Virginia's political shift may spread to NC
So far this year, Democratic lawmakers in Virginia’s House of Delegates have used their new majority to pass seven pieces of gun safety legislation.
They did it in one day.
Coming up next on Virginia’s legislative agenda: expand voting rights, ease abortion restrictions, raise the minimum wage, protect LGBTQ rights and increase funding for taxes to promote mass transit.
The dynamics driving Virginia’s leftward swing are similar to what’s happening in North Carolina: A long stretch with Democrats out of power as a state turns increasingly blue builds pressure for a surge of liberal legislation if Democrats return to power.
Virginia Democrats won full control of the legislature last November for the first time in more than 20 years. With the added advantage of a Democratic governor, Democratic lawmakers came into Richmond with a pent-up agenda and a sense of urgency. The morning after the election, Ibraheem S. Samirah, a Democratic member of the House of Delegates, tweeted: “What we’re not going to do is spend two years slow-walking this new majority into the next election season. We need to act boldly on the promises we made to make Virginia affordable, inclusive, & just.”
In North Carolina, Democrats have been in the legislative minority since 2011 when Republican lawmakers took control of both chambers for the first time in more than a century. The Republicans had a long-denied agenda and they carried it out aggressively. Taxes were cut, school choice was expanded, public schools went wanting, environmental protection regulations were reduced and access to voting was limited.
https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article240064193.html#storylink=cpy
= new reply since forum marked as read
