Nomination contests kick off for Virginia’s 2025 General Election

It’s primary season in Virginia, and here’s what is—and notably isn’t—on the ballot June 17. Virginia and New Jersey’s off-year elections are historically treated as bellwethers, taking the temperature of public opinion one year after presidential elections. Despite the hoopla, there’s no gubernatorial primary in Virginia this June, with Abigail Spanberger and Lt. Gov. Winsome […]

Early season

Early voting in the June 17 Democratic Primary for Charlottesville City Council begins May 2, officially kicking off the city’s experiment with ranked-choice voting. Mayor Juandiego Wade and Vice-Mayor Brian Pinkston are both seeking reelection, but face a challenge from Jen Fleisher for the two available seats. Rather than filling in two bubbles as usual, […]

McGuire under fire

Local activists want a word with U.S. Rep. John McGuire, who is facing pushback over a lack of in-person interactions with constituents since taking office. To make that happen, Indivisible Charlottesville, a group opposing what it calls “Trumpism,” has called on McGuire to show up for an April 26 town hall at Charlottesville High School. […]

Two experts talk political polarization 

With Election Day less than a month away, political tension and stress abound both locally and nationally. Polarization is definitely a contributing factor to the anxiety, but two experts with Charlottesville ties say we may not be as divided as we think. Now a faculty member at the University of California Santa Barbara, Tania Israel […]

Draft congressional budget bills allocate millions for local projects and organizations

After a tumultuous budget cycle that led to the ouster of former speaker Kevin McCarthy last year, Congress is diving back into budget negotiations for Fiscal Year 2025. Draft bills passed by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee include more than $3 million in appropriations for local projects supporting Charlottesville and Albemarle County efforts around affordable […]

Political coverage of Charlottesville seven years after A12

Since August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville has become a national political talking point. With the seven-year anniversary of A12 just around the corner, discussion of Charlottesville continues to be deployed by both national media and political campaigns, especially in the 2024 presidential election. “We are living through a battle for the soul of this […]

Local perspectives on Biden dropping his reelection bid

In an unprecedented move, President Joe Biden announced on July 21 that he is ending his bid for reelection. The president has endorsed his former running mate and current Vice President Kamala Harris for the nomination, but much is still up in the air ahead of the Democratic National Convention next month. Since entering the […]

Potential local impacts of recent SCOTUS decisions

Beyond the literal heat wave sweeping the United States, a swath of hot-button Supreme Court decisions has sent an already tumultuous political landscape into overdrive. To bring this national news to the local level, here are some of the Charlottesville-area implications of recent SCOTUS rulings on abortion access, federal regulations, homelessness, and presidential immunity: Food […]

In brief

So (not) long! Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, widely labeled as a Donald Trump fangirl who approaches topics like alleged space lasers and fringe internet theories with bizarre confidence, made an appearance at the Albemarle County Office Building on Wednesday, June 5.  She and a posse of supporters pulled up in a bus with a […]