Creigh Deeds has served in Virginia’s General Assembly for more than three decades, and he has not forgotten hard times for Democrats.
“You know when Tim Kaine was governor, at the end of the Bush administration, the economy was not good. He had to make drastic budget cuts.”
Now, he says, the Commonwealth faces new economic threats.
“Tariffs have raised costs, the layoffs for federal employees have been devastating.”
He says more than 40% of this state’s revenue comes from Northern Virginia, but he was not prepared to discuss possible hikes in state taxes.
"I don’t want to think about that, but we are going to have to roll up our sleeves and be very creative in the way we do things."
And he’s worried about how Virginia will cope with Trump administration changes that will eliminate healthcare coverage for many.
“We’ve worked hard to reduce the number of people that are uninsured in Virginia, but if these tax credits have lapsed by the end of the year we could see 200-300,000 Virginians who lose healthcare coverage, because people can’t deal with $500-$1,000 monthly premium increases.”
But he hopes the General Assembly and the new governor will support changes that cost little, like additional gun control measures.
"Assault style weapons – restrictions on ownership, restrictions on the sale.Some form of waiting period legislation could pass."
Also on his wish list, prison reform.
"There are certainly some people who are incarcerated for extremely long periods of time for offenses that don’t involve violence. We’ve got to figure out how to be smarter about that. I carried legislation several years ago called Second Chance legislation that would allow people who have been incarcerated for at least 15 years to have a new sentencing."
That measure was not approved, but Democrats could make it happen in 2026.
"We haven’t had a majority this large in nearly 40 years," Deeds explains.
He would also support changes in the way state universities are governed and a requirement that data centers cover the costs of generating more electricity.
