Clever

A story out of the Virginia General Assembly caught my eye last week.

Here’s the background: Virginia will elect a new governor in November of 2025, and the likely candidates are Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle Sears. In her capacity as Lieutenant Governor, Sears has the responsibility for casting tie-breaking votes in the State Senate. Right now, the Democrats hold the narrowest of margins in that body – 21-19. The Democrats have been a steadfast and unified body, meaning that Sears has not been asked to break many ties.

But last Tuesday, the Democrats teed her up for a public vote that she probably didn’t want to have to take, given that she’s running for state-wide office in a state that, although it was redder than usual in last November’s election, is still considered a good bet for Democrats.

• To set up the move, Democrats, who had a 21-18 majority in the chamber on Tuesday due to a missing Republican, created a 19-19 vote by having Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, abstain and Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, vote against the bill. The rest of the Democrats voted in support, and all of the Republicans voted against it. Sears was then forced to do one of her two constitutionally mandated duties: cast a tie-breaking vote.

• She killed the bill.

• The rule that permits a member who voted against a bill to ask for it to be reconsidered allowed McPike to bring it back up for a vote. The chamber voted in support of reconsideration, bringing the bill back up for a vote. All Democrats voted in favor of the legislation on the second try, passing it 21-18.

• Democrats quickly pounced on Sears for her vote against the legislation. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger released a statement applauding the passage of the bill.

“Virginians deserve a Governor who will defend their reproductive freedoms — not pretend that threats to their rights aren’t real,” she said. “When this legislation comes across my desk as Governor, I will sign the right to contraception into law.”

“Access to contraception is about allowing a woman to make decisions about her health. It is about allowing women to have a right to privacy,” said Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker. “By casting a vote against legislation to protect access to birth control and other forms of contraception, Winsome Earle-Sears proved once again that she will not protect women’s freedom to make personal medical decisions,” she continued. “Virginia needs a governor who will strengthen Virginia’s status as a reproductive healthcare haven in the South.”

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, who is running for lieutenant governor, responded to the vote from Sears and praised Democrats for passing the bill. “Today LG Sears broke a tie in VA Senate & voted to kill my bill that protects The Right to Contraception,” Hashmi wrote. “As federal action moves to dismantle protections, securing access to contraception is even more essential now. I’m glad that my colleagues were able to pass the bill today.”

Sears did not provide a comment for this story at the time it was published.

I’ll bet she didn’t. This bill would have passed the State Senate without the shenanigans, but these are the times that demand shenanigans. The Democrats in Virginia are no longer Mr. Nice Guy. The Democrats in Washington could take a lesson from them.