Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

How stupid are these people?

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

This blog will pay for itself.

Consistently wrong since 2002

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Let’s Get Started in Virginia!

Let’s Get Started in Virginia!

by | 63 Comments

This post is in: , ,

On Wisconsin!

In a post last week, we posed this question: Should we Join the Fight and get financially involved in the Virginia elections in November?  Specifically, we opened up a conversation about whether BJ peeps want to get involved right away or wait a big to see how things pan out before jumping in.

Fired Up! Virginia’s General Assembly Elections (reposted for daytime peeps)

It seems like we all agreed on two things: that the elections in Virginia are a big Joe Biden deal and that this is a huge opportunity going forward.  A win in Virginia would reverberate beyond Virginia and could help set the state for good things 2024.

First, Virginia is the last Southern state to permit abortions up to 26 weeks, and it’s a safe haven for women throughout the South who can afford to travel.  A Republican trifecta would end that in a heartbeat.  (Pun intended.)   Second, a Democratic win would continue our momentum of winning most special and off-year elections in advance of the 2024 cycle.  And finally, losing the Virginia House of Delegates and failing to regain the Senate may take the wind out of the Presidential prospects of fleece-west wearing stealth MAGAt Governor Youngkin.

BJ peeps were split on whether to jump in right away (early voting has already started), or to keep our powder dry for a couple weeks and see if enough money floods in that would make our contributions salt in the ocean.  With some research, we have identified two toss-up races that could use our help immediately, and at least two others are on our “watch list.”

We’re primarily targeting candidates in the Hampton Roads area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach).  Why there?

According to a Virginia based Political Scientist:

Of the three largest metro areas in Virginia – the other two being the Northern Virginia suburbs adjoining Washington, D.C., and the state capital region that includes Richmond – Hampton Roads is the most competitive.  (Soure: Bob Holsworth, a former Virginia Commonwealth University political scientist who’s now with the Richmond-based firm DecideSmart.)

So we now have two thermometers for House of Delegates candidates Michael Feggans in District 97 and Kimberly Pope Adams in District 82.  Both are young African-Americans with strong ties to the Hampton Roads community.  They are both first time candidates.  Both the reconstituted 97th and 82nd districts have more Democrats post-redistricting, so it is winnable.

Both Michael Feggans and Kimberly Pope Adams are challenging white Republican incumbents who narrowly defeated two previous African-American Democratic incumbents in 2021.  According to the Virginia Public Access Project, these campaigns are neck-and-neck in fundraising:  Kimberley Pope Adams had $673,000 to her opponent’s $666,000 (interesting symbolic number for a right-winger).  Michael Feggans is slightly ahead of his opponent with $889,000 vs $852,000.  New quarterly fundraising numbers are due shortly, but they always take longer than we’d like, so we’re not going to wait.

These numbers are close enough, and the dollar amount – while significant for a state legislative race – are not so overwhelmingly high that our contributions would be meaningless.  So this is right in the sweet spot for our efforts.

I made sure to check the box so that your contact information is NOT shared with the candidates unless you click the box to do so.

For more on Michael Feggans check out his website!  He appears to have rattled the Republicans.  The House Republican Campaign Committee put up a hit website entitled tooextremeforvirginia.com trashing his record.  It comes up on the first page in most Michael Feggans google searches.

This is who Micahel Feggans is running against:  h/t Cheryl from Maryland

 

To find out more about Kimberly Pope Adams, visit her website!

Their opponents, Kim Taylor (v. Pope Adams) and Karen Greenhalgh (v. Feggans) are not raging MAGAts (although Greenhalgh is out front on the 15-week abortion limit).  This may make them harder to beat.  But Dobbs, redistricting, the bizarre Republican attacks on the military, and the potential government shutdown in a district with a substantial military population should provide a helpful tailwind.

In the meantime, we’ll be watching two other African-American candidates in the Hampton Roads area for possible inclusion after the next round of fundraising numbers come in.

Ready to get started?  Let me know if you have any questions.

Open thread.

 

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    H.E.Wolf

    I’m so happy to see the familiar Balloon Juice “start from nothing, and grow big” fundraising image again!

    Great write-up on Michael Feggans and Kimberly Pope Adams, and the context of VA (and national) politics in which they’re running for office.

  3. 3.

    H.E.Wolf

    Correct link for Michael Feggans (blog software must have eaten part of it):
    https://michaelfeggans.com/

    His “Meet Michael” page is excellent, and has a ton of photos including one of him meeting President Obama.

    His “Priorities” page has women’s reproductive rights at the top of the list. Good allyship!

    He’s also got a page on how to register and vote. Kudos to Feggans and to his campaign!

    Bonus points for cute baby photo.
    https://michaelfeggans.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Baby-photo.jpg

  4. 4.

    Jeffro

    I’m in!

    Protecting VA womens’ reproductive rights AND kneecapping Smilin’ Glenn?  Totally in on that!!

  5. 5.

    H.E.Wolf

    Kim Adams has a good website too. (See body of post.)

    Her “Priorities” page focuses on issues specific to her district, and her plans for improvement. She’s got a pro-choice plank in her platform also.

    She has a link to the demographic and election-result information for her district which (as an out-of-state-er) I found very interesting.

    Her “Meet Kim” page has her biographical info, and a [cute photo alert] snapshot of herself as a child in the arms of her union-member dad.
    https://kimadamsforva.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Kimberly-Pope-Adams-Child-and-Father-Website-1.jpg

  10. 10.

    jackmac

    Off-topic, but a big Thank You to Water Girl for handling a special postcard request featuring photos of my critters. The cards from CafePress arrived on Thursday and my family and I love them!

    WG is the best!!

  12. 12.

    WaterGirl

    FYI, I have the thermometer in the side bar (up top) so folks can donate whenever it’s convenient for them.  It’s only fair that I add it to the hamburger menu on phones, too.  Off to do that now.

    edit: done!

  13. 13.

    featheredsprite

    I’m writing letters to VA voters. Vote Forward has opportunities for us financially challenged folks. They would love to hear from you.

    [The spirit is willing but the bank account is weak.]

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    Aaron the Give Smart Guy has this list for Virginia, with an ActBlue link, of course:

    Kimberly Pope Adams (HD-82)
    Nadarius Clark (HD-84)
    Joshua Cole (HD-65)
    Michael Feggans (HD-97)
    Monty Mason (SD-24)
    Russet Perry (SD-31)
    Josh Thomas (HD-21)

    Thoughts about this list, from those who know the territory better? (Both of the candidates recommended here are on it.)

  19. 19.

    Mousebumples

    I’m writing for OH this cycle, but I’ll do some budget math tonight and see if I can be an angel match. Thanks for coordinating this, WaterGirl!

  23. 23.

    sab

    My granddaughter is moving to VA with her longtime boyfriend. We are in shock but happy for them. This thread cheers me up a lot. I had felt as if they were sailing off the edge of the world. (I was engaged to a Virginian in 1976. I wouldn’t want her anywhere near the world he lived in.)

  24. 24.

    Geminid

    @lowtechcyclist: Russet Perry is running for a Piedmont seat about 40 miles southwest of DC. With a name like Russet, Mr. Moshpotato might want to toss her a few fries!

    Actually, Ms. Perry was born in Texas, which is not considered potato country, so I suspect Russet is a family name.

  25. 25.

    sab

    @Origuy: I remember that vividly. He was shot two blocks from my office. We always wondered what that building on the corner was, the club he was heading for.

    I hope his family gets some peace from this, but trials mostly don’t do that.

  26. 26.

    WaterGirl

    @lowtechcyclist: Some of those candidates have a ton of money flowing in, so they don’t need us.

    We’re starting with just these two in the hopes of getting them a meaningful amount of money, in the hopes of making a real difference in those races.

    This will be just like the “Purple House” Fundraising last time around.  Some people will be added if it looks like they still need funding once the Q3 fundraising info is available.

  27. 27.

    Alison Rose

    @Origuy: I mean…better late than never, I guess? Finally we have an answer to Tupac’s echoing question: Who shot me? But ya punks didn’t finish, now you’re ’bout to feel the wrath of a menace*

    (*the menace now being the LVPD and hordes of faithful fans)

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Geminid: Apropos of nothing… I got my first email from my congressperson Nicki B today.  Asking if I think it’s super important to not shut the government down, but really trying to build up an email list. :-)

    Still, it was appreciated!

  32. 32.

    Redshift

    I’m in!

    I’m trying to figure out where I’ll be knocking doors tomorrow. My immediate area has become Democratic enough that the GOPers aren’t seriously contesting it, so I have to go further afield. But drive time cuts into the time I have available, so I have to balance candidates I like with how far out they are.

  34. 34.

    Timill

    It’s time to write the postcards
    It’s time to raise the cash
    It’s time to meet the runners on the BJ blog tonight
    It’s time to put out yard signs
    It’s time to help the Dems
    It’s time to start electing on the BJ blog tonight

    [Yes, work is boring at the moment…]

  35. 35.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: Republicans complained that Springfield Democrats drew the new 13th CD as Democratic because they wanted to put Nikki Budzinski in Congress. But I suspect they did it to bring relief to the long-suffering WaterGirl.

  39. 39.

    Redshift

    In addition to all the other reasons we want to win, the GOPers are especially into dirty tricks this year, and I really want that to fail miserably.

    The “extreme” website is one of the milder bits; clearly trying to muddy the waters against the insurrectionists and other extremists among their candidates. Locally, Republicans know their brand is crap, so they’re doing everything they can to hide it, such as not telling people it’s the Republican sample ballot they’re handing out. Since the local offices like school board are officially non-partisan, the candidates don’t have R/D by their names on the ballot, and going in with the wrong sample ballot could confuse people enough to vote wrong.

    And since they apparently can’t campaign against actual Dem policies, they make up fake ones to campaign against, like Dems favor abortion up to and even after birth, and Dem prosecutors are letting violent criminals out and crime is “skyrocketing” (in fact, the areas with higher crime per capita are the Republican areas), and so on. Russet Perry’s opponent has an ad with phony staging of a “news conference” with her, where you never see the face of the person at the podium, just notes saying “defund the police”.

  42. 42.

    eversor

    I don’t think Youngkin is a national threat.  He had two things going for him locally that aren’t national.

    The first being that The Mac was a horrible candidate.  The second was a liberal/left campaign to dumb down the AP public school program or abolish it completely because it was dominated by Asians and the few Black and Latino students that did make it in weren’t doing well in it.  Nobody wanted that.  But it got sold as CRT run wild and actually would make getting into a school people want to go to for college impossible.  It was pretty fringe but took on a life of it’s own in Loudon County and that was that.

    Youngkin isn’t charismatic or even a good politician.  Outside of GOP donors who are still seeking a Not Trump option people ignore him.

    The state is rapidly turning blue.  Shitting on the military and shutting down the government also isn’t going to go over well here.  The local party already mailed me the list of people to vote for as well.  They are pretty good about that.

  47. 47.

    eversor

    @sab:
    Better, but not as good as NOVA or Hampton.

    If you want to move to VA than NOVA is what you want but it’s insanely expensive.

  48. 48.

    rekoob

    @sab: Grew up in Richmond and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School (Go Vikings!). Also lived in Alexandria for a bit.

    Richmond is pretty progressive and tolerant, especially in the city itself (the area around Virginia Commonwealth University is hipster central). All of the Confederates are gone from Monument Avenue. Even Confederate Avenue has been renamed to Laburnum Park Boulevard.

    My cousin was married to a West African and lived in Alexandria, near Old Town. It, too, is much more progressive these days.

  50. 50.

    Czar Chasm

    Shameless plug (again):

     

    I’m running in a local election in Central Virginia.

     

    https://linktr.ee/bryan4treasurer

     

    I’m teeing up a targeted postcard campaign, to go out in late October, but need about $1000 to launch it.  Several of you made donations as a result of The original post that Watergirl made, but if y’all can extend the financial contributions to a local election happening in the Commonwealth, I would be super grateful (and a lot less anxious).

    I’m going to do a separate post in this thread that speaks to some of the information in this post, but I wanted to do a mini-bleg here.

     

    Thanks for everyone’s time!

  51. 51.

    Barbara

    I donated. I have also made some other Virginia related donations and I am writing postcards. When I finish my first batch I will get some more names for these districts or others if you have recommendations. I have been sick so my postcard writing got off to a slow start. I have 50 that I am almost done with.

  57. 57.

    RaflW

    I chipped in here this morning. I’m also going to donate to Natan McKenzie, SD-12 near Richmond. The incumbent R won 4 years ago by only 1.7%, which was a big drop from the margin 4 years earlier. He’s endorsed by Planned Parenthood, Run for Something, and many others. Not trying to dilute the excellent targeting here, but offering a bonus candidate if anyone feels it.

    (Using Charles Gaba’s link and customizing to just one or a few candidates also allows one to opt to not give donor info to the candidates campaigns. Thanks for doing that on this BJ ask, too!)

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    @RaflW: Thanks for the pointer to Gaba’s link.  Very convenient to have all of the close races in one place.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  63. 63.

    WaterGirl

    @RaflW: I was so turned off by GABA in the 2022 fundraising because it looked like he took a big cut of what he raised. He just threw his own entity in there among the candidates, and never announced that he was included in the list. The fact that he’s now announcing that he doesn’t take any money makes me think that other people noticed what I noticed and were similarly unimpressed.

Comments are closed.