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Introduction to Virginia Politics
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Things to Understand about 2 Virginia Politics Virginia is a Commonwealth (as are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky) Significant to the Virginians who declared independence in 1776 – probably looking at the “commonwealth” (no king) during the English Civil War of the 1640s – 1650s. No current significance
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Things to Understand about 3 Virginia Politics Voters do not register by political party Elections are held in odd-numbered years House of Delegates every 2 years State-wide offices—every 4 years (in the year AFTER a Presidential election) State Senate—every 4 years (in the year BEFORE a Presidential election)
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More Things to Understand 4 about Virginia Politics “Dillon Rule” state Independent Cities No campaign finance limitations for state elections
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Virginia State Capitol,
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Designed by Thomas Jefferson
Dedicated in 1788
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The General Assembly 10 The official name of the State Legislature Dates from1619 Senate and a House of Delegates Meets annually, beginning in January, 60 days in even-numbered years (long session) 30 days in odd-numbered years (short session)
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Year Chamber Membership Salary Elected House of 100 2019 $17,640++ Delegates (55D-45R) 40 Senate 2019 $18,000++ (21D-19R)
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Partisan Breakdown in Virginia – 12 House of Delegates Year Democrats Republicans Independents 1960 96 4 0 1970 75 24 1 2000 50 49 1 2010 39 59 2 2016 34 66 0 2018 49 51 0 2020 55 45 0
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13 2019 House of Delegates Election
55 Democrats 45 Republicans
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2019 Virginia State Senate Election Results
21 Democrats, 19 Republicans
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Partisan Breakdown in Virginia – State Senate 16 Year Democrats Republicans 1960 38 2 1970 33 7 1980 32 9 1990 30 10 2000 19 21 2010 22 18 2018 19 21 2020 21 19 Note: --Republicans and Democrats were tied 20-20 from 1996-2000 and again from 2012-2015. When there is a tie, the Lt. Governor acts as the tie-breaker. From 1996- 2000, Lt. Gov. was a Republican. From 2012-2015, Lt. Gov. was a Democrat
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18 Executive Branch: Governor
Current governor: Ralph Northam (D) Elected in 2017 4-year term Term limited Ineligible to run in 2021
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Executive Branch (continued) 19 Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax (D) Elected at the same time, same term as the governor No term limits Power—preside over the Senate; cast tie-breaking vote
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Executive Branch (continued) 20 Attorney General Mark Herring (D) — elected 2013, reelected 2017 Elected at the same time, same term as the governor No term limits Function—to give legal advice to the state government
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Ballotpedia “Trifectas” (All three parts of state government held by one party)
Republican
Democratic
Divided
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2021 Elections -- Governor Democrats Republicans Lee Carter Amanda Chase Justin Fairfax Kirk Cox Jennifer Foy Peter Doran Terry McAuliffe Octavia L. Johnson Jennifer McClellan Pete Snyder Glenn Youngkin Sergio de la Pena
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2021 Elections – Lt. Gov Democrats Republicans Haya Ayala Puneet Ahluwalia Mark Levine Lance Allen Andria McClellan Glenn Davis Sean Perryman Tim Hugo Sam Rasoul Maeve Rigler Xavier Warren Winsome Sears
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2021 Elections – Atty Gen Democrats Republicans Mark Herring Leslie Haley (Incumbent) Jason Miyares Jerrauld Chuck Smith (Jay)Jones Jack White
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Elections 2021
June 8 – Democratic Primary Governor Lt. Gov. Attorney General
Terry McAuliffe HayaHaya AyalaAyala Mark Herring
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Elections 2021
May 8 – Republican Convention Governor Lt. Gov. Attorney General Haya Ayala Terry McAuliffeWinsome Haya Sears Ayala Mark Herring
Jason Glenn Youngkin Miyares
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Elections 2021 November 2 – General Election September 18 – Early Voting Starts October 11 – Last day to register to vote October 22 – last day to apply for absentee ballot
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Which court are you in? Depends on who wrote the law or regulation you violated.
Derives from Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution
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YEAR TURNOUT More Things to (% Voting of Total Registered) Understand33 2008 74.0% Voter 2009 40.4% 2010 44.01& turnout: 2011 28.61% Presidential 2012 71.06% Statewide and 2013 43.0% House of 2014 41.6% Delegates 2015 29.1% Mid-term federal 2016 72.05% 2017 47.6% State House 2018 59.5% and Senate 2019 42.4% 2020 73.05% 33
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Governor-to-Senator Governor Senator pipeline37 in Virginia Charles “Chuck” 1982-1986 1989-2001 Robb (D)
George Allen (R) 1994-1998 2001-2007
Mark Warner (D) 2002-2006 2008-present
Tim Kaine (D) 2006-2010 2012-present
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Other Significant Political Position Political Significance Virginians 38 Governor – 2 separate terms Illustrates Virginia’s Mills 1966-1970 – Democrat changing party Godwin 1974-1978 - Republican alignment Linwood FirstFather-in-Law GOP governor of Timsince Governor 1970-1974 Holton ReconstructionKaine L. Douglas First black governor in “Doug” Governor – 1990-1994 the US since Wilder Reconstruction US House of Reps 1975-1983 President of CNU Paul Trible US Senator – 1983-1989 1996-present Married to Mellon John US Senator 1979-2009 heiress and to Warner Elizabeth Taylor
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House of 39 Delegates District 96 Amanda Batten (R )
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House of 40 Delegates District 93 Mike Mullin (D)
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District 93 (Mullin) and District 96 (Pogge) Boundary in Williamsburg
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Senate District 3 Tommy Norment (R)
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State Senate District 1 Monty Mason (D)
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Senate District 3 (Norment) and 44 1 (Mason) Boundaries in Williamsburg
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United States Senators
Mark Warner: Tim Kaine: First elected: 2008 First elected: 2012 Reelected in 2014 and 2020 Reelected in 2018
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House of Representatives – 2011
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House of Representatives (Current)
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H of R District 2 Elaine Luria (D)
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H of R District 1 Rob Wittman(R)
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Congressional District 1 1 (Wittman) and 2 2 (Luria) Boundaries in Williamsburg
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How Do States Redistrict?
N/A
Legislature
Commission
Hybrid
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Proposed Amendments for 2020 PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT #1 Article II. Franchise and Officers. Section 6. Apportionment. Section 6-A. Virginia Redistricting Commission
BALLOT QUESTION
Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to establish a redistricting commission, consisting of eight members of the General Assembly and eight citizens of the Commonwealth, that is responsible for drawing the congressional and state legislative districts that will be subsequently voted on, but not changed by, the General Assembly and enacted without the Governor's involvement and to give the responsibility of drawing districts to the Supreme Court of Virginia if the redistricting commission fails to draw districts or the General Assembly fails to enact districts by certain deadlines?
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Commission Meeting
Commission Meeting Commission Education and Training
Submit Develop Public Hearing Maps to Schedule General Commission Meeting Public Hearings Assembly 2021 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct 2021 Today
Redistricting Commission Timeline
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Virginia Redistricting Virginia’s General Assembly may not approve new legislative maps until at least October if the timeline the state’s new redistricting commission is working with holds.
The U.S. Census Bureau was supposed to provide redistricting data to the states by March 31, but complications from the pandemic delayed it until mid- to late August. Data in a more easy-to-use format wouldn’t be available until Sept. 30, but the redistricting commission is using the data made available in August to comply with deadlines. Staff said Tuesday during a redistricting commission meeting that there wouldn’t be issues with working with the first batch of data.
Once the state receives the census data, the redistricting commission has 45 days to submit new maps of the state House and Senate districts to the General Assembly for approval. It has 60 days to send the congressional district maps. The commission will hold three public meetings before handing the maps off to the legislature.
All of this will happen during the height of the November election, when all 100 seats of the House of Delegates are up for election and voters will pick a new governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
Virginians approved a referendum in November that led to the creation of the new redistricting commission in an effort to limit political influence when coming up with maps. The commission is made up of eight lawmakers and eight citizens.
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58 Principles of Redistricting
Compactness Contiguity Preservation of political subdivisions Preservation of communities of interest Preservation of cores of prior districts Avoid pairing incumbents
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The End
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