name, kinda like “Lord Voldemort, he who shall not be named.” Again, why do these people even want to hold elective office if they’re going to be THIS pathetic? Hell, even Indiana Republicans showed some backbone this past week, a lot more than Virginia Republicans have shown. Just a pathetic, disgraceful party no matter how you look at it.
- “No Kings” marches, rallies took place, with tens of thousands of Virginians expressing opposition the Trump administration’s authoritarianism, etc. There are multiple ways to fight back against authoritarianism, one of which for sure is mass protests such as the “No Kings” rallies held across the country, including here in Virginia, in October and in June. If you participated in one or more of the “No Kings” events (as my wife and I definitely did), thank you. If you didn’t, let’s just say…democracy isn’t going to save itself, and an active/informed/engaged citizenry – that’s ALL OF US who care about our democracy – is crucial in that regards. So next time there’s a “No Kings” event, definitely consider participating, even if it’s just by showing up and demonstrating your support for our constitution, democracy, rule of law, etc.
- Virginia’s localities scrambled to figure out how to deal with the adverse budgetary and other ramifications of Trump’s war on the federal government, assault against immigrants, etc. This is definitely a story that deserves to get a lot of attention in 2026, as the implications and impacts of DOGE cuts, reductions in federal aid to states and localities (particularly on healthcare, SNAP, etc.), impacts of Trump’s economic policies, office vacancy rates, Trump’s war on immigrants, etc. hit hard in localities across Virginia. In many ways, local leaders on the front lines, even if they get a lot less media coverage than Congress, the governor, etc. But don’t let that fool you; this is really important stuff.
- The Trump administration threatened federal funding for five “high-performing, award-winning” Northern Virginai school districts over their policies towards transgender students. For more on this, see here (Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine Slam Trump Administration for Ripping Federal Funding Away from Five “high-performing, award-winning” Northern Virginia School Districts; Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William County are all impacted); here (Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine Demand US Dept. of Education Release Federal Funding for Northern VA Schools); etc. And remember, as Senators Warner and Kaine pointed out correctly: “These successful schools are being penalized for complying with the binding rules set forth by federal courts through Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, which extended sex-based discrimination protections to transgender students. In the absence of a change in federal statutes or binding judicial precedent, you should not punish jurisdictions for trying to follow the law.” Exactly!
So what items would you add to this list?
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