See below for straw poll results (some thoughts on those here) and video of the speeches last night at the Mt. Vernon (Fairfax) Democrats annual Mardi Gras party/straw poll last night. The straw poll results were:
Lt. Governor: Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef (81), former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (39), State Sen. Aaron Rouse (31), State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (26), attorney/union leader Alex Bastani (5), attorney Victor Salgado (4)
Attorney General: Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor (163), former Del. Jay Jones (23)
Note that all the candidates in attendance (Jay Jones was the only candidate in a competitive statewide Democratic race who wasn’t there; Abigail Spanberger isn’t facing any primary opposition, at least so far, which is why there wasn’t a straw poll in that race) spoke, in random order, with the straw poll results announced at the end of the evening, after the speeches. Also, see below for some thoughts by VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, who was there along with other members of Mt. Vernon’s General Assembly delegation – Delegates Mark Sickles, Paul Krizek and Rozia Henson. According to Surovell:
“[Youngkin] takes more knees than Colin Kaepernick to President Trump. He does; this governor bows down every chance he gets, and we don’t need a governor like that. We need a governor that’s going to stand up and fight for Virginians…for our jobs…for our federal workers…going to push back; we don’t have that right now. We also need a Lt. Governor; right now we are 21-19 in the State Senate. if we get a Democratic Lt. Governor that means we have two votes to burn in the Senate – it makes a huge difference. With a Democratic Lt. Governor, we got marijuana legalization passed, we also got Medicaid expansion. That’s the difference between having a Democratic Lt. Governor and having a Republican Lt. Governor. We also need an Attorney General who is not going to kowtow and bless every single thing Gov. Youngkin wants to do; we need somebody who’s going to push back and give accurate legal advice to the Commonwealth, and not political advice which is what we have right now…We have some really good candidates you’re going to hear from tonight, and I look forward to serving with [all the Democratic candidates here tonight] so we can work together to have our trifecta back…that we had in 2020-2021 when we got so many good things done.”
With that, here are the results and the speeches. Enjoy!
Shannon Taylor: “Good evening…I am Shannon Taylor and I am the Commonwealth Attorney and I do want to be your next Virginia attorney general. I have to say this is a real treat; I have probably been to this event maybe three or four times, but this is the first time I’ve actually been on stage in front of you guys and so I am super psyched.
Now, if we can talk about all the terrible things that are happening… we talk about the radio right can’t even listen to it. But what we do know is that for everything that happens out of DC, we have a current attorney general who is either rubber stamping what Trump is doing or sitting back and letting his actions go by. And the result is the same…Virginians are getting hurt and I believe that to be a violation of the duties and responsibilities of the Attorney General. Because the Attorney General is there to protect all the citizens of their jurisdiction, so Miyares should be protecting all…but he’s not.
Now we know he’s running in the fall which, means we have to have the best Democratic candidate to take him out come November – we all know that…even though we talked about how important the governor role is, we also need to know how important the Attorney General position is, because it’s the Attorney General, the right attorney general, that’s going to make the difference between women’s reproductive rights or not, or whether that you all that have children or grandchildren in public schools and they are in their classes learning, whether or not border patrol agents will be running down the hallway while they’re trying to learn or not. Wr what we’ve been seeing happening with that Project 2025 that we all knew before November of 2024, we all said this is going to happen. We’ve seen it but the right attorney general will be the one to determine whether or not that entire manual comes to fruition or not.
Now for those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been a lawyer for almost 30 years and during that time I have been a public servant doing the good work for the Commonwealth. And I’ve also been the elected Commonwealth’s attorney in Henrico County since 2012. And for anybody who knows anything about Henrico County, there was a majority leader by the name of Eric Cantor [BOO!] – yeah my constituent. so when I won in 2011, I was the first Democrat to win Henrico County ever. And as we continue to watch Henrico County turn from red to blue, I just continued every time against a Republican opponent four times, winning more and more support. And it’s important to note…that it wasn’t until 2023 that Henrico finally got a Democratic controlled Board of Supervisors and School Board. Now that also means that being the elected Pro I’m guiding Public Safety in Henrico County and that means we’ve been doing the work. We’ve been taking the illegal guns off the street, we’ve been prosecuting violent crimes. And while we’re holding folks accountable, I will tell you that in my 30 years of practicing two cases of a note I prosecuted the Klansman in my county back in 2020 when he took his truck and drove it through a Black Lives Matter march. And I also was more recently the special prosecutor to prosecute one of the white supremacists who marched on the lawn at the University of Virginia back in August [2017]…
…we also offer some compassionate programs – people who are suffering from substance use disorder, mental health and behavior health issues, even socioeconomic factors. We’re giving people a second chance. We’re giving people a leg up and resources to get them back on a healthy lifestyle. And when the Dobbs decision came out, ladies and gentlemen, I got on that national stage and I said I would never prosecute a woman for making a personal reproductive health choice and I would never prosecute the doctor engaging in that very private matter with her.
So I like to talk about the breadth of my experience, my electability – and one last thing executive experience. Being the prosecutor, being elected in Henrico that means I’ve been a boss, I’ve managed people. I have provided a positive work environment in my office. And if you’re going to be the the head of one of the largest law firms in Virginia, wouldn’t it be nice to have someone who’s done that job before? And it will be my pleasure to make sure that all the good public servants in the Attorney General’s office get that same positive leadership and good positive energy in that environment.
So ladies and gentlemen, I call myself Shannon Taylor battle tested, ready to hit the ground running. And I hope that for this evening, I’ve earned your vote for the straw poll. But more importantly, I hope I’ve earned your vote for the primary on June 17th. Thank you very much”
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Babur Lateef: “Good evening Mount Vernon Democrats. My name is Babur Lateef, I am the current chairman of the Prince William County School Board, I’m a practicing opthalmologist, I’m a parent of four children and I’m public servant for a while. I’ve also served on the board of visitors at the University of Virginia, serving the last two years as chairman of their health system board.
What I want to tell you is that Prince William County was a red county when I started, I ran against a guy by the name of Corey Stewart. And yes, that was a red county when I did that in 2011, but Fairfax Democrats, Mount Vernon Democrats came down the road and helped us turn that county blue. I want to thank all of you for doing that. We took over the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in 2019, it was only in 2019 – we we held it in 2023.
What I want you to know is some of the work that I do on a daily basis as school board chair. We’ve given teachers the largest raise in the history in the country in the last 7 years, 61% raise for teachers. We’ve implemented collective bargaining, prevailing wages. We’ve got record scholarship dollars for our students from $20 million a year to about $130 million a year, which is real money in real pockets for real people.
Now let me tell you about this past week. A couple weeks ago, we got a letter from Donald Trump said that if you don’t close your DEI program in all the schools…we will cut your federal funding. That’s right, that’s right. That deadline was last night at midnight. And a reporter called me yesterday and said Dr Lateef, what are you going to do tomorrow about DEI? And I said we will proceed as usual. He then asked me, well what happens when he cuts your federal aid? I said we will then see him in court.
We’re going to get a little interactive in here – you’re going to finish my sentences. When he comes and takes our immigrant kids, we will see him in court. If he comes after our libraries, we will see him in court. If he takes away our Medicaid, we will see him in court. If he goes after contraception, abortion or IVF, we will see him in court. Thank you. I had a guy today in northen Neck saying we will see him in jail. God willing God willing.
So I’m not that Democrat that’s going to wave a white flag folks. We will take them to court. When Karen Corbett Sanders and I were serving on the school board together, we took Youngkin to court, when he did an executive order on mask mandates, and we beat him in federal court three days days after he was inaugurated. We will take to the streets. I marched with the American governorment workers association with my white coat, because physicians and research scientists work for the federal government. My wife works at NIH, so that’s important. We’ll do the streets, we’ll do the courts and we’ll do civil disobedience if that’s what it takes.
Who in here is a federal worker or knows a federal worker or a contractor? Yes, that should be everyone. We will work hard to defend their work. You need a leader who’s lieutenant governor who knows what it’s like to have someone in their family in the federal workforce, someone who’s worried about losing their job. My patients are losing their jobs on a daily basis. I see 50 patients a day and they are scared. My parents of students in Prince Willam County schools are losing their jobs and they are scared. My wife, who works at NIH, who’s a research scientist, is worried. We need to do something to to manage this and you need a leader who understands what people are going through.
When he takes Medicaid – let me ask you something, what does a Medicaid patient look like? [Us.] Take a look around, that’s right like me and you. A Medicaid patient may have lost her job yesterday, 3 months ago, 6 months ago; it is a safety net to protect all of them. Those are my patients, I take care of those patients, I know what they’re going through, I know what they’re afraid of, it is a great program. Virginia, California have expanded it more than any other states in the country and we need to defend that. You need a leader who understands how that impacts people.
Last, I’m going to leave you with a story; well first I want to tell you why I represent your best chance as a lieutenant governor candidate in the fall. I have won more votes than anyone in the lieutenent governor race in Prince William County three times 70,000 votes 60,000 60,000 in those off off year awful elections for red purple districts. We’ve helped make Prince William go from red to blue. With your help I won those races in districts that are not really blue. I’m uniquely qualified because I see people every day, I talk to them every day, I know there stories whether they’re Republican patients or Democratic patients or children, Medicare Medicaid – that makes me uniquely qualified. And also one of the few that have a small business. And so those unique aspects of what I bring to the table will help me make the decisions that help us lead our Commonwealth and move us forward.
I’m going to leave you with one last story about one of those those patients. I had a patient about four or five years ago, great Democrat by the way, sort of bring this all together, she’s an immigrant from the Philippines married in American GI. She’s about 70 she’s a widow now. She had a very rare type of stroke and lost vision in both eyes immediately. She came to the office, there was nothing we could do – when you lose vision with a stroke you lose it for good. We sent her to all the specialists, she spiraled into depression. She was living alone her kids live in the region, her kids are stretched taking care of their own kids, each spending a night with her…they divided it up and it was a lot of strain. Every, day every week she would come to my office really, what can I do, what can I do. Now we don’t have any real Social Services for the blind, visually impaired in Northern Virginia, the only place to go is in Richmond. So I sent her after a year of this, she was struggling, she went to Richmond and she went to the school for the visually disabled/ And then I didn’t see her for 2 years, 3 years. She came back last fall and I said where you been? She said Dr Lateef, I went down there, I learned how to live with this, it changed my life. I moved down there to an apartment next to the building and now I teach in that school.
If you believe we are in dark times, leave here with the hope that that’s who we are, that’s who our American friends, our neighbors, our patients, our colleagues, that’s who we are as a country. She found hope and she then took that hope and not only got her life back, she created a brand new life. And so I want to leave you with that folks. Please consider me, Babur Lateef, as your lieutenant governor candidate for tonight in the straw poll and on June 17th and in November. Thank you very much.”
Aaron Rouse: “Good evening. I tend to take a a bit of a different approach than the other candidates that are running for lieutenant governor. I think we all understand what we’re up against see in this Administration and what the Republican Party and what they stand for – rolling back rights, voting rights, workers rights, union rights, not supporting public education. So at this time, I want us to focus on Democrats…we have to focus on what we can do to build our party and to expand our party.
It’s about stepping up. My entire life I have been stepping up. I am much more than just a football player – yes I played at Virginia Tech, I played for Packers, New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals. But I’m much more than a football player. You see I hail from Hampton Roads, the 757. My mother raised four of us – I have older twin sisters whose birthday is on Christmas day, my birthday is 2 weeks later and I got a baby brother who got away with everything so I don’t really talk about him. My mother raised four of us by herself. My grandmother cleaned houses in the city of Virginia Beach. My mother’s most important thing was to get an education to graduate from high school, just graduate from high school. Unfortunately my grandmother died from breast cancer at the young age of 49. And when she passed at a young age, my grandfather who served in the United States Army he’s born in 1918 he came to me I was 10 years old, he said you’re the man of the house. And he put a lawnmower in my hand, and he put me to work and I’ve been working my butt off ever since I was 10 years old, working at the Virginia Beach School bus garage, Farm Fresh, Target to make sure I can help my mother out with bills. So when we talk about minimum wage, Medicaid, health care, I lived that, I experienced that.
We talk about being the first generational college student to Virginia Tech. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my public school teachers, without those coaches. It just so happened the good Lord blessed me with football talent and I was able to turn that to a full scholarship. But my grandfather instilled in me three important values – he said keep God first, work for everything that you want, and your word is your bond. My freshman year in college, my high school sweetheart and I we had a son together. So I was a first generational college student, I was a full-time student, I was an athlete and I was going to be a father.
Now how many of you know who Frank Beamer is? Coach Beamer, College Football Hall of Fame, head coach. I remember having to talk to Coach Beamer, and I always say it from my perspective, coach I can’t stay here during the Spring, I’m going to have a son, I have to go home and get a job, I’m going to take care of my family and be a better father to my family than my dad ever was to us. And I came home and I got a job working concrete, working on a concrete line is hard work it’s really hard work. And if it was inclement weather you didn’t receive a paycheck. So understand what that means – so if you work 5 days out of the week and three of those days it rains, your paycheck is only 2 days. But you still got to put food on the table, you still got to put a roof over your head, you still got to take care of your family.
But not only that, I still had a dream of wanting to play football at the next level. So I still trained, still went back to school in the fall. To my Coach Frank Beamer’s surprise, he said you’re back? I said yes coach, because my grandfather instilled in me that your word is your bond, your word is your bond and that is something that I have I lived by, something that I teach my son to this day.
So when my NFL career was over, I ran for Virginia Beach city council. I garnered the most votes ever in a Virginia Beach election, becoming the youngest African-American to win citywide and at large, all 460,000 people. I was able to do some great things in the City of Virginia Beach. I was only one of three Democrats on an 11 person council and was still able to be effective. Why? Because I still recognize that those across the aisle are human beings, that civility and humility will take you a long way. That is what I’m trying to restore back into politics today ,leading the Democratic way, understanding that it’s going to take a team, it’s going to take all of us was able to get the highest pay increase for city workers, staff and first responders that they had in over 32 years in the City of Virginia Beach. I was able to protect voting rights, make sure they had true voting rights in the City of Virginia Beach. But one of the most things I’m most proud of is I was able to build a park and playground in the community that I grew up in, making sure that nobody got left behind, understanding that we were all in this together.
And when Glenn Youngkin came, talking about we’re going to take away voting rights and women’s rights, I was like no way, we’re not having that, I’m going to step up again. And folks said don’t run an SD7. If you all remember, painfully remember when Jen Kiggans beat Elaine Luria in CD2, SD7 came open and they said don’t run for that seat, it’s too red, Glenn Youngkin won that District by five points. And I said what do you mean? They’re talking about taking away women’s rights in the 21st century, they’re talking about taking away voting rights in the 21st century, we have to step up. So I told my wife I said, listen babe, I want to run for state senate. And she said well who’s going to run for your spot on city council? And I said I don’t know, we have to find someone. And she looked at me, she said I want to run, I want to run, she said just like you stepped up I’m going to step up and run. And my wife – get this, the good old boy network yes, they still exist, they raised $180,000 against my wife, we only raised about $20,000. And my wife still won our district by 10 points.
This is not just about politics, it’s about our community. We are there every day in our community. You’re not just going to see me just want this time politics time. I want to make sure we can build up our community, I want to make sure we can build up our Commonwealth. So once again not only did Glenn Youngkin bring down Winsome Sears, he brought down Governor [Bob] McDonnell, Governor George Allen. three Republican governors and lieutenant governor all campaigned against me down in Hampton Roads. And I tell you what, we kicked their butts, we flipped that district, becoming the first Democrat to hold SD7 in over 25 years, the first African-American to be elected from the city of Virginia Beach.
I want you to understand something. Yes I am running for lieutenant governor but mostly because I want us to win. I want Abigail Spanberger to be become governor, to win statewide. To win statewide it comes through Hampton Roads. I’m the only candidate that has local and state experience. I’m the only candidate that has an effective record of getting things done. So I’m not going to come up here and I’m not going to promise you the world. But what I will give you is my word and I’m going to work for you, I’m going to work hard, I’m going to follow through on all of the things I said I’m going to do. And when I come up short, I’m going to get back up and keep working.
Again, this election is not about Donald Trump. We know what they stand for. It’s about Democrats – what do we stand for? What do we stand for? What will we get out and vote for? How many people are we going to bring to the polls? How many people are we going to sign up to knock doors?…So what are we going to do? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to work my butt off to ensure that we win back three state offices, we win back the house and we keep the Senate to protect our communities, to protect federal workers, to support public education, to support affordable housing, to support voting rights. That’s what I’m going to do and I like your help” [my phone ran out of juice at this point, but there were only a few more seconds of Rouse’s speech, pretty much just wrapping it up and thanking everybody]
Ghazala Hashmi: “Good evening, Mt. Vernon Democrats, it’s so great to join you. And you know, everywhere I’ve been going around the Commonwealth, the rooms are bursting, people are angry but people are ready to fight and to work. In fact, in Chesterfield County just a few weeks ago, the Fire Marshall had to close our room because we had too many people ready to fight Trump.
So I am so delighted to be here. I’m State senator Ghazala Hashmi. I have the honor of representing the city of Richmond and Chesterfield County. I am in my second term in office and I also have the honor of chairing our committee on education and health. And I’m here tonight to share a little bit about myself, about why I ran and why I’m running now for lieutenant governor.
You see, I used to be a mild-mannered English professor. So if you know anything about English professors, they are absolutely not mild mannered. We teach the books that other people want to ban. And we are here fighting for all of those critical issues that are so critically important. I spent almost 13 years in the college classroom and I taught American literature, that’s my area of specialization. I taught the foundational texts of this democracy – the Constitution, the Federalist Papers…the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the poetry of Walt Whitman. And I taught my students this idea of America, this idea that holds us, that informs who and what we are – no matter our ethnicity, our religion, where we came from, who we love, this idea that is at the core and the heart of everything we believe in.
And then named 2016 happened…and a man named Donald Trump somehow became our president and I felt my world rock. I felt like the the ground had been shaken under my feet, because I didn’t recognize the country, and I couldn’t look at my students in the face when I’ve been teaching civil disobedience and teaching my students that we fight for justice, we fight for each other, suddenly we had a man in the White House who was denying all of that reality. I didn’t know if I could tell my students anymore that this idea of America still existed. And I knew I had to do something. I knew I had to do something, especially as a Muslim American. If you will recall that Donald Trump rode into the White House promising a policy on a Muslim ban. It was the first executive order that he implemented immediately after the inauguration. And one day as I was…. driving into my office and got into the parking lot and I just felt the world had fallen out from underneath my feet. I had heard the story on NPR that morning that Donald Trump wanted to institute a Muslim registry, he wanted every single Muslim in this country to be documented and to track.
Well, we’re here again sadly aren’t we? We have the creation of registries, we have the tracking of individuals. And that is that moment in 2017 when I heard that story. I felt like I didn’t have any options anymore. I couldn’t stay in my classroom, I couldn’t be quiet anymore, I couldn’t be invisible. I actually had to speak up. I had to stand up, I had to stand out. And I decided to run for a seat that had been in Republican hands for 30 years. There was a Republican incumbent. And people told me Ghazala, don’t even try – you’re a political novice, you’re an immigrant, you’re a Muslim and you’re a woman – you don’t have a chance. Well guess what? Not only did we win a competitive primary but we went on to win that general election, we flipped that red seat blue, we flipped it by almost 10 points that year.
And when we took that seat, we brought in the Democratic majority into the Senate, one seat made that difference. We also brought in the trifecta under Governor Northam – one seat made a difference. We were able to pass all of the critical legislation that’s protecting us now – gun safety regulation, workers protections, protections on reproductive health care, so many great environmental bills. nd we were also able to pass critical legislation to protect public education. And you know two years later, when we lost the House, we lost the majority and Governor Youngkin came into office. Guess what? That one seat continued to protect us, it protected us from all of the efforts that Youngkin has been making for 4 years now to roll back gun safety, to attack women’s reproductive health care and to dismantle public education. I have the honor of serving as chair of that committee. We have killed every bill. We make Youngkin look good, because the public doesn’t understand, they don’t see those bills where he has tried to privatize public education, he has tried to create charter schools, he has created tip lines, snitch lines against our teachers. He has done everything he can to attack the integrity of the issues and the values that we hold dear.
And so I am running for lieutenant governor after six years in the Virginia Senate, the Senate is my home, the LG is the president of the Senate there are things left to do, there’s work that I still want to do. I want to ensure that we have the majority, I want to keep us moving forward. And this is going to be the critical election that once again sends a rebuke to Donald Trump – your policies will not hold in Virginia, we are going to be fighting back, we are going to represent the true essence of our American democracy. And I would be so honored to have your vote tonight, I would be tremendously honored to have your support in June. Let’s do this, let’s make sure that Virginia continues in the direction that protects and preserves all that we hold dear for ourselves and for our children. Thank you so much Mount Vernon.”
Levar Stoney: “Mt. Democrats are you in in the house [Applause] tonight? Folks it’s been 40 days, it’s been 40 days. And here’s the thing – I knew that he was a scoundrel, I knew that he was a liar, I knew that he was a predator, but I didn’t know that he was cold and heartless the way he is. Because as you know here in Northern Virginia, he has devastated working families who brought their expertise and their talent in years in the federal government. I always knew that Donald Trump would be a fighter for those who are born with the most or those who have the most. But right now in this time, we need leaders who are willing to stand up for those who are born with the least and those who have the least.
And I know a little bit about that. Some 44 years ago I was born to two unwed teenagers, black teenagers who didn’t have very much. And when you’re born to a couple teenagers you know the outcomes, you know the expectations. They’re zero, they’re zilch. But by the grace of God I had a grandmother who intervened and a father who sacrificed. And even though I went to school with holes in my socks, sat in the back of the classroom waiting to go on field trips that I wasn’t allowed to go on, and living on free and reduced lunch, I became the first of my family to graduate from high school, the first of my family to go to college, the first of my family to graduate from college. And when I graduated from James Madison University I devoted my time, my life to fighting for the left out, the least, the forgotten, the underdog and fighting for fairness.
And that’s why I joined the Democratic Party. And I’m no Johnny Come Lately Democrat. I knocked on the doors with my clipboards. I helped advise candidates at the local level, the state level and also those in the legislature. And at 26 years old, I ran the state Democratic party right here in Virginia. At 32 years old, I was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth, the youngest member of Governor McAuliffe’s Cabinet and the first Black Secretary of the Commonwealth. And I’m a believer… you only get one of these opportunities in a lifetime, and when I was there I led the initiative to restore the rights to former offenders and returning citizens: 200,000 restored under Governor McAuliffe’s watch. Ppeople like my father who would walk into rooms and get doors slammed in their faces because they wore a scarlet letter for a lifetime. I believe in redemption and forgiveness and I brought that to government.
That’s why I ran for mayor of the capital city of Richmond. And at 35 years old I was elected the youngest mayor in Richmond’s history. And over the course of the last 8 years as mayor, I continued my fight for fairness. Number one, we saw poverty drop by a third under our watch, more people living in prosperity. We did that by bringing together economic opportunities and economic growth. We did programs that were innovative and pioneered right in Richmond – programs like making transit fare free in the city of Richmond, ensuring that those living on a fixed income, those who were also workers, were able to get free transit. We also were able to fund our schools. I increased funding for Richmond public schools by nearly 60% on my watch. We saw educators now who were on the average being paid $52,000 a year, when I left they were being paid $73,000 a year on average.
And last but not least, I will always be tagged with and I’m proud of it, I was the guy who ordered the removal of every single damn Confederate monument in the former capital of the Confederacy. And now I’m ready to be your Lieutenant Governor because I believe every Virginian deserves a fair shot no matter the color of their skin, no matter who they pray to, no matter who they love, no matter what party they vote for. And a fair shot to me begins with our rights, and that’s why I will be a loud advocate to ensure that every one of those Constitutional Amendments – marriage equality, restoration of civil and voting rights and reproductive rights – get protected in the Virginia constitution.
I’m a also believer that a fair shot begins with being able to afford a life in Virginia…now in Virginia over half the renters in this state pay more than a third of their annual income on housing. Over a quarter of homeowners use most of their anual income on housing. It’s time we build more housing in the Commonwealth of Virginia, more affordable housing. And when I team up with our next Governor Abigail Spanberger, I want to make sure to…ensure we build housing in every part of this Commonwealth and incentivize the localities to do it.
Last but not least, I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for education. It’s time that we retain the title in this state of being the best place to raise a child. That means from the time they’re born to pre-K to K through 12 to higher ed, we need to make it affordable and more accessible for kids to grow and learn in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Tonight, as Democrats, we must crystalize the reason why we do this. JHust miles away from here on Route One, there’s a family who’s doing everything we’ve always told them to do – they’re working hard, they’re playing by the rules, they’re keeping their nose clean, they’ve got kids who are going to school and doing everything we’ve always told them to do. But the window of opportunity is closing on them. And we need to be the party that will fight like hell for their opportunity.
And so tonight, I’m asking you to join me. Will you fight like hell? Will you fight like hell for Abigail Spanberger? Will you fight like hell with the Democratic ticket? Let’s get this!…Democrats. Thank you!”
Victor Salgado: “Good evening Mount Vernon Democrats how are you doing tonight? Come on let’s try that again; I know the country is in turmoil…but we have to energize, we have to organize because we have to take our country back one election at a time. So let’s try that one more time, how we feeling tonight Mt. Vernon? There you go, okay.
I am a new face, okay, because I’ve been a federal prosecutor for the last 13 years of my life, I’ve been a monk in the monastery protecting our system of government, protecting our government, our democracy. So I’m new to you and I want to tell you a little bit about about myself. I am the father of two amazing school age daughters that I sent to public schools in Arlington County. They are the loves of our lives, the reason why we get up every morning and the reason why I’m in this fight, the reason why I’m standing before you. I am married to a phenomenal woman, Diana Salgado – she couldn’t be here tonight taking care of our two daughters. And I mention her because she has dedicated her entire career to fighting for reproductive health care access as a senior lawyer at Planned Parenthood of America. Thank you. She’s been in that fight for 16 years; I’ve been in it with her. And that’s also one of the reasons why I’m running for lieutenant governor.
For my part, as I mentioned, I was a federal worker not 7 days ago. I’ve devoted my career to clean and honest government, most recently at the United States Department of of Justice where I prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases and sensitive and complex cases. I’ve done for example, I’ve convicted Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona for enforcing immigration laws when he shouldn’t have been doing that in Maricopa County. And I mentioned Joe Arpaio, because if it were up to Trump and Governor Youngkin, I don’t know if you saw the executive order a couple days ago, they would have Sheriff Arpaios in every corner of our Commonwealth and we do not stand for that. I’ve also brought to the likes of Congressman George Santos, I’m sure you’ve heard that one, you know what that was about or wasn’t about. And I’m also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University. I mention that because the next four years are going to present the most significant constitutional challenges to the Commonwealth. This tension, this interplay between the power of the federal government and the power of the Commonwealth to push back. I am ready to take that fight head on as a constitutional lawyer, the only constitutional lawyer in this field.
We need somebody who not only loves Virginia, but who also understands Washington and more importantly understands and knows Trump’s people As a DOJ official during the first Trump Administration, I saw these people up close and personal. They are ugly, ugly. I saw what’s happening I saw it coming and on election night I said, I have to do my part, I will not be able to continue being that monk in the monastery fighting for good government and fighting for our democracy. So I jumped into this race to take those issues head on.
Now what’s at stake this election isn’t just our ability to push back on Washington on these policies of reproductive rights, immigration, education, law enforcement, you name it – I have a plan for all of that. What’s at stake this election is something more fundamental, what type of country are we we have? Two competing views – we have Trumpism, Elon Musk, Russell Vought, Stephen Miller – where America is just a bunch of winners and losers, where the winners keep winning and the losers keep losing. We don’t buy that. We think America’s better than that. We subscribe to the notion that we are in this together, that fising tides lift all boats, that we protect one another, that we love one another.
And so what that means is that here in Virginia, we have to send a clear message this year that Virginia is not part of Trump’s America. Here in Virginia, we care about a woman’s right to choose, right to bodily autonomy and her her ability to define and chart her own future. We care about poor folks, not just in urban centers and rural areas, we care about mom and pop shops, small medium-sized enterprises. And yes, we love our LGBT brothers and sisters and others. It is that fundamental American belief that we’re in this together, e pluribus unum, out of many one, and that here in the Commonwealth, we don’t suffer bullies, because out of the powerful many, that’s all of us in here, we step up as one voice when Donald Trump comes knocking. And we tell them, not today, not in Virginia, we are better than you and we will show it to you Donald Trump.
So if we step up together in one voice from Roanoke to Hampton Roads, from Richmond to Northern Virginia, I am convinced that we will flip all three statewide races, that we will take our Commonwealth back. We’ll get that Trifecta that we need to push back on Trump’s worst instincts and worst desires to the Commonwealth and together together we will get through this mess. Please go to my website victor4virginia.com, become a volunteer. I am a new type of candidate, a different type of candidate. Thank you let’s step up together.”
Alex Bastani: “Evening. I want to thank you for yourvery kind invitation and for taking time from your busy schedules to listen to me tonight. My name is Alex Bastani, I look forward to it being mispronounced for the next four to hopefully next eight years. I’m a member of the Virginia State Bar, a graduate of George Mason School of Law and I will not call it that other name if you know you know. I’m also a union leader, I was a 30-year union member and the president of my local for 10 years. I was educated in Northern Virginia from Camelot Elementary School in Fairfax to the TC William Titans in Alexandria. Sadly no one remembers my one great game against [?]. OK, I’m running on a campaign of universal health care, $20 minimum wage, student debt relief and to get rid of that clearly unconstitutional union-busting right to work law once and forever.
My grandfather Richard James was one of those brave men that liberated Europe from the tyranny of fascism. Five or 10 years later he’s back home in Chicago working a good union job at United Airlines. Every single nation he liberated had universal health care, even the enemy nations that we fought. But 80 years later, his grandson, yours truly, writes a $310 check every month to United Healthcare – yes them – to take care of his daughter. That simply is wrong. Health Care is a human right, it is not a privilege. It’s no different from water and food and shelter. We must fight for universal health care for every Virginian.
Now Trump wants to take what little we have through Medicare. Let’s show him ,let’s show him we’re the best state in the country and take care of every single one of our citizens, whether it’s physical or mental health. No one should declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. No one should have to stay at a job that’s not safe, that’s low paying or where they may be facing sexual harassment because they have to hold on to healthare. And no one should have to take a child to turn because they can’t afford the procedure.
Now let me make one thing absolutely clear and this is going to give me in a little bit of trouble. I don’t know how you truly support women’s reproductive rights if you don’t support universal health care. A woman’s reproductive rights isn’t simply about abortion – it’s about screenings, it’s about testing, it’s about prenatal care. And 2/3 of Americans can’t even afford a $500 emergency – how can they afford this? That’s why I’m asking for your vote today and for your vote on June 17th. Thank you so much for your time. God bless.”
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