Special interest groups that funded many Democratic campaigns are going to be expecting action in the next General Assembly session.
The League of Conservation Voters. Emily’s List. Everytown for Gun Safety. These are the groups that invested heavily in helping the Democrats take control of the General Assembly, and they’ll want to see action on issues that matter to them.
But David Ramadan at George Mason University’s Schar School says don’t expect anything radical.
“You’re going to see that newly elected Democrat members who came in with the far-left wave are going to clash not necessarily just with the Republican members but with the establishment of the Democrat Party,” he says.
Quentin Kidd at Christopher Newport University says one area where donors will be expecting action is reproductive rights.
“I think we’re going to see some rollbacks on some of the restrictions on abortion that we’ve seen passed by Republicans over the last decade," Kidd explains. "Even though Virginia has not been as restrictive as some states, there still have been some measures that passed. We’re going to see some rollbacks on that.”
Now, many of those newly elected House Democrats will need to be re-elected in 2021, and they’ll need to show movement on these issues if they want more campaign cash next time.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
