"This is going to be one of the hardest fought campaign cycles in Virginia history," said Stephen Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington. "Both parties are raising immense amounts of money compared to the past, and both parties are going to be looking at a lot of vulnerable incumbents and promising challengers as they try to reshape the legislature that takes office next January." Northern Virginia Poised to Lose Influence (The Connection)

Dr. Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington joins the show to discuss the 1965 election for Virginia's governor--tracking the fall of the Byrd Machine in the wake of Massive Resistance, a third-party candidate who earned more than 13% of the vote, and a candidate running from Virginia's Nazi party. The Wildest Election for Governor in Virginia’s History (Pod Virginia)

The appeals court ruling will “allow further disputes about what students say in Loudoun County Schools,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. “The county has been this center of some of the most combative disputes over educational cultures. And if anything, the ruling will intensify those disputes going forward.”

Loudoun schools’ bias-reporting system might violate free speech, court says (The Washington Post)

“Reaching out to rural areas pays off, now and in the future,” said Steve Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, in the heart of the 7th District under a political map that the Virginia Supreme Court adopted at the end of 2021.

For Spanberger, work on new farm bill no chore, but an opportunity (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

“If you’re Glenn Youngkin, you may want to change the subject, but Democrats won’t let you,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington. “Pro-life politics is poison in the suburbs, and that’s where elections are won and lost.”

 

Youngkin walks rather than runs from abortion issue (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

“If you’re in the House of Delegates, the first Senate election after a redistricting is always going to be an optimal time for trying to move up,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. “That is doubly true this election cycle.”

Familiar faces duke it out in primary battles over new Va. Senate maps (The Washington Post)