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In 2021, the Virginia Political Media Badly Failed Us (and Helped Give Us Glenn Youngkin as Governor). In 2025, It’s Looking Like They’re Gearing Up to Fail Us Again.

By
lowkell
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2

While perusing this morning’s news, the conclusion I drew is that, apparently, all we’re going to get on the 2025 Virginia governor’s race from the media is: a) identity politics (did you know that two women are running? well, if you somehow didn’t know that, don’t worry, because they’re going to tell you over and over and over and over again!); b) “horse race” (who’s up? who’s down? how much money did they raise?). But good luck, for instance, finding out that Winsome Earle-Sears is a right wingnut, or really anything substantive about ANY of the candidates on the issues, in terms of their qualifications for the job, etc.

Just this morning, for instance, there were several articles along these lines, and it was hard to decide which was the least helpful/informative.  But if I have to pick one, I’ve gotta go with this article by Bob Lewis in the Virginia Mercury, which literally concludes as follows:

“Now, a woman will get that chance. I take comfort knowing that there will be a Governor Spanberger or a Governor Earle-Sears.

Either way, her time has come.”

So…seriously, he takes “comfort” in the thought of having THIS PERSON as our next governor!

  • “Sears claimed that after a woman becomes pregnant the baby is not her body, saying, “she’s got her own body” and “the blood running through the veins of the baby don’t belong to her, it’s not her blood.”
  • Sears has tried to base her staunch anti-choice extremism on the widely debunked conspiracy theory that abortion clinics “sell baby parts.”
  • Sears has supported extreme abortion bans — similar to the Texas law banning abortion as early as six weeks.
  • Sears is a longtime opponent of LGBTQ+ rights, previously running on her proud opposition to marriage equality.
  • Sears campaigned with and celebrated the endorsement of E.W. Jackson, a staunch anti-LGBTQ+ bishop who has a long history of spewing hateful rhetoric against LGBTQ+ Americans.
  • Sears has long supported stripping funding from public schools to funnel into unaccountable private and charter schools, leading the most recent legislative push to do so.”

And that’s just a very VERY short list of Sears’ lunacy and extremism. But you’ll never hear a word about any of that, apparently, in Virginia’s political media.

Another exampe: this article – also in the Virginia Mercury – is 100% “horse race,” with an absurd/false/over-the-top statement by Sears (“The threat of radical change that would turn our commonwealth in the wrong direction is real and demands we fight back directly and aggressively.”) presented uncritically/stenographically. Wonderful.

Oh, and if you read this article on WAMU’s website, you’ll learn that Sears “would be the first woman and first immigrant to be Virginia governor and the first Black woman governor in American history,” that she “touts endorsements from 11 state legislators and nearly 60 Virginia sheriffs,” and that “her campaign website does not list any policy priorities.” Other than that…nada. Super helpful, huh? Really gets into the candidates positions on the issues, what voters should be focused on, etc? Not!

Yet another example: this very short piece, by Michael Pope over at WVTF, which mostly features this quote about Winsome Sears:

“She is definitely dealing with the duality of her identity being both Black and being a woman,” says Jatia Wrighten at Virginia Commonwealth University. “She will deal with both sexism and racism, and so besides having to deal with her own party and maybe them not seeing her as a loyalist, she’s going to be dealing with not only her ideology, but also her identity.”

Again…ok, but where’s the substance about Sears’ bats***-crazy, extreme views on almost every topic? Nowhere to be found in that article, or really in ANY article in the Virginia political media this morning (that includes the ostensibly pro-Democratic “Virginia Dogwood” – check this article out, and notice the same pattern as described above).

Oh, and if you were thinking this was just the media failing to seriously cover the governor’s race, there’s also this article in the RTD about the Lt. Governor’s race, which has ZERO information on the Republican candidates’ positions on the issues (e.g., John Reid is hard right/MAGA all the way, but all you really gather from the Virginia “mainstream media” is that he was a “radio host,” the son of a delegate, previously worked for George Allen and Ronald Reagan, and “would be the first openly gay candidate elected to a statewide office in Virginia”)…

Anyway, the bottom line is that for whatever reasons, the Virginia political media – and the media in general – shy away from telling their readers clearly, or at all, how extreme Republican candidates are these days. They did it with Trump in 2016, Trump again in 2020, Youngkin in 2021, Trump again in 2024, and now they’re doing it in the Virginia 2025 elections. And, apparently, that’s all they’re ever going to do – it’s simply “how they roll,” as the saying goes. Unfortunately, by “rolling” in this way – “horse race,” “whitewashing,” “sanewashing,” “both sidesism”/false equivalence, etc. – they’re doing an enormous disservice to the public and to our democracy, while making a mockery of what journalism is supposed to actually be about. And apparently they DO NOT CARE.

DCCC Targets Virginia’s Most Vulnerable Republicans for 2026, Including Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01) and Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02)

By
lowkell
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3

From the DCCC:

DCCC Targets Virginia’s Most Vulnerable Republicans for 2026
DCCC’s 2026 offensive target list includes Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans as Virginians grow sour on Republicans’ record of broken promises and higher prices

Today, the DCCC announced House Democrats’ Districts in Play for the 2026 election cycle includes Rob Wittman (VA-01) and Jen Kiggans (VA-02), signaling Democrats’ readiness to reclaim the House majority by focusing on these key seats in Virginia.

The DCCC’s Districts in Play are competitive districts held by vulnerable Republicans across the country that will determine the House Majority.

The addition of Wittman and Kiggans to the DCCC’s Districts in Play sends the clear message that Democrats will ensure Virginia voters know of these vulnerable Republicans’ continued embrace of Elon Musk’s extremism and their party’s dangerously far-right agenda that’s raising costs, destroying jobs, eroding Virginians’ freedoms, and hurting our country’s future.

Statement from DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene:
“Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans are running scared, and they should be. From tanking the economy, gutting Medicaid, abandoning our veterans, to making everything more expensive, they’ve broken their promises to Virginians, and it’s going to cost them their seats. The DCCC is already working to recruit authentic and battle-ready candidates in Virginia who reflect these districts and will work to better Virginians’ lives, not line Elon Musk and their DC party bosses’ pockets.”

Additionally, the DCCC has launched nominee fund pages (VA-01, VA-02), providing grassroots donors the ability to contribute now to the eventual Democratic nominees in these Districts in Play.

Tuesday News: Right-Wing SCOTUS Strikes Again, with “Disturbing Myopia”; “A Path of Perfect Lawlessness”; Trump “Has No Idea What He’s Doing”; “Trump’s refusal to blink on tariffs raises the risks of an ugly endgame”; Print Media Buries Mass Protests Story on “Page 18”

By
lowkell
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15

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, April 8.

With Vetoes and Destructive Amendments, Youngkin Acts to Deepen Virginia’s Energy Woes

By
ivymain
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4

Cross posted from Ivy Main’s Power for the People VA

This year’s General Assembly session notably failed to produce legislation addressing the widening gap between electricity demand and supply in Virginia. Legislators shied away from measures that would address the growing demand from data centers, but they also couldn’t bring themselves to improve the supply picture by supporting landowners who want to host solar facilities. By the time the session ended, a mere handful of bills had passed that could improve our ability to meet demand.

Still, the initiatives that did pass offered positive steps forward on energy efficiency, distributed generation, interconnection of rooftop solar, energy storage, EV charging and utility planning. In addition, two data center-related bills passed requiring more planning and transparency during the local permitting process and tasking utilities with developing a demand response program to relieve some of the added burden on the grid.

Sadly, however, Republican Gov. Glen Youngkin decided to use his powers of veto and amendment to water down or scuttle the limited (and mostly bipartisan) progress legislators made. The only two data center bills were effectively killed, as were most energy bills – some by veto, others by amendments that made them worse than no action at all.

There’s nothing very subtle going on here. The governor loves data centers and isn’t about to limit their growth, regardless of the consequences to residential ratepayers and communities. He’s also stuck in a rut of attacking the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), which prioritizes low-cost renewable energy over legacy fossil fuels. He won’t be in office when the chickens come home to roost in the form of an electricity shortfall and skyrocketing rates, but he’s setting up his party to cast blame on the liberal climate agenda.

Data centers

The General Assembly failed to pass legislation that would have shifted responsibility for sourcing clean energy onto the data center operators. The only bill to pass that even makes energy a consideration in the siting of data centers is HB 1601, sponsored by Del. Josh Thomas, D-Gainesville. In addition to site assessment provisions at the permitting stage, it requires the utility serving the facility to describe any new electric generating units, substations and transmission voltage that would be required.

Limited as these provisions are, the governor proposed amendments to further weaken the bill, then added a clause requiring that for the bill to take effect, it has to be passed all over again in 2026. That’s a veto by another name.

SB 1047 from Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, requires utilities to implement demand-response programs for customers with a power demand of more than 25 MW, a way of  relieving grid constraints during times of high demand. The governor vetoed the bill, deeming it unnecessary.

The only data center-related bill that did get the governor’s approval is one of questionable utility. HB 2084 from Del. Irene Shin, D-Herndon, merely requires the SCC to use its existing authority during a regular proceeding sometime in the next couple of years to determine whether Dominion and Appalachian Power are using reasonable customer classifications in setting rates, and if not, whether new classifications are reasonable. The SCC seems to be doing this already anyway, but maybe this lets our leaders claim they are doing something to protect residential ratepayers. Plus, they can now call it a bipartisan effort!

Utility reform

With Virginia fixed on a collision course between growing demand for energy from data centers and our leaders’ refusal to support low-cost solar to provide the power, it is more important than ever that our utilities engage in transparent and comprehensive planning through the integrated resource plans (IRPs) filed with the State Corporation Commission. Over the course of last fall, the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation hammered out what I think is truly good legislation to ensure Dominion and APCo present the information the SCC and the public need to be sure our utilities are making the decisions that will improve our energy position and put the needs of ratepayers ahead of corporate profits.

In vetoing SB 1021 from Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, and HB 2413 from Del. Candi Mundon King, D-Dumfries, the governor offered this muddled statement: “The State Corporation Commission has the expertise and the authority to make requirements and changes to the integrated resource plan process. The Virginia Clean Economy Act is failing Virginia and those that champion it should stop trying to buttress this failing policy. But rather should be focused on procuring the dependable power needed to meet our growing demand through optimizing for reliability, affordability, and increasingly clean power generation.”

We get it: Johnny One-Note doesn’t like the VCEA. He said that already. But right now, APCo isn’t filing IRPs at all, and the SCC has been so frustrated with Dominion’s filings that it didn’t approve the last one, and demanded a supplement to the most recent one even before it was filed. Clearly the SCC could use a little help here.

Distributed energy sources

Advocates for small-scale solar were more successful this year than their colleagues who focus on utility-scale projects. Bipartisan majorities seemed to agree that if we can’t or won’t site large solar farms, at least we should make it easier to put solar on rooftops and other small sites close to users.

Sadly, however, only one bill survived the governor’s scrutiny relatively unscathed, though it’s an important one for customer-sited solar. HB 2266 from Del. Kathy Tran, D-Springfield, resolves the interconnection dispute that has stalled commercial solar projects in the 250 kW to 3 MW size range, which includes most rooftop solar on schools. Tran’s bill requires the SCC to approve upgrades to the distribution system that utilities say are needed to accommodate grid-connected solar, a safeguard that will prevent the utility from larding on costs. The utility must then spread the costs across all projects that benefit from the expanded capacity.

Youngkin’s proposed amendment rearranges the language a bit and places it into a new section of code, but does not otherwise change it. He then adds a provision in the tax code to make grid upgrades tax-deductible. I would have thought they would be anyway, as business expenses, but it can only be helpful to spell it out.

Unfortunately, that’s it for the good news.

HB 1883 from Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, and SB 1040 from Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Richmond, contain several provisions aimed at increasing the amount of distributed solar in Virginia. Among other things, the legislation increases the percentage of Dominion’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) obligation that must be met with renewable energy certificates (RECs) from behind-the-meter small solar projects, a change that would make rooftop and other distributed solar more profitable for homeowners and businesses.

HB 1883 also increases to 3 MW from 1 MW the size of solar projects that could qualify for this favored category. Additionally, for the first time it would give all residential ratepayers the right to use power purchase agreements (PPAs) to install solar with no money down, and would increase the amount of electricity Dominion would build or buy from solar facilities on previously developed project sites. To give the market a chance to ramp up, Callsen’s bill excuses Dominion from having to meet its REC obligations from Virginia projects for an additional two years, pushing that date from this year to 2027.

Among all those changes, the only one the governor liked is the idea of softening the requirements around REC purchases. His proposed amendment would make all REC compliance voluntary for four years. Effectively, Virginia would have no renewable energy requirements until 2028, undercutting solar development of any size. His preferred version scraps all of the provisions of Callsen’s bill, leaving no provisions to support solar development and replacing them with an open attack on the VCEA.

I checked in with Callsen by email to get her reaction. She responded, “We sent the administration bipartisan legislation that protects ratepayers, gives Virginians more options for solar on our homes and businesses, and saves rural land. Rather than sign HB 1883 into law,” Callsen wrote, “the governor used this opportunity to attack the Clean Economy Act from 2020. Instead of looking at the past, our Administration should look around; we have a developing energy crisis and are reliant on importing energy to meet our needs.”

The governor also offered a destructive amendment to HB 2346 from Del. Phil Hernandez, D-Norfolk, and SB 1100 from Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond, legislation establishing a pilot program in Dominion territory for virtual power plants (VPPs), which aggregate customer solar and storage resources and demand response capabilities. Although VPPs don’t by themselves add electricity on the grid, they allow time-shifting and other efficiencies that make it easier for utilities to meet peak demand without having to build new generation. The payments utilities make to customers for this service can justify customers’ investments in things like solar, battery storage and smart appliances.

Instead of improving on the pilot program, however, the governor’s amendment scraps it and calls for the SCC to convene a proceeding to talk about VPPs. On the plus side, Youngkin suggests that the conversation include Appalachian Power as well as Dominion, and consider allowing the service to be provided by either the utilities or third-party aggregators, the latter being the favored approach of many industry members. Still, the amendment pushes off any hope of a program for at least another year, until the SCC has made its recommendations. Since it would have been feasible to both start a pilot program this year and have the SCC consider parameters for a broader program in the future, it’s hard to see the governor’s amendment as a step forward.

When I asked her for a comment, Hashmi did not mince words, saying it was “incredibly disappointing” that Youngkin chose to offer a substitute instead of signing the legislation.

“This legislation was the result of several months of conversation among a variety of stakeholders, including our utility companies, energy partners, and environmental groups. The Virtual Power Plant has the promise of helping Virginia meet the goals of our increasing energy demands. The Governor’s substitute shows that he is not serious about responding to the growth of Virginia’s energy needs,” Hashmi wrote.

Other solar bills drew outright vetoes, including Mundon King’s HB 2356, establishing an apprenticeship program to help develop a clean energy workforce. The bill requires participants to be paid prevailing wages, a provision that was a certain veto magnet for Youngkin, whose veto statement reads, “This bill will increase the construction costs which will ultimately be passed along to ratepayers, raising costs for consumers.”

Another bill that drew an outright veto was HB 2037 from Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax. His bill would allow local governments to include in their land development ordinances a requirement that certain non-residential applicants install solar on a portion of a parking lot.

The governor vetoed it because, he said, it would be expensive for developers, and if it weren’t, they would do it without having to be told. (It’s a strange objection. Does he not understand the whole concept of government acting in the public good? Well, maybe not; see the veto.)

Also vetoed was Shin’s HB 2090, changing the rules around multifamily solar. Admittedly I was not crazy about this bill; although it allows solar facilities to be placed on nearby commercial buildings instead of being restricted to the multifamily building itself, it also imports the requirement for minimum bills that has made other shared solar programs in Virginia unworkable for all but the low-income customers who are excused from the minimum bills.

Maybe the trade-off would have opened new opportunities for apartment buildings serving low-income households, which would make it a plus on balance. But among his objections to HB2090, the governor noted that excusing low-income customers from high minimum bills would shift costs onto other customers.

Energy efficiency

The governor vetoed SB 1342 from Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Richmond, and HB 2744 from Del. Mark Sickles, D-Franconia, that would have pushed Dominion and APCo harder to provide energy efficiency upgrades to low-income homes, setting a target of 30% of qualifying households.

He also vetoed SB 777 from Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and HB 1935from Del. Destiny LeVere Bolling, D-Richmond, which would have established a task force to address the needs of low-income customers for weatherization and efficiency upgrades. The governor said it isn’t needed.

If you notice a pattern here when it comes to helping low-income households with their energy burden, you are not alone.

Reached on maternity leave, LeVere Bolling had this to say: “Across our Commonwealth, high utility bills are forcing Virginians to choose between essentials like groceries and medication and keeping their home at a safe temperature during hot summers and cold winters. Virginia has the 10th least affordable residential energy bills in the country. Over 75% of Virginia households have an energy burden higher than the 6% affordability threshold.” She added that the governor’s veto represents a “missed opportunity to address the pressing energy needs of Virginia’s most vulnerable communities.”

 Electric vehicles

The governor offered a substitute for a bill intended to support electric vehicle charging. As passed by the General Assembly, Shin’s HB 2087requires Dominion and APCo to file detailed plans to “accelerate transportation electrification,” including for rural areas and economically disadvantaged communities. It also allows the utilities to file proposed tariffs with the SCC to supply the distribution infrastructure necessary for EV charging stations.

The utilities are also authorized to develop their own fast-charging stations, but only at a distance from privately-owned charging stations, with the SCC determining the proper distance. This provision responds to the request of gas station chains like Sheetz that say they want to expand their EV charging options, but don’t want to face unfair competition from utilities that can rate-base their investments.

The governor’s amendment would prohibit Dominion and APCo from owning EV charging stations at all; in addition, it would allow retail providers of EV charging stations to buy electricity from any competitive service provider. However, the amendment repeals the section of code that allows the utilities to recover costs of investments in transportation electrification.

According to Steve Banashek, EV legislative lead with the Virginia Sierra Club, that “negates the purpose of the enrolled bill.” The amendment, he told me in an email, “removes the requirement for utilities to file for tariffs to support implementation of EV charging and to plan for transportation electrification growth via the IRP process, which is critical for speeding up the transition to electric transportation.”

As for the prohibition on the utilities owning charging stations, Banashek noted that there are areas of the state where private businesses aren’t likely to do it, including in those economically disadvantaged and rural communities. If we don’t want these areas left behind, either the utilities have to step up, or the state does.

Apparently, however, Youngkin doesn’t intend for the state to do it either. Along with his amendments to Shin’s bill, the governor also vetoed HB 1791 from Sullivan, creating a fund to support EV charging in rural areas of the state.

Energy storage

The need for more energy storage seems like it would be one area of bipartisan consensus. Batteries and other forms of energy storage are critical to filling in the generation gaps for low-cost, intermittent forms of energy like wind and solar.

But storage is also required to make full use of baseload sources like nuclear that either can’t be ramped down at times when there is a surplus of energy being produced, or where doing so makes it harder to recover the cost of building the generation. (The already-high projected cost of electricity from small modular nuclear reactors becomes even higher if you assume they don’t run when the power isn’t needed.)

Sullivan’s HB 2537 increases the energy storage targets for Dominion and APCo, and includes new targets for long-duration energy storage. Unfortunately, Youngkin’s substitute language repeals the entire section of code that includes Virginia’s renewable portfolio standard as well as even the existing storage targets. It’s another bit of anti-VCEA flag-waving that won’t help anyone.

Just in case you thought Youngkin might be adhering to conservative free market principles with some kind of consistency, I note that he signed HB 2540 and SB 1207 from two Republicans, Del. Danny Marshall of Danville and Sen. Tammy Brankley Mulchi of Clarksville, which provides a $60 million grant to a manufacturer of lithium-ion battery separators.

I asked Sullivan for a comment on the governor’s action on his bill. He replied, “The Governor’s ridiculous ‘recommendation’ on HB 2537 was disappointing, but hardly surprising. This was not an amendment; he deleted everything – everything – having to do with energy storage, and turned it into a one-sentence bill which would repeal the entire Clean Economy Act.”

Moreover, wrote Sullivan, “HB 2537 was the most closely and extensively negotiated bill among stakeholders that I’ve been involved with since the VCEA. It had broad support – including from Dominion – and should have easily fit into the Governor’s ‘all of the above’ energy strategy and his economic development goals, since it would have brought all sorts of business, jobs, and companies to the Commonwealth.”

Sullivan concluded, “Needless to say, we cannot agree to the amendment.  We’ll easily pass this bill next session, and I suspect Governor Spanberger will sign it.”

Sullivan may be right that it will take a new administration before Virginia gets serious about meeting its energy challenges – if it does even then – but this session needn’t have ended in a partisan stalemate and near-zero progress. Most of the bills the governor vetoed or gutted were passed with the help of Republicans, making Youngkin’s actions less of a rebuke to Democrats than to the members of his own party who were simply trying to do their job. The results, sadly, are bad for everyone.

 

This article originally appeared in the Virginia Mercury on April 1, 2025. The General Assembly reconvenes today for the Veto Session.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL10) Launch Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Rampant Conflicts of Interest at NASA

By
lowkell
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0

Good work by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11), the Ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, as well as by Rep. Maxwell Frost, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs. Of course, it would be great if House *REPUBLICANS* would also step up to the plate and actually do their jobs, but….noooooo.

Ranking Members Frost and Connolly Launch Investigation Into Elon Musk’s Rampant Conflicts of Interest at NASA
Washington, D.C. (April 7, 2025)—Today, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs, and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Iris Lan, Chief Legal Officer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), requesting documents, information, and answers as to how NASA is ensuring Elon Musk is not exploiting NASA to enrich himself and his companies in violation of federal ethics rules.  As Elon Musk and his DOGE lackeys gut and terminate Americans’ vital programs and services under the guise of “efficiency,” he has conveniently ignored the potential waste, fraud, and abuse stemming from his own companies’ lucrative contracts worth billions in taxpayer dollars.  Ethics laws prevent political appointees, including Special Government Employees (SGEs), from taking part in any matter that might impact their personal finances.“At NASA, where Mr. Musk has both benefited from significant contracts and has the potential to receive vast amounts of new business, his defiance of recusal laws and control of operations directly benefit his businesses,” wrote the Ranking Members.  “The known conflicts of interest presented by this arrangement … are illegal and must be addressed immediately.”

As of February 2025, Mr. Musk and his companies have received a combined total of at least $38 billion in contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits from the federal government and state governments. In fact, Mr. Musk’s businesses have been more reliant on government funds than many of his competitors.

Financial Benefits to Musk’s Companies from NASA include:

  • Mr. Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX, has received more than $15 billion in funding from NASA, making SpaceX the agency’s largest private sector contractor.
  • NASA has obligated more than $525 million to SpaceX since President Trump took office, including contracts NASA awarded to SpaceX in February with a combined value of approximately $400 million.  On March 28, 2025, NASA also added an additional SpaceX rocket to an existing contract.
  • Mr. Musk has criticized the Space Launch System (SLS), a multibillion-dollar project led by Boeing, one of SpaceX’s competitors.  The White House reportedly plans on cancelling the SLS program to free up funding that can instead be allocated to Mr. Musk’s priority of sending people to Mars.

In addition to these financial gains, Mr. Musk reportedly personally selected his friend and business partner, Jared Isaacman, to be President Trump’s nominee for NASA Administrator.  Mr. Isaacman’s personal stake in the contracts between SpaceX and the Polaris Program – his private spaceflight program launched in partnership with SpaceX – is valued at more than $50 million.  Notably, the extent of Mr. Musk’s own interests in Mr. Isaacman’s businesses has not been reported because the Trump Administration has not required Mr. Musk to file a public financial disclosure.

Furthermore, reporting indicates that individuals in Mr. Musk’s orbit are operating at the highest levels within NASA.  For instance, a longtime Tesla engineering manager is reportedly part of the DOGE team at NASA and has participated in conversations regarding mass layoffs at the agency.

In order to ensure that NASA is complying with federal ethics and other relevant laws with respect to Elon Musk, the Ranking Members requested that NASA provide information, documents, and answers by April 21, 2025.

Click here to read the letter to NASA Chief Legal Officer Iris Lan.

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Abigail Spanberger Campaign Reports Record $6.7 Million Raised in Q1 of Election Year; More Than Double Winsome Earle-Sears

By
lowkell
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1

For comparison purposes, Winsome Earle-Sears only raised $3.1 million during 1Q25.

Spanberger Campaign Reports Record $6.7 Million Raised in Q1 of Election Year

Spanberger’s Campaign Received More Than 50,000 Contributions of $100 or Less in First Three Months of 2025

Spanberger’s Number is the Highest Amount Ever Raised in Contributions by a Virginia Statewide Candidate in Q1 of the Election Year

RICHMOND, Va. — The Spanberger for Governor campaign today announced that it raised $6.7 million in the first three months of 2025 — the highest amount ever raised in contributions by a statewide Virginia candidate in the first quarter of the election year.

Spanberger’s record-breaking quarter was powered by grassroots donors across Virginia:

  • More than 50,000 contributions were $100 or less.
  • 93% of donations were $100 or less.
  • The average grassroots donation was under $30.

Since launching in November 2023, Spanberger’s campaign has:

  • Raised more than $16 million.
  • Received nearly 126,000 individual contributions.

“Everywhere Abigail goes across the Commonwealth, she hears from Virginians who are ready for a leader who understands the challenges facing hardworking families — and are excited about Abigail Spanberger serving them as Virginia’s next Governor,” said Samson Signori, Campaign Manager, Spanberger for Governor. “Our campaign is tremendously grateful for this record-breaking show of support. We are proud to run a grassroots campaign with the strong support of thousands of volunteers across every corner of our Commonwealth. Virginians trust that, as their next Governor, Abigail will work every day to strengthen our schools, defend Virginia jobs, keep our communities safe, and protect Virginians’ fundamental rights.”

BACKGROUND

Last week, Spanberger officially secured the Democratic nomination to serve as the 75th Governor of Virginia — and today’s record-breaking number demonstrates the continued momentum and enthusiasm at the grassroots level for Spanberger’s campaign.

Last month, Spanberger turned in more than 40,000 petition signatures collected by more than 1,300 volunteers in communities across the Commonwealth — more than four times the number required to get on the ballot in November for Governor of Virginia.

Spanberger served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 2019 to January 2025. Before Congress, Spanberger served as a federal law enforcement officer — tracking narcotics traffickers and working money laundering cases. She then served as a CIA case officer — working undercover on counterterrorism and nuclear counterproliferation cases. She and her husband Adam are the proud parents of three school-aged daughters.

Abigail Spanberger announced her campaign to serve as the 75th Governor of Virginia in November 2023.

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With “all eyes on Virginia in 2025,” DLCC Announces “ongoing seven-figure investment to maintain the Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates”

By
lowkell
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2

Good stuff from the DLCC (h/t to Politico for first reporting this):

RELEASE: DLCC Launches Roadmap to State Democrats’ Victory in Virginia

Defending the Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates is a top priority for the DLCC in 2025

WASHINGTON—Today, the DLCC launched its Roadmap to Victory in Virginia memo, including an ongoing seven-figure investment to maintain the Democratic majority in the House of Delegates. Virginia Democrats have led the fight against Trump’s chaos while Republicans like Gov. Glenn Youngkin have blocked progress – making it crucial to elect a Democratic governor bolstered by Democratic candidates in November. The DLCC already defended the Democratic majorities in both Virginia chambers earlier this year in special elections and our memo lays out the path to continued success in November.

The memo includes our first batch of target races in Virginia with more announcements planned for after the primaries in June. In 2023, the majority in the House of Delegates was decided by just 975 votes. These Spotlight candidates succeeded in the four closest races won by Democrats in 2023:

  • Del. Josh Thomas in HD-21 
  • Del. Michael Feggans in HD-97
  • Del. Joshua Cole in HD-65
  • Del. Nadarius Clark in HD-84

The DLCC is also adding the highly consequential Lieutenant Governor’s race to our target map to secure Democrats’ ability to win tie-breaking votes in the state Senate, where Democrats have a slim one-seat margin.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams issued the following statement:

“All eyes are on Virginia in 2025. Opportunities to move policy and build power aren’t happening in Washington – they’re happening in the statehouses. State legislative races are the most immediate opportunity for Democrats to defend and build sustainable power, and Virginia will be the highest profile, most data-rich election of 2025.

“The DLCC’s decades-long work has fostered an electoral environment for a Democratic trifecta to finally emerge, which would shield the commonwealth from the chaos of the Trump administration and protect hard-fought progress.”

The DLCC is the official arm of the Democratic Party with the sole mission of building Democratic power in the states and setting the national agenda at the state level. Over the last decade, we have fought cycle-over-cycle to gain a dozen new legislative chamber majorities and we are leading the effort to bring national attention and investment to our ballot level. State legislatures are the building blocks of our democracy and have the closest connections to Americans’ day-to-day lives. From protecting fundamental freedoms and voting rights to growing the middle class, the DLCC and state legislators are moving the Democratic agenda forward and shaping the future of this country.

 

Monday News: Of 238 Migrants Trump Sent to El Salvadoran Prison, “most have no apparent criminal records”; “Trump Golfs, Fires Off Social Media Posts as Markets Convulse”; “The only national emergency is the law that empowers a mad king”; “Big protests — but not big news” (WTF?)

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by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, April 7.

Fmr. VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Conservative Republican and Trump Voter: “2025 [VA Governor’s Race] could look a lot like 2017, when Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillispie by 9%.”

By
lowkell
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From conservative Republican and Trump voter, former Lt. Governor Bill Bolling:

  • “2025 is certainly shaping up as a year that should favor Virginia Democrats.”
  • “Not only is Virginia a fairly reliable +3%-4% Democratic state in statewide political campaigns, but the unpopularity of President Donald Trump with Virginia voters should help motivate the Democratic base, especially in vote rich Northern Virginia.”
  • “In addition, early indicators are that Spanberger is outpacing Sears by a margin of at least 2:1 in fund raising, which is critial to a candidate’s ability to get their message out to voters.”
  • “My best assessment at this point is that 2025 could look a lot like 2017, when Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillispie by 9%.”

This seems about right, although the results in Florida and Wisconsin elections last Tuesday indicated a shift towards the Democrats of 11 points in Wisconsin and 19 points in Florida, so if that were to happen in Virginia, we’d be talking about more like a 17-point win for Spanberger. But sure, we’ll take a 9-point win…while shooting for more – to send a message to Trump, to guarantee Democrats sweep the LG and AG races, and to gain as many House of Delegates seats as possible for the “blue team!”

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IT’S SEARS V SPANBERGER

The 2025 race for Governor of Virginia is set. The Republican nominee will be current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle Sears. The Democratic nominee will be former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger.

There had been some suspense on both the Republican and Democratic tickets, but the suspense has faded.

Rep. Bobby Scott, who had talked about challenging Spanberger for the Democratic nomination, chose not to do so.

And on the Republican side, three potential challengers to Sears failed to get the required number of petition signatures to qualify for the election ballot.

There is still some suspense in down ticket races.

On the Republican side, the race for Lieutenant Governor will be between Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, and former WRVA talk show host John Reid. (RPV is still reviewing Reid’s petition submissions.)

On the Democratic side, there is a competitive race for both Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

While you never know what will happen in political campaigns, 2025 is certainly shaping up as a year that should favor Virginia Democrats.

Not only is Virginia a fairly reliable +3%-4% Democratic state in statewide political campaigns, but the unpopularity of President Donald Trump with Virginia voters should help motivate the Democratic base, especially in vote rich Northern Virginia.

In addition, early indicators are that Spanberger is outpacing Sears by a margin of at least 2:1 in fund raising, which is critial to a candidate’s ability to get their message out to voters.

My best assessment at this point is that 2025 could look a lot like 2017, when Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillispie by 9%.

But then again, Democrat Terry McAuliffe was leading Governor Glenn Youngkin by 4% in early October of 2021, before McAuliffe torpedoed his own campaign at the final gubernatorial debate by suggesting that parents should not be able to direct the education of their children.

Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02), in a Competitive/Purple Seat, “doubled down on her support of Trump’s tariffs,” Said Constituent’s Concerns Amounted to “Fear Mongering” and Told Them to “Be Patient”

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lowkell
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Just remember, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) will be up for reelection in November 2026, and that this is a district that was basically a tie between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in November 2024 (while Sen. Tim Kaine won it 51.2%-48.6%). In other words, if Kiggans were smart politically, she’d be putting some serious distance between herself and Trump’s disastrous policies, which are severely harming the people of her district. Instead, Kiggans is “doubl[ing] down on her support of Trump’s tariffs,” claiming her constituents’ concerns about the tariffs/economic damage amount to “fear mongering,” etc.

Of course, Kiggans is the same person who recently lashed out against her own constitutents, calling them “not real Virginians,” “extreme left,” etc. And this is the same Jen Kiggans who the media keeps pretending is some sort of “moderate,” when she votes in lockstep with Trump and the extremist “Freedom Caucus,” hosts Jim Jordan for a fundraiser, says that she “wants the same things” as far-right/nutjob Marjorie Taylor Greene (who Kiggans called her “teammate” and praised as “so kind” and “very nice to me”), endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, etc, etc.

Bottom line: in 2026, VA02 will be a top Democratic pickup opportunity, in part because it’s a swing/”purple” district, and also because Jen Kiggans is faaaar to the right of the majority of her constituents. The only question is, will Democrats have a strong nominee (e.g., the caliber of Elaine Luria) to take on Kiggans? If so, then Kiggans could be in huge trouble come November 2026…

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