Decision Virginia

#VaGov post election takeaways

I just wrapped up my annual trip to the NBC12 morning show and taked about some of the surprises from this year's election. 

If you missed my segment you can see it here. 

 

Some quick takeaways: 

The only poll that counts is election day- How often do we hear candidates say just that and just dismiss the claim? Tuesday night was a perfect example of how it doesn't matter how many different ways pollsters sample the electorate the only way to know for sure who your next elected leader will be is to count the votes. The Real Clear Politics average of polling leading up to last night gave Terry McAuliffe a comfortable margin leading into the vote last night. As the returns came in, it was anything but comfortable. That was part of the reason that I predicted he could win by as much as 8% (I was wrong). 

To their credit, the McAuliffe team never suggested this race was going to be anything but close. They were confident they could win, but knew it would be tight. 

Recount on the way? The numbers keep changing, but it is a distinct possibility that we won't know for more than a month who the next Attorney General of Virginia is. At 6:46am as I post this story Mark Herring (D) leads by a little more than 500 votes. That is less than the .05% margin that would force localities to pay for a recount, should Mark Obenshain (R) ask for one. 

Virginia has been through this before. The last Attorney General elected by a razor thin margin after a lengthy recount is in the Governor's mansion. That was only eight years ago. 

Could Richmond be the new Washington? <Everyone groans> Yes, Virginia's governing body is set to have the same exact make up as what we see at the Nation's Capitol. It is that same set up that is causing massive dysfunction and leading to government shutdowns. Tuesday night everyone was talking a good game. McAuliffe said during his victory speech that he plans to work with both parties and will reach out to all the Republicans in the House of Delegates. House Majority Leader Kirk Cox (R- Colonial Heights) said during our special digital broadcast that no one on his side of the aisle wants Richmond to become Washington and they are ready to compromise. 

Richmond has it's fair share of conservative and tea party members of the General Assembly and McAuliffe has proposed ambitious and expensive plans, most notably an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.  While everyone claims to be ready to come to the table, if McAuliffe comes ready to start marking off his campaign promises he could be in for a rough road in January.

Who will challenge Mark Warner? Virginia now moves right into ANOTHER statewide election so who wil.... okay I won't do that quite yet, I'll give you a break.. ha ha.. 

We will continue to keep an eye on the Attorney General's race and talk more about the new McAuliffe administration in the days ahead. Stay tuned. 

My prediction: Democrats will sweep on Election Day

When I decided to go out on a limb and make a prediction for the election results in 2012 the race was tight and the outcome not apparent. 

Especially in Virginia. 

Such is not the case in 2013. 

(Team McAuliffe is confident heading into Election day/Photo from his FB page)

While the race for Governor of Virginia was expected to be a slugfest that was close right until the end, things shifted in a pretty dramatic way in late August. There have been polls that have shown the margin to be as high as 15 points and as low as 4 points, but truly Terry McAuliffe (D) has held a stable 6-8 point lead since late summer and there is nothing to indicate the results won't be any different Tuesday night when the polls close. 

This is how I think the returns will come in. I emphasize this is not necessarily my personal preference, it has nothing to do with how the campaigns were run or the candidate's stances on specific issues. This is simply an analysis of public polling and my assessment of the public's mood in general. 

Governor: Terry McAuliffe 51% Ken Cuccinelli 43% Robert Sarvis 6%

The most unpredictable variable in any off year election is turnout and low turnout is the only key to a Cuccinelli victory. In my estimation the Democrats have been concerned about low turnout since the day after their losing effort in 2009 and have since had a hellbent obsession with getting their voters to the polls. 

Instead of distancing themselves from the Obama machine in 2009, the McAuliffe campaign has adopted it wholesale and added their own twist in certain areas. They have micro-targeted voters they have been monitoring since early 2008 down to such a rigid science that they are aware of not only the voting households that support their candidate, but the people within those households who they know are with them. They have then gone about on a historic GOTV effort that will see them contacting more voters in the last weekend of the vote than the Deeds campaign did in the ENTIRE 2009 campaign. 

In just four days the McAuliffe team will either knock on the door or make a phone call to some 600 thousand Virginia voters. And not only are these voters, they are voters they are sure are inclined to vote for their candidate. 

While I believe the McAuliffe model is solid and that they have the financial resources to pull it off, I don't believe it will be enough to over perform polling. While McAuliffe has steadily improved his favorability numbers, the last Quinnipiac Poll released Monday morning shows he still has a negative favorability rating of -3. Even if you contact all those voters, it will be tough to motivate people who just like the other guy a little less than your guy to get out to vote on Tuesday. 

We also have the unpredictable element of a third party candidate. Robert Sarvis's polling has been steady and strong, but he has virtually no get out the vote effort. A campaign official within one of two major party operations believes the lowest Sarvis could pull is 5%. I agree. However I think he falls short of the magic 10% threshold and I don't think when the dust settles that his candidacy will have had an impact on the result between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli. 

I believe the Sarvis voter stays home if he were not in the race. 

That being said, a 6% showing in a race where the major party candidates will have spent close to $60 million and both have tremendous name ID will be a monumental and historic finish. 

Lt. Governor: Ralph Northam 53% E.W. Jackson 43% (4% won't vote)

This is far and away the easiest race to predict. Bishop E.W. Jackson could not escape the spectre of his previous controversial statements and despite his best effort to clarify his record he did not have the resources or the time to overcome the damage. 

The LG race might best be described in one ad done by the Northam team that has been airing pretty consistently in many markets. It pulls a section from Jackson's book where he describes birth defects as a punishment for sin. It features a mom with a child with a birth defect who emotionally calls Jackson's statement offensive. It is a devastating ad- and while it may not tell the whole story of Jackson's position, he never even approached the resources necessary to rebut that claim and the many others lodged against him.  

This race will be the first to be called Tuesday night. 

Attorney General: Mark Herring 50% Mark Obenshain 48% (2% won't vote) 

There is no question this will be the race of the night and one that might take some time to call. 

I have pegged the margin of victory in the Governor's race that is insurmountable for the Republican Mark Obenshain to overcome at 7%. I think it is possible for him to still lose if McAuliffe's margin of victory is smaller than that, I believe it is impossible for him to win if it is more than that number. I believe McAuliffe will win by 8 points and as a result will take Herring with him. 

Herring was wise to stick close to the McAuliffe train and tie Obenshain to Cuccinelli as much as possible. He will benefit from the enormous democrat turnout effort and it won't hurt that the LG race will be a landslide. 

An Obenshain victory is much more likely than a Cuccinelli victory, but think of the odds like this: If this election were the Powerball lottery, Obenshain would need to correctly pick all 5 white powerballs correctly, but might sneak in if the red powerball doesn't come up right. Cuccinelli needs all 5 white powerballs and the red ball to win. 

It should be a good night to be a Democrat. 

See if I am right.. tune in to NBC12's special election night coverage. Wall to wall from 7-11pm! on air and on line.

The race for Lt. Governor: a contrast in personalities

In the race for Lt. Governor, the two parties nominated candidates that couldn't be more different. 

Dr. Ralph Northam is a soft spoken physician not prone to making waves. His opponent Bishop E.W. Jackson is a charismatic pastor, who seems to go out of his way to make an impression. 

Their campaign has been controversial and as a result it could be the one race that we learn the results to relatively early. 

Here is my profile on both candidates for NBC12:

RICHMOND (WWBT)- It has been one of the most controversial races of the 2013 campaign. The race for Lt. Governor features a quiet state senator against a charismatic pastor. Their war of words has made for an interesting campaign.

These two candidates couldn't be more different. The race has turned into a mandate on the republican, Bishop E.W. Jackson and his controversial past statements.

His opponent- Dr. Ralph Northam has just tried to stay out of the way.

Before he was a candidate, jackson was a popular- but controversial pastor in Chesapeake- who preached very directly on issues like abortion and homosexuality.

Statements he has tried to convince voters to not tie to his campaign.

"I'm not running to be the minister of Virginia," he said. "I'm running to be Lt. Governor of Virginia."

His opponent Ralph Northam- a pediatric neurologist from Norfolk- is one of those making sure voters understand exactly everything Jackson has said.

"We don't need people with this rigid ideology that just say no to everything," Northam said.

Northam and Jackson differ greatly on issues like abortion and gay rights. But both claim it will not be their focus if elected.

"I would have to say the top issue has to be the economy," said Jackson.

Northam agreed. 

 "The main objective is to have people wantin' to come to Virginia and have their business and that's what puts revenue into our coffers," he said.

Despite all their many differences, when it comes to touting their ability to govern- Jackson and Northam seem to say very similar things.

"I've been a unifier and uniter my entire life," said Jackson.  

"Whenever there is a piece of legislation that is good for Virginia it's done through compromise that is my reputation in the senate," said Northam

Read and see the full story on NBC12.com. 

Our full interview with Bishop E.W. Jackson can be found below:

You can read more about his stance on the issues on his campaign web site-

 

Our full interview with Ralph Northam can be found below:

You can read more about his specific stances on the issues on his campaign web site. 

 

Jackson defiant about past statements

Bishop E.W. Jackson, the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor of Virginia, has spent a lot of his campaign explaining himself. 

A position he believes is unfair. 

"There's been an effort to disqualify me because what I believe and what I've taught as a minister," Jackson said in an interview with NBC12, "Even though I've made clear repeatedly, that I will follow the Constitution."

Just this week, the pastor and attorney was once again put into a defensive posture when he told WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C. that he never said some very specific things during his ministry. Among the controversial statements was one that had to do with God's judgment of the military and another related to his view of homosexuals and their lifestyle. 

Jackson said he was trying to defend the statements within a broad context, but he didn't back down from them.  

In fact I asked him very specifically if he ever said the following passage related to homosexuals: 

"Their minds are perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally and they see everything through the lens of homosexuality. When they talk about love they’re not talking about love, they’re talking about homosexual sex. So they can’t see clearly." 

He told WUSA that he never said that.

When I presented it directly, he didn't deny that he said the words but argued that it was in the context of a spiritual discussion and has nothing to do with the type of Lt. Governor he would be. 

"I'm not running to be the minister of Virginia," he said.  "I'm running to be Lt. Governor of Virginia."

But as to the statement itself, Jackson provided no qualification or explanation. Instead he argued that if someone was honestly assessing what he had to say, they would understand he was explaining what the Bible says about the gay lifestyle. 

"Whether you agree with him or not you he was basically reflecting essentially what the scripture says about homosexuality," he said. 

Regardless, Jackson believes that his profession has been brought into the limelight in a way that no other candidate's professional background has. He thinks it is because he is a Christian and the left- in particular the liberal media- have purposely attacked him because of his faith. 

"All of the sudden because the left has this great antipathy to Bible believing Christians all of the sudden it is a big issue if you are a Christian," Jackson said.  "We don't know if you will bring those issues into office. Well people have always brought their world views into office."

Jackson connected his situation to the debate over the appointment of Tracy Thorne-Begland to the Richmond General District Court. Begland, who is openly gay, was serving as a Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney when he was tapped for the judgeship. Conservatives initially blocked his confirmation because of his outspoken advocacy against the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the U.S. Military. 

"When a homosexual judge was being considered for office- anybody who raised the question if whether he was going to bring his activism to office was considered out of bounds," Jackson said. "But all of the sudden my ministry is disqualifying me from serving as Lt. Gov." 

He contends when elected, he will be the Lt. Governor for all Virginians and has an easy way to know when to put his religon on the sideline. 

"The Constitution will draw that line," he said. 

You can see part of our interview with Jackson below. 

  

Our full interview with him will post tomorrow as part of our preview of the Lt. Governor's race. 

Reality TV star Jim Bob Duggar wants McAuliffe to quit race for #VaGov

Jim Bob Duggar, the patriarch of the popular reality TV family of the hit show "19 Kids and Counting", is working hard to have an impact in the race for Governor of Virginia. 

(Michelle, Jim Bob and their oldest son Josh came to the NBC12 Studios)

Duggar, a strict social conservative is criss crossing Virginia with 12 of his children and wife supporting the GOP ticket. Specifically Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, the party's nominee for Governor and Lt. Governor respectively. 

The Duggars will appear at an event at the State Capitol in Richmond Tuesday at 12:30. 

Jim Bob is no stranger to politics. He is a one time state representative in Arkansas and is regular speaker on the conservative stump. His comments to the Family Research Council's Values Voters Summit drew some controversy when he compared the state of the U.S. to Nazi Germany. 

They stopped by the NBC12 studios for an interview this morning where Jim Bob called on the Democratic nominee for governor Terry McAuliffe to drop out of the race.

Jim Bob believes McAuliffe's role as a passive investor in a Rhode Island con artist's scam that stole the identities of terminally patients, serves as grounds for him to quit the race. 

"It's a travesty that somebody involved in running for governor would be involved in something like this," Duggar said. 

Duggar suggested that McAuliffe should pay back his investment profits to the victim's families. 

When pushed on the candidate he supports role in the Star-Scientific scandal Duggar quickly dismissed Cuccinelli's activity as a problem. 

"Ken Cuccinelli had received a gift, he ended paying that back, that was not illegal," he said. "What we are talking about is illegal activity where people are going to prison."

 McAuliffe's campaign has rejected any suggestion that the candidate knew the specifics of the Caramadre scandal. He was questioned by investigators, but was never the target of their probe into the businessman's illegal activity. 

They also asked voters to consider the source.

"It is completely shocking that Cuccinelli would accept the support of a man who recently compared the United States to Nazi Germany," said McAuliffe spokesman Josh Schwerin. "Cuccinelli needs to immediately ask Mr. Duggar to leave Virginia and keep his offensive ideology and false attacks out of the Commonwealth."

Here is video of Jim Bob Duggar calling on McAuliffe to drop out of the race. 

 

We will have more of the Duggar's interview on NBC12 First at 4.

We press them a bit on how their socially conservative politics play in a purple state like Virginia and we do get some insight into what life is like in their "active" household. 

McAuliffe to donate funds from convicted Rhode Island businessman to charity

Terry McAuliffe's name popped up today on a list of investors who bought annuities from a Rhode Island businessman who pleaded guilty in 2012 to stealing the identities of terminally ill patients.

The convicted businessman, Joseph Caramadre, was also a donor to McAuliffe's failed 2009 bid for the Democratic nomination for governor of Virginia.  Caramadre donated more than $26 thousand to McAuliffe and hosted a fundraiser for the candidate.

(Court sketch of Caramadre courtesy of WJAR)

According to our NBC affiliate in Providence WJAR, there is no evidence that McAuliffe or the other investors, who include a noted bookie with mob ties and a Catholic priest in charge of financial planning for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, had any knowledge that Caramadre was taking advantage of the patients on their death beds. 

Caramadre stole the identities of the patients and then used them to apply for annuities and bonds. According to WJAR, he is accused of defrauding insurance companies between $37 million and $48 million.

McAuliffe's campaign was quick to distance the candidate from the report. They claim that while he had invested in the annuities he knew nothing about Caramdre's fraudulent activity. 

"Terry was one of hundreds of passive investors several years ago and had no idea about the allegations against the defendant - who, at the time, was widely respected by business leaders and elected officials," said spokesman Josh Schwerin. "The allegations are horrible and he never would have invested if he knew he was being deceived."

Schwerin said that McAuliffe and his campaign would donate the equivalent of the campaign donations from Camardre to the American Cancer Society. $27 thousand from the campaign. $47 thousand from the candidate himself.  The $27 thousand was to return campaign contributions. The $47 thousand was for the investment into Caramadre's business venture.  

McAuliffe's opponent Ken Cuccinelli's campaign was quick to pounce on the news as another example of the candidate closely associated with questionable financial activity.  Senior Adviser Chris LaCivita predicted that McAuliffe would claim to have no knowledge of what his associate was up to. 

“There is no question that this is a deeply troubling story, and what it reveals most of all is yet another glaring example of Terry McAuliffe doing business with highly dubious individuals, said LaCivita. "We’ve seen this movie before."

The Cuccinelli campaign once again reiterated their call for McAuliffe to release his full taxe returns. 

"It’s becoming clearer by the day why Terry McAuliffe has steadfastly refused to release his tax returns to the public. This is not the kind of behavior or judgment worthy of Virginia’s highest office,” said LaCivita.  

Republicans also pointed out that McAuliffe waited until his name was publicly revealed to give back the money.  

"It's very interesting that Terry McAuliffe's decided to make his donation today, in October 2013...Caramadre, plead guilty to these charges nearly a year ago, in November 2012," said RPV Chairman Pat Mullins. "Terry only decided to give the money to charity only when Mr. Caramadre's client list was released to the public for the first time. It's not that Terry was upset that he was involved with something like this — he was upset that it became public."

UPDATE:

Late Wednesday evening, the Associated Press incorrectly interpreted court documents to determine that  McAuliffe lied to postal inspector investigating the RI death benefits scam. 

Shortly after the story posted here and in several media outlets across the country, the McAuliffe campaign contacted NBC12 to refute the story.

Here is their statement:

"The person referenced on page 68 is absolutely not Terry McAuliffe since he was a passive investor and did none of the things referenced: First, he was not interviewed by law enforcement on April 20, 2010; rather, he was in Richmond for a day of meetings," said Schwerin. "Second, he was never involved in the referral of any annuitants to Mr. Caramadre, ever.

"When an investigator contacted Terry briefly by phone, as he said he was doing with other investors, Terry answered a few questions and never heard from him again."

The AP story- which was posted originally on prior versions of this story has been taken down. The AP retracted their story at 11:24 pm Wednesday.

Here is the full blow by blow of what happened Wednesday night, including a response from the AP from Poynter.

Cuccinelli dismisses McAuliffe call to return gifts

This morning during his regular radio show on WTOP in Washington, D.C. Governor Bob McDonnell revealed the next stage of his political redemption plan. McDonnell is in the process of returning every single gift or loan ever given to him or his family by Jonnie Williams, the CEO of Star Scientific.

In total- McDonnell plans to return or pay back close to $200,000 given to him and his family by Williams.

The announcement automatically sent Democrats into action. The McAuliffe campaign immediately renewed their call for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to repay his gifts from Williams.

"Governor Bob McDonnell just announced on WTOP that he will be returning all the gifts his family received from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams," said McAuliffe spokesperson Josh Schwerin.  "Ken Cuccinelli now has no choice but to follow his lead and return the $18,000 worth of gifts that he got from the scandal-plagued CEO and company.  On the heels of the news that Cuccinelli's conflict of interest has already cost taxpayers more than $50,000 in legal fees, its the least Cuccinelli can do to return all of his gifts."

McAuliffe has repeatedly worked to link Cuccinelli to the Star-Scientific scandal, but Republicans wouldn't even entertain the notion of Cuccinelli returning gifts to Williams.

"Terry McAuliffe lecturing anyone on gifts is laughable. Terry first needs to repay the millions he profited from GlobalCrossing and Telergy when thousands of employees lost their jobs. Then, he must explain the how many political strings he pulled to try and secure visas for Chinese investors – some of whom represented a national security threat – to finance his struggling car company GreenTech Automotive," said spokesperson Anna Nix. " Ken Cuccinelli has always run an open and honest campaign for governor, while Terry continues to use scare tactics to distract voters from his deceitful statements, broken promises of job creation and shady financial history."

Cuccinelli initially failed to disclose thousands of dollars in gifts that came from Williams in the form of vacation stays, plane rides and supplements. He voluntarily amended his report and referred his situation to Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Herring who found no evidence he broke the law.

Executive Chef accuses McDonnell of mishandling taxpayer money in court motion

It is perhaps the most sweeping and direct accusation of Governor Bob McDonnell since the scandal involving his connection the company Star-Scientific broke.

In documents filed in support of Executive Chef Todd Schneider's motion to dismiss the charges against him, Schneider's attorney Steven Benjamin outlines specifics examples of what he believes is criminal wrong doing by the McDonnell administration. He also claims that when Schneider brought his concerns about the conduct at the Executive Mansion Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli ignored his concerns and instead began the process of charging him with embezzlement.

The embezzlement charges were borne out of a state police investigation. Schneider was ultimately charged by grand jury.

Schneider claims the McDonnell Family used the Executive Mansion for political and personal reasons, often mixing political and taxpayer money to fund the events. In some instances, Schneider claims he was told to just take excess food as payment or charge the taxpayers for his services.

You see the entire 15 page motion here.

These claims are above and beyond the charges of non-disclosure made against both McDonnell and Cuccinelli.

 

Keep in mind these are just accusations from Schneider. They do not come from an official law enforcement investigation and there is no way to tell if these accusations have anything to do with the federal investigation into the McDonnell family and their receipt of thousands of dollars in donations from high profile donors.

The Governor's office dismissed Schneider's version of events.

"These are claims made by an individual facing four felony charges of embezzlement," said Tucker Martin, McDonnell's Director of Communications.  "Assertions regarding this matter should be properly considered in a court of law."

Rachel DePompa was the first to take a look at the documents. Here is her story of NBC12:

RICHMOND (WWBT)- Explosive allegations filed in court today, in the case of the former executive mansion chef. Attorneys for Todd Schneider are accusing Governor Bob McDonnell of criminal wrong doing.  Schneider says when he brought that alleged wrong doing to Attorney General Ken Cuccinneli he claims, Cuccinneli ignored it and turned around and charged him.

In court documents filed this afternoon- Schneider is accusing the governor of hosting political parties on the taxpayers' dime and instead of paying him- he was told to take taxpayer funded food.

In the filing- Schneider's attorney claims the arrangement" was orchestrated by the governor's administration to quote "cover up the misuse of state assets that advanced the political and personal goals of the McDonnells."

The court filing includes a document that lists parties - many of which were put on by the Governor's political action committee. The accusation of misusing thousands in taxpayer dollars is a felony under Virginia law and carries a 2 to 10 years prison sentence and a 100-thousand dollar fine.The defense argues the charges against Schneider were brought up improperly because of Ken Cuccinelli's conflict of interest. he prosecution argues a grand jury ultimately indicted Schneider.

There is a gag order in this case so neither the defense or the prosecutor is allowed to comment.

We did reach out to the Governor McDonnell's office seeking comment The Governor has repeatedly denied any wrong doing- but has not been able to answer many questions because of an ongoing federal investigation.

We also reached out to Ken Cuccinelli's These accusations are new revelations that go above and beyond the initial reports of not reporting gifts. These accusations- again- are made in the court filings by the defense.  We do not know if these claims are in any way connected to the ongoing federal investigation.

Democratic primary voters choose experience over potential

It is hard to say that there were surprises in Tuesday night's Virginia primary, because we didn't really know what to expect.

The Democrats filled out their ticket with the two candidates who brought more elective political experience to the table.

Sen. Ralph Northam defeated Obama Technology Czar Aneesh Chopra in the race for Lt. Governor and Sen. Mark Herring held off former Federal Prosecutor Justin Fairfax in the nomination for Attorney General.

You can see a complete county by county breakdown of all the results on VPAP's election page.

Here is my recap from 12 News at 11.

 

I'll dig deeper into the results and what they mean for November Monday morning at 6 on NBC12 News Today.

Chopra and Northam approach finish line in primary race

The Democratic candidates for Lt. Governor have just a few short days left to convince what is expected to be a small group of voters that they will be the best candidate to win in November.

The race, which has not been given much attention has had a few small fireworks, but has mostly gone as expected. That also means that there is no clear front runner and Tuesday's result is something no one is ready to predict.

I profiled the race between Aneesh Chopra and Ralph Northam for NBC12.  Here is our story that ran on TV:

  NBC12.com - Richmond, VA News 

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Next Tuesday, voters will go to the polls to pick the down ballot statewide candidates for the Democratic ticket.

Aneesh Chopra and Ralph Northam hope to replace Bill Bolling as Lt. Governor. Both have impressive resumes but are from very different backgrounds. They hope their individual combination of experience will be what Democratic voters are looking for.

Northam is a State Senator, a pediatric neurologist and a man with a wealth of experience in elected politics.

"I've been in the Senate," said Northam. "I know how to get things done."

Chopra has never held elective office, but he has served at the side of Governor Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama. He hopes his background in high tech could play a big role in bringing jobs to Virginia.

"The next four years, the Commonwealth is going to face some big choices about what the economy will look like over the next 40," said Chopra.

Just which message resonates with Democratic voters will be tough to tell. With as little as two percent turnout expected, both sides are tailoring their message in a very specific way.

Northam helped push through major laws, like the statewide ban on smoking in public places. He is pushing his medical experience and his defense of women's rights.

"There is just no reason that legislators, most of whom are men, should be telling women what they should and shouldn't be doing with their bodies," he said.

Chopra wants to build on the 40 different initiatives he has helped to implement during the Kaine administration that are not traditional but he believes have tremendous potential.

"I have this pragmatic, progressive mindset with a portfolio of results," said Chopra. "You don't have to just take my word for it."

Read and see the full story on NBC12.com

You can see our entire, lengthy interviews with both candidates below.

Ralph Northam:

 

Aneesh Chopra: