Bold Dominion

Episode Notes Virginia's campaign finance laws (or lack thereof) are akin to the Wild West. Lawmakers talk about the so-called Virginia Way, but plenty of them feed from the trough of big donors. Despite decades of reform efforts, campaign finance bills keep dying on the Assembly floor. This year, a proposal would have prohibited lawmakers from using campaign funds for personal expenses. Even that...

Episode Notes There are so many wonderful teachers out there. Teachers who don’t just view it as a job, but as a calling. Which is why it’s so disheartening to see education policy bandied about in state capitals by so many lawmakers who’ve never taught a class or asked a teacher what they need. Today, we’re looking at the state of public education teaching in Virginia… The serious shortages in te...

Episode Notes "Legalize weed" is an easy slogan, but the devil is in the details if we want to do that fairly. Can we set up the market to benefit Virginians and small businesses, not just a few corporate owners? Can we repair and do right after decades of unfairly enforced drug laws? In 2022, those conversations are as pressing as ever... especially since a newly elected Republican majo...

Episode Notes For decades, Virginia lawmakers have been more likely to show deference to Dominion Energy than to challenge their power. These days, Dominion isn't just the state's biggest public utility... it's also the state's biggest corporate political donor. Not that everybody is okay with that. For years, some progressive Democrats have called out Dominion. This year, some Republicans have fo...

Episode Notes The General Assembly is starting its 2022 session this week. Legislation is the meat and potatoes of Virginia politics, so grab a fork and knife. MIght want to put on a bib, too. It can get messy. In this episode, Delegate Sally Hudson explains what to look for amidst our new divided government. Plus: Virginia's List founder Amy Laufer wants to help you follow bills, make an impact,...

Episode Notes This week on Bold Dominion, we're looking back at 2021. In state politics, I'm not sure how to sum things up. I don't have a pithy phrase or simple hot take. We started the year with Trumpists attempting a coup against the United States. Over the course of the year, many Virginia statues of confederate traitors to the United States came down. And near the end of the year, Republicans...

Episode Notes It’s almost Christmas. But for millions of Virginians, worries about housing costs temper the celebrations. Nearly 3 in 10 Virginia households cost burdened, paying more than 30% of their income for shelter. This week, we look at how cities across Virginia - and America - have zoned their way out of 'missing middle' housing over the last 80 years. And what some cities in Virginia are...

Episode Notes Last month, we had what felt like a national election only in Virginia. These were state elections, but the focus was on national concerns. When Bold Dominion launched in 2019, we were struck by how many people closely follow national politics but know very little about how our own state government works. Or the power of state government to impact people's lives. David Toscano has wr...

Episode Notes Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin campaigned on a raft of culture war issues. But it still takes the General Assembly to pass new laws, and Virginia's State Senate still has a Democratic majority. So what powers does the Virginia governor really have? What can a governor do even without new legislation? This week, Bold Dominion sits down with a pair of UVA politics professors for a deepe...

Episode Notes Virginia's 2021 Election Day has come and gone. And Republican Glenn Youngkin will be the next governor of Virginia. Not only that, but it looks like Democrats have lost their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. So what happened? To answer that question, our crew from Bold Dominion joined up with the crew from the podcast Transition Virginia for a special crossover episode.

Episode Notes There's an underlying principle to Virginia politics that often goes unmentioned--it's called the Dillon Rule, and it effectively says that local governments only have powers that are explicitly granted by the state. How does this affect our local legislators and our state as a whole? This is a reprise of an episode that originally aired in February 2021.

Episode Notes Early voting in state elections has already begin in Virginia, and they'll all be counted on November 2. This week on Bold Dominion: What are the stakes in this year's Virginia gubernatorial election? Why does it matter? What’ll actually change if McAuliffe wins? Or if Youngkin wins? But it's also bigger than just Virginia. Our state elections are being driven at least partly by the...

Episode Notes Here in Virginia, many of us have been shielded from the worst effects of climate change. So far. But we know - or we should know - that the planet is burning. And that without major policy changes, it’s going to get much worse. And so much human suffering could follow. So what’s a state to do? What policies can Virginia enact? After all, this is a global issue, and the operations of...

Episode Notes For Episode 43 ("Where did Virginia's state constitution come from?"), producer Katherine Hansen talked at length with UVA Law professor A.E. Dick Howard, who wrote the current Virginia constitution. For the full civics experience, we're offering that full interview here as a bonus episode this week.

Episode Notes This year marks the 50th anniversary of Virginia’s current state constitution - one of seven that has governed the Old Dominion. This golden anniversary arrives during a critical juncture in both Virginia and our nation. In this episode, we talk at length with esteemed UVA law professor AE Dick Howard, who wrote Virginia's current state constitution. Prof. Howard discusses our state'...

Episode Notes “The Virginia Way” is an old-fashioned ideal here in the Commonwealth--the notion that our public servants have so much integrity that we don’t need laws to regulate money that goes into the political process. As a result, we have almost no campaign finance regulation--a fact that's been exploited by aristocrats and corporations for decades, if not centuries. In this episode, we sit...

Episode Notes Four years later, the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville is still a moment we mark time by. It has shaped us as people. And it has shaped the social and political landscape of Charlottesville and Virginia. Today on Bold Dominion, we're looking at how the Unite the Right rally changed Virginia politics -- from the removal of Confederate statues to the future o...

Episode Notes During the 2020 elections, Virginia voters passed a Redistricting Commission Amendment. The short version: it changes how Virginia draws its political district lines. In the past, whatever party held majorities in the Virginia General Assembly approved pretty much whatever district maps it wanted to. Parties have used district maps as a political weapon to maintain their power. It’s...

Episode Notes Virginia is a bona fide trash capital. For decades, Virginia has been the second biggest importer of trash from other states. We even accept trash from other countries. About a quarter of all the trash dumped in Virginia originates from outside the state -- nearly 6 million tons of trash per year. One state’s trash must be our state’s treasure... at least for the owners. Waste manage...

Episode Notes Teachers across America are brainwashing our youth with “critical race theory” so that they all become woke gay communists! Or so it would seem if you consume right-wing media lately. “Critical Race Theory” has become a pejorative in today’s American conservative movement -- including here in Virginia. In several Virginia counties, school systems have been trying to educate children...

Tuesday, June 8, was the Democratic primary for statewide offices, and the results were fairly unexceptional. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe handily won the nomination for governor, State Delegate Hala Ayala won the nomination for Lieutenant Governor, and incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring beat out a primary challenger; meanwhile, outspoken delegates Lee Carter, Mark Levine, and Ibrahim Sami...

Content Warning: in this episode, we discuss eugenics and forced sterilization, and a brief mention of rape in the back half. Eugenics is a term we associate with fascist regimes--a pseudo-scientific approach to control the qualities of humanity by choosing who gets to reproduce and who does not. And Virginia was one of its earliest adopters--the Virginia Eugenics Sterilization Act passed in 1924,...

In a year of pandemic-induced upheaval, much of daily life has shifted to a series of online interactions. From public school to telehealth and even many white-collar professions--broadband internet access has gone from “important” to “mission-critical infrastructure” in the blink of an eye. But nearly a quarter-million homes and businesses in Virginia are unserved by broadband internet access, ei...

There are many ways to influence legislators and policymakers: some write letters and call their lawmakers; others organize campaigns to march or campaign. Organized capital -- in the form of businesses and industry -- has the most influence of all. That’s where lobbying comes in. Lobbyists hold so much influence in Virginia that there's even a term for it in Richmond: a “shadow government” that d...

Virginia's gubernatorial race is just around the corner, taking place in November 2021. And with 13 candidates in the running--7 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and an independent--it's a crowded field. This week, we finish our two-part series diving into the five Democratic candidates for governor: who are they, and what do they stand for? Jennifer McClellan is a State Senator who represents Virginia's...