The Latest from VEA

Virginia voters rejected the agenda of the far right at the polls today, keeping public education supporters in control of the Senate and, in an outcome few predicted, the House of Delegates, denying Governor Glenn Youngkin the trifecta he’d sought of controlling both houses and the Governor’s mansion.

“Citizens of the Commonwealth saw the Youngkin-Republican agenda for what it is—MAGA objectives harmful to Virginians,” said VEA President Dr. James J. Fedderman, “and they demanded a more common-sense approach to governance, not the politics of exclusion and unnecessary culture wars.”

VEA member and high school government teacher Schuyler VanValkenburg flipped a seat in the Virginia Senate, defeating incumbent Republican Siobhan Dunnavant. Other VEA-recommended candidates elected to the General Assembly included Delegates Nadarius Clark, Michael Feggans, Dan Helmer, Sam Rasoul, Don Scott, Briana Sewell, Shelly Simonds, and Rodney Willett, and Senators Lashrecse Aird, Ghazala Hashmi, Louise Lucas, Stella Pekarsky, Russet Perry, and Aaron Rouse.

In another significant win for public education, voters in Spotsylvania County have ousted a majority of the far right members of the county’s school board who supported book bans and were the first in the state to approve the Youngkin administration’s transgender students policies.

“I’m more proud than I can say of the important roles public education supporters played in this outcome,” said Fedderman. “They knocked on over 130,000 doors across the state and made more than 14,000 phone calls. VEA members understood how much was at stake at the polls this year—and they responded, stepping up for public schools, students, and school employees.”