Six candidates will be on the ballot Tuesday in a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, and two others are facing off for the party’s nod for Virginia attorney general. Can you name any of them?
If you can’t, it’s not too late to learn about the elections, which could see turnout of less than 10 percent of registered voters, according to Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies.
None of the primary hopefuls come from the Fredericksburg area, but some hail from not too far away. The lieutenant governor candidates are Alex Bastani, a former economist and union leader at the Department of Labor; state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who represents parts of Richmond and Chesterfield County; Dr. Babur Lateef, chairman of the Prince William School Board; state Sen. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach; Victor Salgado, a former Department of Justice prosecutor; and former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
The winner of that race will go up against Richmond radio host John Reid, the Republican lieutenant governor nominee.
Alex Bastani
Bastani, who lives in Falls Church, served in the federal government for 34 years and is touting his run as one for the working class.
As a union leader and lawyer, he represented workers in arbitration, fought for fair negotiations, trained the next generation of legal minds, lobbied for workers’ rights, recruited members and managed a nonprofit with a half-million-dollar annual budget, his website says.
In a debate last month in Woodbridge, Bastani described his platform as the “Virginia Worker’s Freedom Act.”
“Our state needs universal health care for every single Virginian, which would save each taxpayer $4,000 a year,” he said then. “We need to raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour. We need student debt relief so that students can buy homes, invest in businesses and start families. And, of course, we need to repeal the right-to-work law.”
The latter refers to the rule in Virginia and several other states that a prospective employee is not required to join a union as a condition of employment.
Bastani had raised $276,157 as of June 5, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money in politics. He had $26,899 on hand.
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi
Hashmi, who chairs the Senate Education and Health Committee, is the first Muslim and the first South Asian American to serve in the Virginia Senate.
A former college professor, she was first elected in 2019, winning an upset victory over a Republican incumbent.
According to her website, Hashmi’s legislative priorities include public education, voting rights and the preservation of democracy, reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, the environment, housing and affordable health care access.
The senator represents more than 10,000 federal employees, and she said in last month’s debate that these workers need to be protected as President Donald Trump reshapes the U.S. bureaucracy.
“For protecting our federal workforce, we need to ensure that they get legal representation, that they have access to job training opportunities and that they are receiving all of their benefits, especially health benefits,” Hashmi said.
She is endorsed by Fifteen Minute Fredericksburg, a grassroots organization of city residents dedicated to the vision of Fredericksburg as a Fifteen Minute City: a community where all residents can conveniently meet their everyday needs on foot or by bike.
Hashmi had raised $1.8 million as of June 5, according to VPAP. She had $461,729 on hand.
A total of $54,245 came from Comstock Hospitality Holdings, which has supported a plan to put a casino in Tysons Corner. The proposal hasn’t gone forward, but it is one issue that has divided the lieutenant governor candidates.
Dr. Babur Lateef
Lateef is an ophthalmologist in Woodbridge and has been chairman of the University of Virginia Health System board.
While he has chaired the Prince William School Board, the division has been ranked by Forbes magazine as one of the top school districts to work for in Virginia, his website says. Under his watch, teachers have been given historic pay raises and a record number of counselors and mental health providers have been added.
During the debate in Woodbridge, he said the lieutenant governor needs to be someone who will protect the federal workforce, contractors and those who support the federal workforce.
“They’ve lost their jobs unjustly, so we need to make sure they get unemployment benefits, which they currently cannot receive if you lose it for performance reasons,” he said.
Lateef said in an interview with the Free Press that Democrats want a fighter, someone who can stand up to Trump. He said he’s been doing that since the Republican was first elected in 2016.
“We made sure that now, when he’s attacking our [diversity, equity and inclusion] programs, we’re defending them,” he said. “When he’s coming after our vulnerable kids, we’re defending them. And now he wants to do raids on our undocumented kids, we’re going to defend those kids and protect them.”
Lateef had raised $1.3 million as of June 5, according to VPAP. He had $262,981 on hand.
State Sen. Aaron Rouse
Rouse grew up in Hampton Roads and was raised by a single mother. He started working at 10 years old and starred in football at Virginia Tech, from which he was drafted in 2007 by the Green Bay Packers. He also played for the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals.
Also a former Virginia Beach City Council member, Rouse said he was elected to the Senate over GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s hand-picked candidate, which flipped a red seat to blue and made him the deciding vote to protect abortion rights in Virginia.
He said he also got a new law signed this year to protect federal workers and contractors from Trump’s remaking of the government.
“We have to build an economy that works for every single Virginian,” Rouse said at the Woodbridge debate.
The senator is endorsed by Stafford County Supervisor Pamela Yeung; Del. Candi Mundon King, who represents part of Stafford; Hampton Roads Rep. Bobby Scott; and former Rep. Elaine Luria. He visited the “No Kings Day” protest against Trump on Saturday in Fredericksburg.
Rouse had raised $1.8 million as of June 5, according to VPAP. He had $452,041 on hand.
Like Hashmi, Roused received $29,780 from Comstock Hospitality Holdings.
Victor Salgado
Salgado, who lives in Arlington County, is the son of Peruvian immigrants and has dedicated his legal career to investigating and prosecuting public corruption and related misconduct at all levels.
Most recently, he served as senior litigation counsel in the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, which oversees the investigation and prosecution of federal crimes affecting government integrity and prosecutes some of the most contentious public corruption cases in the country.
Salgado has prosecuted several high-profile matters, including that of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for unlawfully enforcing federal immigration laws but later pardoned by Trump.
If elected, Salgado has said he would push for campaign finance reform, a quality education system, reproductive freedom and a just immigration system.
“Integrity, folks, matters all of the time, not just some of the time,” Salgado said at the debate. “And with me, I guarantee you will have a lieutenant governor that will do the right thing for the right reasons, not just some of the times, but all of the times.”
He had raised $220,770 as of June 5, according to VPAP. That was the lowest of any lieutenant governor candidate. He had $13,671 on hand.
Levar Stoney
Stoney was the first Black secretary of the Commonwealth, serving under former Gov. Terry McAuliffe. And, as secretary, he was the driving force behind restoring the voting rights for nearly 200,000 disenfranchised Virginians, his website says.
As Richmond mayor, he reduced the poverty rate by 33 percent and led the removal of all of the city’s Confederate monuments.
As lieutenant governor, he claims he will expand opportunity by making Virginia the best state for workers in the nation, defend federal workers, strengthen public schools, increase access to affordable housing and protect reproductive freedom.
“I’ll tell you this,” he said at the Woodbridge debate, “I will not be silent like Glenn Youngkin. I will not be silent like [GOP gubernational nominee and Lt. Gov.] Winsome [Earle-Sears]. I will stand up for our workers, no matter where they live.”
Stoney also tried to stake out separate ground at the debate by saying he was the only hopeful in the race who has held a government executive job.
The former mayor is endorsed by Fredericksburg-area businessman and former state Senate candidate Joel Griffin, McAuliffe, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and former Northern Virginia Rep. Jim Moran.
Stoney has raised the most money in the lieutenant governor field, with $2.1 million, as of June 5, according to VPAP. He had $258,403 on hand.
Northern Virginia casino
While the lieutenant candidates hold similar positions on lots of issues, they have expressed differing opinions on gambling initiatives, specifically, the proposal to put a casino in Tysons Corner and the notion of allowing slot machines across the state.
At last month’s debate, Salgado said he opposes the casino plan, as does Lateef, who said he opposes slots and video poker machines, as well.
Rouse said he supported legislation giving localities the option to hold a referendum to decide whether they wanted casinos, and Stoney and Bastani said that, though they didn’t agree with the Tysons Corner location, they were open to gaming operations elsewhere, if local residents want them.
In response to a question about the casino, Hashmi said she would support legislation that would provide “good union jobs.”
The AG candidates
In the race for attorney general, Jay Jones, a former assistant attorney general and delegate, squares off with Shannon Taylor, the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County.
The winner in that contest will face incumbent Republican Jason Miyares, who seeks re-election.
Jay Jones
Jones, the descendant of slaves, marks the third generation of his family to serve in politics. His grandfather, Hilary H. Jones Sr., was the first Black member of the Norfolk School Board, and his father, Jerrauld C. Jones, who died recently, is one of the few Virginians to serve in all three branches of state government.
Jay Jones
Jay Jones was an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, where he was a member of the Office of Consumer Protection.
He also served in the House of Delegates, where he protected abortion rights, expanded Medicaid and gave teachers annual pay raises, his website says.
Jones is endorsed by Rep. Eugene Vindman, whose district includes the Fredericksburg area; state Sen. Jeremy McPike, who represents part of Stafford; Del. Joshua Cole of Stafford; King; U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; McAuliffe; former Gov. Ralph Northam; Scott; Rep. Suhas Subramanyam of Loudoun County; and Luria.
Jones, who has visited the Fredericksburg area at least twice during this campaign, leads Taylor in fundraising. He brought in $2.7 million as of June 5, according to VPAP, and had $492,757 cash on hand.
Taylor had raised $2.1 million and had $469,816 on hand.
Shannon Taylor
Taylor was first elected Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2011 and is the first woman to hold that position.
Before that, she was a prosecutor in the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and a special assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office.
Shannon Taylor
During her tenure in Henrico, Taylor has diversified the office so that it resembles the county with women and minority prosecutors, her website says. She also enhanced the victim-witness program, has Spanish-speaking translators available and has worked closely with mental health caregivers and drug rehabilitation programs to give offenders a chance to succeed and later lead constructive lives.
Taylor has been endorsed by Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Libby Humphries, former Virginia attorneys general Mark Herring and Mary Sue Terry, and Eileen Filler-Corn, former speaker of the House of Delegates,
Lately, however, the headlines about Taylor have been largely negative.
Clean Virginia, an independent advocacy organization that works to fight corruption in Virginia politics and promote clean energy, has slammed Taylor for taking $650,000 in campaign contributions from Dominion Energy.
Dominion is the state’s largest utility, and the attorney general’s office oversees electric regulations. Clean Virginia has endorsed Jones and is his largest donor at $1.5 million. Dominion Energy is Taylor’s largest donor.
Fourteen Democratic leaders — including Cole and Subramanyam — also last week sent Taylor a letter, urging her to recuse herself from Dominion cases and use independent counsel if she’s elected.
A spokesperson for Taylor, though, said the furor over Dominion was hypocritical.
“It is the height of hypocrisy to attack Shannon Taylor for accepting contributions from Dominion Energy when Jay Jones repeatedly accepted contributions from Dominion Energy and Dominion Energy lobbyists,” said a response sent to Richmond TV station WRIC.
Who will win
With the expected low turnout in Tuesday’s races, Farnsworth, the Mary Washington pundit, said it’s hard to predict what might happen.
In the lieutenant governor race, he said, Stoney could have an advantage if he maximizes his connection to McAuliffe, a known fundraising champion.
But a lot of people in Richmond weren’t happy with how he served as mayor, the professor said.
“Stoney is well-known, but that’s not necessarily a plus,” Farnsworth said.
He said a lot of a lieutenant governor’s success comes in what the officeholder makes of the position.
Constitutionally, Virginia’s second-in-command doesn’t have to do much more than run the state Senate and break tie votes, he said. Some governors extensively use their lieutenant governors, others do not. Some people view lieutenant governor as a part-time job while others see it as full-time.
“It’s a job more than most in politics that can be exactly what you make it,” he said.
The attorney general’s race is even harder to call, Farnsworth said. He wouldn’t attempt to pick a winner in that one.
“The vast majority of Virginians probably haven’t heard much about either one of them until the last, latest, round of TV ads,” he said.
