By Stephen J. Farnsworth
Virginia lawmakers approved a budget just in time for the new fiscal year, but the feuds among Democrats that triggered the lengthy political standoff in Richmond are not going away anytime soon.
“This really is a split decision. Neither side is very happy, but there is a huge relief that there appears to be a budget,” said Steve Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington.
“This has been a very good night for Governor Moore,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington. Farnsworth predicted that Moore, who also easily won his own Democratic primary on Tuesday, will continue to be mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate given the successes of many of his endorsed candidates in Maryland’s Democratic primaries.
While it seems no one left Richmond Monday happy, University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth said any deal is better than no deal for the Democratic trifecta currently leading the Commonwealth.
The Virginia Mercury recently published an observation by Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington that “Spanberger appears to be caught between two audiences”: vying for Republican support by sacrificing a progressive agenda that won’t turn the boat over for centrist Democratic approval.
“In many ways it comes down to two or three candidates who have generated some level of recognition from endorsement, from support from financial backers or from something that they did like being a hero of January 6,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.
