Virginia Politics & News
Virginia news from The Daily Signal, covering state politics, education policy, election integrity, and the political shift between Northern Virginia and the Commonwealth’s conservative regions.
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- Opinion
Virginia Election Outcome Was About Education. Here Are 4 Actions Youngkin Should Take to Address Parents’ Concerns.
Glenn Youngkin’s victory in the Virginia gubernatorial race is an indisputable vindication of the values-based case for school choice and parental empowerment. Voters had two clear and diametrically opposed paths from which to choose. One path labeled parents who were concerned about critical race theory being taught in the classroom as racists. It forced them…Lindsey Burke -
- Opinion
Virginia Election Proves That Americans Reject Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory proponents have just learned the hard way the folly of their strategy. The American people reject the politicization of the classroom, the office, the military, and the houses of worship that has exploded since the civil disturbances of 2020. But the lesson cuts both ways. Now, politicians who have discovered they can…Mike Gonzalez -
- News
Republican Glenn Youngkin Wins Virginia Governor’s Race, Stunning Democrats
Former business executive Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, becoming only the fourth Republican candidate to win the office in the past 40 years in what used to be a solidly red state. By 9:15 p.m., Youngkin appeared to be well on his way to thwarting McAuliffe’s attempt to…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
How Education Came to Dominate Virginia Governor’s Race
It’s Election Day in Virginia, and no issue has captured the attention of voters in the Old Dominion more than education. Battles between school boards and frustrated parents have attracted national attention, and led to a close race for governor. Ian Prior, a Loudoun County, Virginia, father and executive director of parents-based grassroots organization Fight…Douglas Blair -
- News
Virginia Scholar Refuses to Cave to Pressure Over Tweet Criticizing Bisexual Superman
A scholar at a Virginia university is not backing down as students and faculty seek to get her fired for a tweet she posted criticizing DC Comics’ new bisexual Superman character. “Regrettably, this has all gone too far,” Sophia Nelson, scholar in residence at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, says in an open…Douglas Blair -
- Opinion
Virginia Parents Standing Up to Loudoun County School Board Should Inspire Parents Everywhere
Who should make decisions about how children should be educated? The obvious answer—consistent with American democratic values—is clear: parents. The alternative is unavoidably tyrannical. Indeed, the question of who our children fundamentally belong to has come to define our modern political divide. “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” said…Mary Clare Amselem -
- News
Amid Controversy Over Virginia Public Schools, Religious Private Schools See Surge in Enrollment
As the Fairfax County Public Schools system reports dwindling school enrollment, leaders at religious private schools across Northern Virginia say they are only growing. “This year alone, I can point to at least four families … who have either relocated to the area from other states or who have moved from very progressive public school…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
3 Takeaways From AG Garland’s House Panel Testimony on Virginia School Rape Case, Conflict of Interest
Attorney General Merrick Garland denied any knowledge Thursday of a highly publicized Northern Virginia school rape case and suggested that he called for federal investigations of parents without independently confirming a purported spike in threats made to school boards and teachers. During the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Republican lawmakers grilled the attorney general…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
‘Are You Transgender?’: Virginia School Survey Asks Students About Gender, Sex, Intimate Family Details
A Fairfax County Public Schools system survey will ask children as young as 13 years old to anonymously answer questions about their sex lives, drug and alcohol consumption, and intimate details of their family life. The school system administers the survey to students in the eighth, 10th, and 12th grades each fall, and a separate…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Virginia School System Deflects Charges It Covered Up Rape of Ninth Grade Girl by ‘Gender-Fluid’ Boy
Loudoun County Public Schools in Northern Virginia is being accused of covering up allegations that a boy in late May sexually assaulted a ninth grade girl in her school’s restroom—the nightmare scenario so often described by opponents of radical transgender school policies. The school system allegedly covered up the incident by transferring the male student…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- News
Matt Walsh, Parents Slam Virginia School District’s ‘Indoctrination and Psychological Abuse of Kids’
A few hundred protesters gathered Tuesday evening outside a school board meeting in Virginia to join conservative writer Matt Walsh in pushing back against what they say are far-left policies on critical race theory and transgender students in the school district just west of the nation's capital. Many of the protesters told The Daily Caller…Mary Margaret Olohan -
- Opinion
‘It Feels Like the School Board Is Dividing Us,’ Virginia Mom Says
A Virginia suburb 45 minutes west of the nation’s capital has captured national attention because parents and teachers are resisting a school board that has pushed woke ideas such as critical race theory and gender ideology in the classroom. Shawntel Cooper is one of those Loudoun County parents who decided to take action. In May,…Douglas Blair -
- News
3 Teachers Now Suing Virginia School System Over Transgender Pronouns
Students in one of the nation’s wealthiest suburbs returned to school Thursday even as three teachers were in court to challenge a school district policy forcing all teachers to refer to self-identified transgender students by their preferred pronouns. The Virginia Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling ordering the reinstatement of Byron Tanner…Douglas Blair -
- News
Virginia School Board Adopts Transgender Policy Amid Parents’ Protests
Loudoun County, Virginia, one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, will allow male students who identify as females to use girls’ restrooms and locker rooms at school. The policy also allows biological males to play on girls sports teams. The Loudoun County School Board voted 7-2 Wednesday night to adopt a transgender policy affirming students’…Virginia Allen -
- News
School Board Walks Out in Virginia County as Parents Criticize Transgender Policy, Critical Race Theory
A school board meeting in Loudoun County, Virginia, scheduled to discuss a proposed transgender policy, came to an abrupt halt Tuesday evening after the board ended public comment and proceeded to leave the room. The board moved to end public comments after the crowd of several hundred erupted into cheers following critical remarks by former…Virginia Allen -
- Opinion
How Stand Up Virginia Is Working to Hold Rogue Prosecutors Accountable
Brenda Tillett, founder and president of Stand Up Virginia, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the new organization and how it intends to hold rogue prosecutors accountable. “In Fairfax County, Steve Descano was funded by George Soros,” Tillett says, referring to the elected commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County, Virginia, and the billionaire financier…Rachel del Guidice -
- News
Virginia School District Challenges Judge’s Ruling Reinstating Teacher Who Wouldn’t Use Transgender Pronouns
A school district in Virginia is appealing a judge’s June 8 order to reinstate an elementary school gym teacher who it suspended for saying he wouldn’t call children who “identify” as transgender by their “preferred” names or pronouns. “Many students and parents at Leesburg Elementary have expressed fear, hurt, and disappointment about coming to school,”…Rachel del Guidice -
- Opinion
Virginia County’s ‘Diverse Book Collection’ Spotlights Radical Agenda Coming to K-12 Schools
A Virginia school district has become an epicenter of the debates occurring over critical race theory and other, similar curriculums coming to K-12 classrooms around the country. In 2020, Loudoun County Public Schools adopted a plan to double down on bringing so-called culturally responsive teaching to the classroom. It’s notable that the administration of Loudoun…Jarrett Stepman -
- Opinion
Virginia Flunks Math
The state of Virginia, which used to be reliably red and mostly conservative, is providing more evidence of an increasingly blue and liberal hue. Virginia is “considering” renovating its math courses. As the publication Virginia Mercury noted: In webinars [Virginia Department of Education] officials have been upfront that the initiative is based on data, especially standardized…Cal Thomas -
- Opinion
Manchin Should Be ‘For the People’ of West Virginia With a Vote Against HR 1
Here is the question that Sen. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, needs to answer: Is he going to vote in favor of a bill that takes away the power of his constituents—his voters—and their elected state legislators to decide what rules govern elections in their state? Because that is exactly what HR 1, which represents a federal takeover…Hans von Spakovsky