Contraception access is an issue resonating loudly within Virginia’s public and political spheres this year and last week, it manifested through state lawmakers contrasting Virginia’s twice-failed attempt to protect access to birth control medications against a similar measure that recently sailed through neighboring Tennessee’s legislature.
For the second year in a row, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a right-to-contraception bill carried by Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, who took to social media over the weekend to highlight how, unlike in the commonwealth, Tennessee lawmakers were able to come together and pass a bipartisan bill on the issue.
“When I mentioned Tennessee was able to get something done, it wasn’t to say Virginia should become Tennessee,” Price said in a call with The Mercury Monday. “It was the fact that even Tennessee Republicans were willing to act on contraception.”
Del. Michael Webert, R-Faquier, who is among leadership in the House Republican Caucus and who voted against Price’s bill, replied directly to Price online, posting that he’d be “happy to work on a detailed version of the Tennessee bill if you’re game.”
This was after Garren Shipley, a communications director in the GOP House Caucus, suggested that had Price’s bill mirrored Tennessee’s, she’d have found “90 or more” people willing to vote for it.
“A lot of us had real concerns with the bill Delegate Price brought forward. It seemed much more concerned with setting up lawsuits than actually protecting contraception in law,” Webert said Monday, in a statement relayed through Shipley.
Webert was unavailable for a phone call Monday as he was busy with work on his farm. He texted The Mercury a picture of his cattle that were being rounded up for their annual vaccines.
“I haven’t done a head count, but I’m confident that our Republican caucus would bring at least 40 or more votes to the table for a bill like the one from Tennessee,” Webert’s statement said.
But Price emphasized that her bill would have legally protected people’s access to contraception if their rights were to be infringed.
“People need to know that their leaders are going to stand up to protect their rights,” she said.
Tennessee’s bill says that the state “unambiguously acknowledges the right of a healthcare provider, instead of an individual, to perform, and the right of a person to receive or use, fertility treatment and contraceptives in this state.”
The bill goes on to clarify that the bill “does not create an entitlement” to the treatments, or to coverage or funding of them.
Prices’ bill, on the other hand, would create an avenue for individuals to sue if their access were denied.
“The Virginia statute is broader and stronger than the Tennessee statute (when it comes to contraception),” said Meredith Harbach, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
While the Tennessee contraception bill also includes in vitro fertilization (a topic Virginia lawmakers in both parties have carried legislation on), Harbach emphasized that both Virginia’s and Tennessee’s bills were ways to offer state-level support for reproductive health care options.
She said the Tennessee bill is “not especially controversial” because it supports a person having a right to engage in fertility and contraception treatments, but stops short of legal cause of action. Meanwhile, Virginia’s bill establishes a state-level right for contraceptives and creates a cause of action to sue if that is infringed upon.
For Price, her bill was also personal, as contraception helps her treat her polycystic ovarian syndrome symptoms. Beyond preventing unplanned pregnancies, contraception is used to treat conditions like Price’s as well as endometriosis.
Harbach found it “interesting” to see Virginia Democrats employing a legal pathway that Texas Republicans had used in a state law allowing individuals a cause of action to sue people who perform abortions or assist in accessing them after six weeks of pregnancy.
Just as the Texas law had been controversial among Democrats and reproductive rights advocates for its legal pathway, the lawsuit component in Price and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Richmond’s bills have proven controversial among Virginia’s Republican Caucus.
Campaign talking points
The surge of discussion from Republicans on contraception access comes as GOP gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears remains largely silent about it and in a year where the state’s entire House of Delegates is up for election.
Earle-Sears technically weighed in on contraception earlier this year after Democratic maneuvering forced her to vote in the Senate on that chamber’s version of Price’s bill. The Democratic Party of Virginia has pointed out Earle-Sears’ opposing vote in press releases for months. Her Democratic opponent, former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, has said she will sign the bill into law if it comes to her as future governor.
Meanwhile, Virginia Democrats have stressed urgency on the matter as other states have pursued restrictions on contraception and congressional efforts to establish stronger safeguards have stalled. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested contraception access laws should be revisited after the court ruled to overturn federal abortion protections in 2022.
Though state Republicans have largely dissented on contraception access and progressive reproductive health care measures, some GOP lawmakers have recently broken from the pack.
Webert recalled that Del. Kim Taylor, R-Petersburg, carried a bill to allow an income tax deduction for people seeking IVF treatment to start or continue their families. The bill did not advance this legislative session.
Taylor also sponsored a bill to affirm protections specifically for non-viable pregnancies. With no national definition, doctors handle non-viable pregnancies on a case-by-case basis.
Defined in Taylor’s bill, a “nonviable pregnancy” is one that “cannot result in a live-born infant, including an ectopic pregnancy or failed intrauterine pregnancy.”
That bill also did not advance.
Taylor, who held her seat against her Democratic challenger Kimberly Pope Adams last time by 53 votes, faces her again this year. The seat is among several that are crucial to determine partisan control of the House.
With Democrats dominating both the House and Senate, some policies have been able to advance to the governor for his acceptance or veto purely on partisan lines this year.
Price’s right-to-contraception bill advanced on a bipartisan basis before facing Youngkin’s rejection.
Virginia may not need a bill like Price’s or Tennessee’s, if an effort to enshrine broader reproductive rights into the state’s constitution succeeds.
Having passed the legislature once already, a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive health care ranging from abortions to contraception and in vitro fertilization must pass again next year before appearing as a ballot referendum for voters around the state to consider and vote on. That measure, however has advanced only because of a Democratic majority in both chambers, setting up as a potential key motivator as voters head to the polls this year.
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The content presents a Center-Left bias primarily through its support of expanded access to contraception and its critique of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of a right-to-contraception bill. The article highlights the contrast between Virginia’s efforts and Tennessee’s more bipartisan approach, focusing on the push by Democrats to protect reproductive rights. The framing emphasizes the legislative struggles of Democratic lawmakers and the opposition from Republicans, particularly in the context of personal rights and health care. The narrative, while discussing both sides, leans toward a more favorable portrayal of Democratic actions and positions on reproductive health, subtly positioning them as proactive and rights-focused in contrast to Republican resistance.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-07 13:31:00
(The Center Square) – Tariffs aren’t usually the kind of thing that makes Virginia business owners nervous, but more than half of Northern Virginia executives say trade policy is creeping into their worry list.
AQ2 2025 surveyof nearly 300 Northern Virginia executives found that 53% expect tariffs to hurt business growth in the next six months, more than those concerned about taxes or regulation.
It puts trade policy in the same stress category as inflation and federal job cuts, which also ranked on the list.
That concern isn’t coming out of nowhere as Virginia exported more than$21.8 billion in goods last year,according to figures from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Nearly 90% of those exports came from small and mid-sized businesses, which often don’t have much cushion when costs spike or foreign buyers pull back.
Unlike states that mostly ship raw materials or heavy goods, Virginia leans heavily on service exports such as tech, consulting and logistics. Those exports aren’t small potatoes, and in 2022, those services supported more than222,000 jobs and pumped $2.2 billion into commonwealth and local tax coffers.
Survey responses suggest the impact isn’t just theoretical, as some Virginia businesses say they already feel it. Roughly 40% of executives said that the current U.S. trade policy is already causing their companies to decline, while another 36% expect trouble.
So far, tariffs haven’t played a major role in Virginia’s governor’s race. Meanwhile, Republican nominee Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears hasn’t released a formal position on trade policy or tariffs. However, in a leaked March recording, she expressed support for the president’s trade approach, calling tariffs good and to our benefit.
Democratic governor candidate Abigail Spanberger has sharply criticized Trump-era tariffs, calling them a“tax on Virginians”that will hit families, farmers and small businesses hardest.
Dominion Energy is also watching tariffs closely.
In a May 1earnings call,executives estimated the company could face up to $500 million in cumulative tariff-related costs if the current policy holds through 2026.
During the call, the leading provider disclosed they had already absorbed $4 million in tariff costs during the first quarter of 2025 and expects that number to jump to $130 million by the end of June.
If nothing changes, executives say tariffs could tack on half a billion dollars to the cost of building Virginia’s offshore wind project.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article primarily reports on the concerns of Northern Virginia business executives regarding tariffs and their potential economic impact without advocating for a particular ideological stance. It presents information from both Republican and Democratic perspectives, including statements from candidates and factual data about trade and tariffs. The tone and language remain neutral, focusing on the economic implications rather than promoting a specific political agenda. This balanced reporting aligns with neutral, factual journalism rather than exhibiting a discernible political bias.
What started as a call for financial transparency has exploded into bitter infighting within the Republican Party of Virginia Beach, pitting local GOP chair Laura Hughes and her conservative grassroots allies against the leadership of the 2nd Congressional District GOP Committee — and, by extension, the party’s entrenched establishment wing.
With accusations of stonewalling, sabotage, and political retribution flying, the dispute has deepened long-standing tensions and raised concerns about how party unity will hold heading into key statewide elections in November.
The conflict will come to a head this Wednesday, when members of the 2nd District GOP committee will hold a closed executive session in Chesapeake to vote on whether to remove Hughes from her post — a move her allies say is an anti-democratic power grab by establishment figures.
Hughes, an attorney and former Virginia Beach school board member, was elected local GOP chair in March 2024 at a packed mass meeting of about 1,100 Republicans. Her victory by 95 votes surprised many — including longtime power players — and marked a shift toward grassroots-driven leadership. But with that shift came deepening fractures.
“When I took office, I thought the hardest part would be rallying people and getting them excited to grow the party,” Hughes told The Mercury in an interview Monday. “I didn’t realize the biggest fight would come from inside.”
Virginia Beach GOP Chair Laura Hughes with Gov. Glenn Youngkin. (Courtesy Republican Party of Virginia Beach)
One of her first priorities was to push for a formal audit of the local committee’s finances, which she quickly learned had not been conducted since 2014 — despite the party’s bylaws requiring annual reviews.
“When I couldn’t get access to basic financial documents, I decided to ask for an audit,” she said. “It seemed irresponsible not to.”
That decision, Hughes said, opened a hornet’s nest.
The committee’s former treasurer, she alleged, refused to provide documents or grant her access to records. Eventually, the state party stepped in to perform what was termed a “financial review” — though not a formal audit — and Hughes said that when the report was finished, she was only allowed to view it after signing a non-disclosure agreement.
“I think the whole body of the party should be allowed to have it,” Hughes said. “There were a lot of procedural issues that have been going on for years and years and years.”
In a detailed Facebook post last week, Hughes accused prior local leadership and 2nd District Chair Dennis Free of blocking accountability efforts at every turn. She wrote that after engaging the state party, the audit was “taken out of our committee’s hands and handed to people at the state level,” ultimately becoming “just a report, not an audit.”
Free did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment.
A push for transparency
Hughes told members she was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement just to see the report and described the process as an alarming lack of transparency.
“The members should be able to see the report and have their questions answered,” she wrote, warning that instead of letting the report speak for itself, Free had called for her removal “without a single vote from the members who built this committee back from dysfunction.”
Karen Heesch-Gilman, who took over as the local committee’s treasurer under Hughes, reinforced those concerns in an email obtained by The Mercury, describing how Hughes had struggled to access basic materials such as old bank statements, QuickBooks records, or deposit slips.
“Laura had no choice but to purchase bank statements at a cost of $150,” Heesch-Gilman wrote.
Even after the state party review, Hughes said, the missing records were only handed over — sealed in a box — shortly before Free announced the meeting to decide her fate.
Heesch-Gilman underscored that many of the financial problems dated back years and were not the fault of the current leadership.
“Most of the audit report details issues inherited and are correctable,” she wrote. “Nothing places blame or indicates incompetency of the current executive board.”
Free, the chair of the 2nd District GOP committee, defended the upcoming vote at a Republican breakfast event last Saturday, telling the crowd that the meeting’s sole purpose was to determine whether Hughes had “failed to function” in her role.
“I heard a lot about Chairwoman Hughes and that she had to sign an NDA, a non-disclosure agreement, to see the audit. That’s not correct,” Free said in a video of the event obtained by The Mercury.
“The information is confidential because it can only be shared among party members. It is wrong and unethical for a party member to take confidential information and share it with a non-party member.” He warned that mishandling confidential materials would amount to “an ethical kind of violence,” punishable by censure or removal.
But Hughes’ backers argue that the move is a blatant overreach.
“It should be with us, not in the 2nd District committee,” Virginia Beach GOP Vice Chair Paula Chang said to applause at the breakfast. Chang said Free had bypassed the local committee that initiated the financial review in the first place.
Virginia Beach Republicans fight back
Jim Cohen, a longtime Virginia Beach Republican, pointed to Bruce Meyer — vice chair of the 2nd District GOP committee and a key player in the push against Hughes — as a driving force behind the turmoil.
Cohen said Meyer has long operated behind the scenes, shaping party outcomes and influencing Free.
“It’s been happening for years and years,” Cohen said. “You’ve got factional fighting, you’ve got various groups with various interests. You’ve got people who, in politics, they want sex, money, or power, and in this case, it’s all about power. It’s all about who has their hands on the wheel and who they don’t want to have hands on the wheel.”
Meyer said in a text message that he is “very aware of the many issues concerning Laura Hughes,” but added he would hold off on further comment until he has reviewed the RPV’s audit report on Wednesday.
“For the record, I have always recognized Laura as the chair of the RPVB and still do,” Meyer noted. “In fact, I introduce her every Saturday, at our weekly breakfast, so she can give her report about the Republican Party of Virginia Beach.”
Cohen said the dynamic is nothing new, describing “years and years of pattern” where Meyer has attacked anyone who didn’t give him power or whom he hadn’t backed in a prior election.
“Every meeting we have, Bruce Meyer will stand up and try to come up with anything he can to call, to try to get the room to turn against her,” Cohen said, speaking about Hughes. While he acknowledged that infighting happens in both Democratic and Republican parties, Cohen emphasized that the real issue arises “when you weaponize rules that we all agree to play by in order to take action against an individual.”
Adding to the chorus of criticism is Jimmy Frost, a Virginia Beach Republican for 16 years who ran unsuccessfully for local chair in 2020 and has long positioned himself as part of the party’s conservative, anti-establishment wing. Frost called the effort against Hughes “basically a political hit job.”
“From the moment Laura was elected, these folks in, I guess you can call it the establishment wing of the party as represented by Dennis Free, just cannot conceive of the reality where they’re not in charge,” Frost said.
“And they have been attempting to undermine Laura at every turn, even from the first meeting when they tried to put forth an alternate board of directors that included many of the same people who were running the party under (former local chair) Bill Curtis.”
Frost said the pattern is familiar. When he ran for local party chairman five years ago, he faced multiple attempts by insiders to force him out. “I had no less than five different attempts made to either convince me, intimidate me, or basically try to buy me out of running,” he said.
Reflecting on the stakes of the latest intra-party showdown, Frost said the problem runs deeper than one leadership dispute.
“If you take a position that is anywhere opposed to or different from what the establishment of the party thinks is the way to go, these people will try to destroy you personally, publicly, professionally, and permanently,” he warned.
And looking ahead to Wednesday’s high-stakes meeting, Frost said bluntly: “I think Dennis is going to railroad Laura. But we are going to be there for her.”
Mark Peake, the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said he doesn’t know Hughes well and has only had limited interaction with her, noting, “I think I’ve spoken to her twice.”
Still, in a phone interview Tuesday Peake made clear he is not enthusiastic about the escalating battle inside the 2nd District.
“In my tenure as RPV chairman, the last thing I want to have happen are intra-party fights,” he said. “I don’t think it is good for the party to try and remove people that have been elected unless there’s a crime, or unless there’s something that would be very offensive and detrimental to Republicans.”
While Peake acknowledged that the district committee does have the authority to remove a local chair, he voiced concern about the potential fallout. “They can do that, or otherwise they wouldn’t be having that meeting,” he said, adding that he was not fully informed on the specific issues driving the conflict.
What worries Peake more, he said, is the larger picture.
“We’ve got statewide elections in November. Democrats already got the Senate, they’ve got the House. If they win the governorship, the 200 bills that Governor (Glenn) Youngkin vetoed this year are going to get signed,” Peake warned.
“We can’t risk that happening. So I want all Republicans’ attention to be focused on beating the Democrats in November, and that’s always what we should be focused on, unless something like I previously discussed has happened, and that has not happened in Virginia Beach.”
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Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
This content presents a detailed account of internal conflicts within a local Republican Party faction in Virginia Beach, showing a focus on accountability, transparency, and grassroots versus establishment tensions. It highlights conservative grassroots perspectives without overt criticism or endorsement of liberal viewpoints. The tone and framing suggest a Center-Right bias by centering on Republican intra-party dynamics, emphasizing conservative values such as fiscal responsibility and party unity, while avoiding polarizing partisan rhetoric or attacks on political opponents.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Sarah Roderick-Fitch | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-06 17:49:00
(The Center Square) – Loudoun County Schools once again finds itself at the center of controversy and a new investigation by the Commonwealth of Virginia, following an alleged incident involving a transgender student filming the opposite sex in a locker room.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares announced that the attorney general’s office is investigating the school district’s “conduct.”
The investigation stems from reports that three male students “complained about the presence of a biological female in the boys’ locker room.” The students allege that the female student, “who identifies as male, used her cell phone to record the reaction of male students” upon entering the boys’ locker room.
In a joint statement released by Youngkin and Miyares, the governor called the reports “deeply concerning” of “yet another incident” involving Loudoun County schools, “where members of the opposite sex are violating the privacy of students in locker rooms.”
Youngkin further claims the “victims of the violation” are under investigation, which he argues is “beyond belief.”
“Students who express legitimate concerns about sharing locker rooms with individuals of the opposite biological sex should not be subjected to harassment or discrimination claims,” the governor said.
Youngkin highlighted model policies his office issued, including requiring students to use “the locker room corresponding to their sex” and requiring “parental notification if a student is permitted to use a locker room that differs from their biological sex,” while giving parents the right to “opt their child out and use alternate facilities.”
The investigation is the latest mark against Loudoun County schools on behalf of the commonwealth. In January, Miyares filed an amicus brief in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Loudoun County parents allegedly “silenced” by the school board.
The brief claimed the school board silenced parents critical of the district’s decision to reenroll a student with alleged gang ties and firearm offenses.
In May 2021, a girl was assaulted in the girls’ restroom at Stone Bridge High School, followed by a second assault of another female in a similar fashion that occurred in October 2021 after the perpetrator was transferred to Broad Run High School. The teen, a male who identified as a female, was later convicted.
The assaults sparked outrage in the community and throughout the country. The board faced lawsuits, but not before the second victim’s father was arrested during a June 2021 school board meeting for disorderly conduct after getting into a heated argument with school district officials.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Right-Leaning
The article presents a right-leaning bias through its selection of topics, framing, and language. It emphasizes concerns raised by conservative figures such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares regarding school policies on transgender students in locker rooms, highlighting alleged violations and investigations. The narrative focuses on incidents that support a viewpoint skeptical of transgender inclusion in school facilities, using language that aligns with conservative positions like “biological sex,” “victims of the violation,” and praise for policies requiring parental notification and locker room use based on biological sex. Although it reports facts, the tone and framing lean toward endorsing the conservative perspective rather than maintaining a neutral stance.
