Thread by @socialistdogmom

the average age in the audience at this league of women voters hosted event is.... silver.
sally hudson & kathy galvin, opponents in the dem primary for the VA-57 delegate seat are debating.
i thought i spotted current delegate dave toscano but every old guy looks the same to me.

you may recognize kathy galvin as my least favorite charlottesville city councilor & the subject of my column in last week’s cville weekly

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1116088939637608449?s=21

not 30 seconds in & we’re getting some thomas jefferson worship from the moderator. sometimes i wish i still drank.

the league of women voters is livestreaming the debate on facebook here

facebook.com/LWVCVA/videos/…

love that the debate between two female candidates, hosted by the league of women voters is being moderated by an old man. very cool.

galvin says she will provide “seasoned, experienced, focused leadership.” i think this opening statement is word for word from her campaign website.

galvin says she “learned what poverty was like” as a teacher’s aide at a head start program in new england when she was young.

she says racial and class divides in her neighborhood are what motivated her to run for school board. i assume she means because she hoped to perpetuate & deepen them?

sally hudson says she believes competitive elections are good for democracy (after toscano announced his retirement, she was unopposed in this race before galvin announced)

hudson is an economist by trade & teaches at UVA.

hudson: bureaucracy can be boring to many people, but she calls it a labor of love. “governing is loving your neighbor. all of them, at scale.”

hudson: lowering the cost of healthcare, confronting inequity, combating climate change are issues she hopes to work on as delegate

(more applause after the second opening statement than the first, it sounds like)

“until we fix the bones of democracy itself, so much of what we want to do will remain on the back burner,” says hudson about virginia’s gerrymandering problem.

hudson founded fair vote virginia, an organization that pushes for ranked choice voting.
“these are the kind of big ideas that we deserve,” and cites the legacy of thomas jefferson - we should be willing to rewrite the rules of democracy.

galvin says we are all experiencing a housing crisis. “we don’t have the tools we need” as a local govt to make developers build affordable housing on site. as delegate, she will push for inclusionary zoning

galvin on education: education funding has been gutted. as delegate, will push for full funding, expand preK education.

transportation: “it’s been like taking blood out of a turnip” getting funding for transit projects.

galvin says she will vote for redistricting if an independent third party reviews the maps. she says in the past people have not even realized they vote & live in a new district after maps were redrawn.

“we are two very progressive candidates,” says galvin of herself and her opponent. she says she’ll present a “full menu,” and outline some differences between them.
competition is what makes you go out & talk to the community. “it’s important that we have diversity of opinion.”

galvin’s answer was muddy - how much of that was about gerrymandering and how much of that was about her opponent in the primary?

hudson says the process of passing a state constitutional amendment is complicated & outlines some of the limitations. she says she would flesh out details in enabling legislation.

of the redistricting process, hudson says we don’t know yet the process of selecting citizens for the commission. details like banning large dollar political donors are important considerations.

the question is about addressing inequality in schools. hudson says we have to lead the way in addressing achievement gaps. restoring state funding, raising teacher salaries (VA is ~20% below national avg, she says) are critical.

hudson says we have special education classroom assistants in cville making $7.40/hr. (that isn’t true anymore! cville city schools raised wages for all school employees this budget cycle!)

galvin says reduced state funding for schools has burdened local governments. the formula used to fund schools looks at local avg income, but doesn’t factor in poverty rates.
says we have to focus on preK education - both for student achievement & because of the cost of childcare

“the parents of our children must start doing better as well,” galvin says. she calls for more robust investment in community college. children will succeed when they see their parents succeed.

toscano has endorsed legislation that would put a $10k cap on individual donations to candidates. moderator asks if they support this. (hudson has received an enormous sum of money from one individual)

galvin says she absolutely does support a cap and that it gives voters more of a say.
hudson says she’s a supporter of comprehensive campaign finance reform. “when we try to pick off those issues one at a time,” it devolves into whataboutism.

the 57th district is not just cville - it includes parts of albemarle county. both candidates live in the city. moderator asks how they can assure the county voters they represent them, too.

hudson says for many, it isn’t a stark demarcation. “we are all part of the greater charlottesville community,” we are all concerned about the same issues - cost of healthcare, regional transit, “the issues that are at the top of our list are not so far apart.”

galvin says “it’s important to remind ourselves that i’ve been doing this work” as a city councilor - she works with regional boards.
“i’ve been working shoulder to shoulder” with the county BOS on the hydraulic improvement advisory panel.

“that is something i have already demonstrated to the county,” says galvin, citing her work keeping the county courts in downtown charlottesville.

what do you see as the state’s place in mitigating climate change?

galvin: moving the economy away from fossil fuels, toward wind and solar. she has pushed locally for membership in a regional climate action group.
regional transit is part of addressing climate change.

hudson: transit is critical in addressing climate change at the local level. in richmond, the issue is dominion power. on dominion’s influence on state politics: “you’re not just buying votes, you’re buying silence on things that matter.”

dominion played a big role in defeating a bill that would’ve allowed localities to build solar facilities on roofs and on old landfills.

hudson: to get clean energy, “we first need clean governments”

hudson: “we have so much to be proud of” in the medicaid expansion and thanks current delegate toscano for his work on that.

“as a labor economist,” “work requirements do nothing” and are “by no means medically necessary”

hudson: it’s a problem that “who signs your paycheck decides who signs your prescriptions”
she supports a plan that would allow people to purchase insurance from the state while we wait for better options at the federal level.

galvin: “health is a human right” and doesn’t support work requirements.
“we need to be focused on access,” as a city councilor she worked on getting a sliding scale low income clinic in charlottesville.

“i definitely believe we need to bring more competitors into the market to drive the price down,” galvin says of health insurance. she says a public option will be difficult.

“great ideas will only be great applause lines”

taking a ten minute break while they collect & read audience questions.
i don’t believe in journalistic objectivity. i think it’s a myth at best and usually just an outright lie. but i’m trying my best to absorb this with my personal distaste for galvin on a backburner.

Q: what are your plans to reform criminal justice, end mass incarceration, and address racial disparities?

galvin: mass incarceration is a scourge. central VA is ready to legalize marijuana. she says we weren’t ready 5 years ago (when she voted against it as a councilor) but says other states have been the testing ground. says this will drive down arrest rates for young black males.

galvin says she would push to move forward to commute sentences for people with marijuana possession convictions.
she says pushing homeownership & entrepreneurship in african americans is part of a holistic approach to criminal justice reform.

galvin: “we need to make it extremely easy for them [recently released prisoners] to become active citizens again.” - it needs to be easier for people to get voting rights back.

hudson: we criminalize poverty. in part because we don’t have the guts to do what needs to be done to raise revenue so localities rely on fines & fees.
(hey i wrote about that last month!)
c-ville.com/a-moral-map-th…

Q: how should state govt address systemic racism?

hudson: it permeates every aspect of the system. “if you take a magnifying glass to the virginia code,” you’ll find racism baked into it at every level.
“we have to get better at talking about it.”

galvin: “it’s an economic issue as well as a social justice issue,” and supports a $15 minimum wage. excellent affordable childcare is necessary, though, because $15/hr wages would cause people to lose their benefits.

galvin: “the legacy of redlining is a scourge” and is a proponent of undoing that damage. promoting african american home ownership will close the equity gap, is one step toward rectifying gross injustice.

Q: if elected, what committees would you like to serve on? what would you bring to them?

galvin: housing, transportation, and ‘cities, counties, and towns’ committees
says she would focus on progressive taxation, regional transit.

galvin says cities counties and towns is the committee that is preventing localities from being able to decide what to do with their statues
“we can’t move our own furniture!” & says she’d commit to chipping away at the dillon rule’s stranglehold on local government

hudson: privileges and elections & labor committees.
“it’s not bad to be good at math” when it comes time to reform our democracy, says the economics professor.

hudson: “$15 is not $15 everywhere.” $15 in abingdon is $10 in arlington. we need legislation that localizes minimum wage.

Q: will you support the ERA, do you support the right to choose?

hudson: enthusiastic yes on both.
“young women sometimes take for granted” the rights we enjoy that were fought for by those who care before us (good line in a room this old)

hudson: a “strong proponent for reproductive rights,” and has been a planned parenthood donor, volunteer, and patient.
“that’s my right, i’m not going anywhere,” she says of abortion access.

galvin: ERA & reproductive rights are fundamental.
she says she first experienced wage disparity in high school. at 16, she challenged the disparity & was shot down.

galvin making a passionate argument for abortion rights, even using the A word itself (which people usually avoid!) and talking about TRAP laws. good for her.

galvin says the flash flood that killed several people a few years ago was a wake up call. “the weather is only going to get worse.”

she says we need to redraw the flood plain maps & obliquely calls out the developer for the hog waller project.

hudson says galvin is right - local government is on the front lines. they need flexibility and funding for planning, infrastructure, and disaster preparedness.

hudson: we need to think intersectionally - low income communities of color are going to face the realities of climate change first. climate change and racial justice are inseparable.

Q about voter accessibility.

hudson: automatic voter registration. “more voters is good.” we need to expand ballot access, including restoration of voting rights for felons.

galvin: “i would like to think we can be creative about it.” she says we should make election day a holiday. “i’m not sure why that would be a challenge.”

galvin: “it would be great to be able to vote online,” and favors loosening restrictions on absentee ballots.

galvin says she’s glad so many people showed up tonight and praises the “amazing diversity” of age and perspective of the crowd (it’s all old white people)

hudson: people often sleep on off-year primaries.
“there’s no promise that we are going to flip the general assembly” - the person we send to richmond needs to be able to deal with either reality.

hudson says she needs to address the elephant in the room - she’s 30 years old. she acknowledges there is an experience gap in terms of local elected office, but says she’s logged more hours in richmond through the work she does.

galvin: “sustainability is how well we treat our planet. equity is how well we treat each other.”
now she’s talking about MLK’s ‘beloved community.’

i cannot handle this.

galvin: “if i am your delegate, and i pray that you give me that opportunity,” she will work to make a more equitable society by giving local governments the tools they need.
“a just and safe world is something we can work together to build”
buzzword word salad, etc.

wow i can’t wait to do this 6000 more times before the primary on june 11.

if you want my take on it, and you must since you’re here reading my tweets, sally wiped the fucking floor with galvin tonight.

p.s. there is no housing committee in the virginia general assembly
virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/committe…

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1119030997818007552?s=21