Protecting and expanding the Democratic majority in the Virginia House of Delegates and winning the Lieutenant Governor’s race are top priorities for the DLCC in 2025
WASHINGTON — This week, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) hosted a press conference on its Virginia strategy, featuring campaign updates and an outline of what to expect between now and November. DLCC Spotlight candidates Del. Nadarius Clark, Lindsey Dougherty, and the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor Senator Ghazala Hashmi joined the DLCC to discuss the stakes and landscape.
In the face of Washington Republicans’ chaos, Virginia Democrats are ready to defend and expand a one-seat majority in the Virginia House of Delegates. Virginia Democrats are already on the ground in their communities, connecting with voters who deserve leaders who will speak out against extremism and work to find solutions that serve the Commonwealth.
Watch the press conference here.
Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams:
- I think it’s really important to note that we have Democrats at this ballot level in office in every single state.
- Where there is a Republican member of Congress who is dodging their constituents and is not showing up, […] we’ve got state legislators who are filling that gap, who are standing up, holding town halls, meeting with community members, meeting with community groups who are going to be impacted, who have concerns, who are expressing their fears. And that is happening not just in Virginia today, although the election, of course, makes that a very meaningful moment.
- [on the Republican budget] States don’t have a blank check. They can’t just keep raising their debt ceiling. This is a problem that Republicans have put red states, blue states, and purple states in. […] They wear this, they own this. We will have good, strong leadership across the states in Democrats who will be doing the most good on behalf of their communities and constituents with the resources that they have.
- There are lots of community-based stories that are going to be told that are going to illustrate the damaging and long-term effects of this budget bill. And there’s no one better to represent that and tell that story in a compelling way than state legislators and state candidates.
Spotlight Candidate Lindsey Dougherty:
- Due to the executive orders decimating these research initiatives across the country, my current job as a research administrator is at risk due to these cuts. And so what I’m hearing and what I’m seeing across my district and across the Commonwealth is that my neighbors are also losing their jobs and losing their ability to provide for their families.
- When you couple that with overall unemployment claims going up, prices going up, with no end in sight [in] this manufactured chaos that’s happening from our President, we need a Delegate that will be a very strong brick in this firewall to protect our families across the commonwealth.
- There is going to be a very stark difference in how Democrats versus Republicans govern, and Republicans at the state level are complicit in what is happening at the federal level. Silence is a choice, and if you are not hearing a current Republican Representative speaking out against this, then you need to be asking them really hard questions about how they plan on managing the state budget when all of these trickle-down negative impacts are going to come to the state level.
Spotlight Candidate Del. Nadarius Clark:
- Every town hall that we have had in every city has been packed out. People are very engaged and concerned about what’s happening on the federal level. They’re coming to their state representatives and to their local leaders for answers because sadly we haven’t been able to hear from our congressional member here in CD-2.
- Any reduction to our federal workforce, any cut to our budgets, is going to have a dramatic impact to how we fund our schools, how we invest in infrastructure, and how we invest in health care. […] And like we always say in the General Assembly, show us your budget, and we’ll show you your values.
- Elections have consequences. We saw when we had our trifecta that Virginia was number one for business. Sadly, when we lost that in 2022, we lost our number one ranking. When we were able to take back the House, we were able to get back in number one. So we see when certain leadership and certain policies are in play, Virginia does better.
Spotlight Candidate Senator Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor:
- We know that if there is a tie on the Senate floor, our current Lieutenant Governor will be voting against the best interests of Virginians. That’s why it’s so essential that we have a Democratic LG in place in the Virginia Senate, so that we can ensure that our priorities and our critical issues are addressed, especially given what we see happening in Washington.
- We face disproportionate harm to the federal workforce. We are seeing our veteran communities impacted by closures of services that are provided to our VA hospitals. And now with the Medicaid cuts, we’re going to see very direct and very severe impacts, not just to our rural hospital systems, but all throughout our hospital health care system.
- We must maintain and grow our Democratic legislative majorities. We need new statewide leadership that’s going to move us forward, that’s going to protect our families, and that’s going to chart [a] response to the chaos that we see in Washington.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) is the official Democratic Party committee dedicated to winning America’s state legislatures and building state infrastructure. 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.
###
