Lieutenant governor candidates express views on a Tysons casino
Some of the six candidates running in the Democratic Primary for lieutenant governor are outright opposed to a casino in Tysons, while others say the issue should be presented in a referendum to voters.
The Virginia Senate passed a bill this session to allow a casino in Fairfax County under certain conditions, but the bill was tabled in the House. The measure, aimed at providing a new revenue source and decreasing reliance on property taxes, is sure to come up again in 2026.
Speaking at a debate on May 22 hosted by the NOVA Democratic Black Caucus, former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said, “We’ve heard loud and clear from residents that they do not want a casino there, so I support the residents on this.”
Stoney said he is open to the possibility of a casino in Northern Virginia, but knowing about the traffic in that area, “I don’t believe this is the best place for a casino in Fairfax County.”
Babur Lateef, the chairman of the Prince William County School Board, made opposition to a Tysons casino a central priority of his campaign. “I am 100 percent opposed to a casino in Tysons Corners,” he said. “I’m 100 percent opposed to slot machines in your local 7-Elevens and video poker machines in restaurants in your neighborhoods.”
Lateef indicated that the revenue isn’t needed, noting that Prince William County was able to raise teacher salaries 61 percent over the past seven years by “diversifying our economy with a mix of data centers and economic development.”
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State Sen. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach said he supports legislation “that will give localities the option to put out a referendum to let people decide whether or not they will want a casino.” He also said it’s important to support workers and labor unions to make sure workers have high-paying jobs so they can take care of their families.
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who represents Richmond and Chesterfield County, didn’t specifically address a casino in Tysons, but said she will support legislation that “provides good union jobs, that enables an economy to grow and expand our middle class.” She said, “Every time I look at legislation, it is through the lens of working families.”
Victor Salgado said he opposes a casino in Northern Virginia but suggested it should be considered in the context of campaign finance reform.
Labor leader Alex Bastani said he is against a casino in Tysons, but said casinos can have a positive impact on the economy in other parts of Virginia.
Federal workers
“I’ve been fighting my entire life, and I’ll be fighting back against Donald Trump and Elon Musk,” Rouse said. Among his accomplishments, he cited legislation to protect federal workers, independent contractors, and veterans and to extend the income tax credit and the child tax credit.
Hashmi said she would ensure displaced federal workers get legal representation, access to job training opportunities, and continued eligibility for health benefits. “We also need to ensure our state agencies are not damaged by what Trump is doing,” she said.
Stoney noted there are 300,000 federal workers in Virginia, and if contractors and members of the Armed Forces are counted, one of every seven workers in Virginia is tied to the federal government. “We need people who are willing to stand up to the White House and to Elon Musk, no matter what party they’re in,” he said.
As a former federal prosecutor, Salgado said, “I can promote and draft legislation that pushes back on Donald Trump and passes court scrutiny. I can fight legal battles. … These times call for a different type of politician.”
“While chaos reigns in Washington, D.C., I will bring steady, principled leadership to Virginia to protect our progress and stand up to Donald Trump,” Lateef said.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
“DEI is part of Virginia’s state code,” Rouse said. “What Donald Trump and Elon Musk are doing is creating fear and attempting to separate us.”
“DEI is code language that’s taking us back to an era of racism, of discrimination,” Rouse said.
“I will stand up against that.”
“Gov. Youngkin is following the playbook of Donald Trump,” Stoney said. “He wants to rip opportunities from people who’ve worked hard to earn credentials. … I want everyone to know, if you work hard and play by the rules, you’re going to get opportunities in Virginia, and I don’t think that has anything to do with DEI.”
“The use of the phrase DEI is simply another coded language for racism, for misogyny,” Hashmi said. She recalled past times when women were denied the right to higher education and banking services. “The efforts that we have made in diversity, equity, and inclusion have led to policies that opened doors for everybody.”
Salgado accused Trump of using code words, like DEI, to divide us. He noted Trump has replaced qualified people with unqualified people, such as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “who doesn’t even know what habeas corpus is.”
Lateef touted his efforts in Prince William County to defend DEI. When Trump threatened to cut funding for his school system if it didn’t eliminate DEI, “I said we would proceed as usual. And if he decides to push and cut our federal funds, I will see him in court. And I will win.”
“The best form of DEI is the American labor movement,” Bastani said. “The American labor movement creates a sense of community and connection among workers.” One of his top priorities is appealing Virginia’s Right to Work law.
Education
“When you pay teachers more, you get improved student performance in the classroom,” Lateef said. “We need to make sure Virginia contributes their share to our school divisions.”
Hashmi, a former educator and current chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Health, said, “We’ve been laser focused on improving public education for all Virginia’s children, regardless of zip code, regardless of ability.”
In the state Senate, Rouse said he supported legislation to increase pay for teachers and support staff and provide funds for school construction. When Trump and Musk want to slash the Education Department, he said, it’s critical for the state to invest more in schools.
Noting that he was the first in his family to graduate from high school and college, Stoney said, “that’s why I made supporting schools my number-one priority as mayor.” During his tenure, he said, funding for schools rose by 60 percent, along with big increases for teacher salaries.
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To Salgado, the need for Virginia to fully fund public schools is more important than ever, now that Trump wants to divert public funds to vouchers for religious and other private schools.
Bastani called for “deep structural change when it comes to education.” Northern Virginia has the tax base, “and we need to redistribute it to the rest of the state so we have equitable education throughout the state,” he said. “We have two different education systems right now – one inside the beltway and one outside the beltway, and it is unsustainable to keep this system alive.”
In response to a question about Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s actions to remove some of the negative aspects of history from the Standards of Learning, all the candidates said students need to know the full story of American history.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to take parts of our history out of our schoolbooks and ban books. We have to fight back against that,” Rouse said.
“People need to know that the atrocities that occurred in the antebellum South during the times of slavery started right here in the commonwealth of Virginia,” Stoney said. “That’s why we need to continue to fight the vestiges of Jim Crow.”
As secretary of the commonwealth, “I led the process to restore voting rights to over 200,000 formerly disenfranchised Virginians,” he said. “As the mayor of Richmond, I took down every damn Confederate monument in the former capital of the Confederacy.”
Gender neutral bathrooms
When asked how they would navigate the right of trans students to use the bathroom that matches their gender while protecting non-trans students, both Rouse and Salgado called it a Republican wedge issue meant to divide people.
“We have so many bigger problems,” Salgado said. “We shouldn’t engage in this cultural war where trans people are exploited for political gains.”
According to Hashmi, “This is an effort on behalf of Trump and Youngkin to distract us from what’s really important in our schools – making sure that we have a strong, high-quality education system, that we are ensuring every child has an opportunity to learn and be safe.”
“We’ve seen Glenn Youngkin and a number of his Republican cronies use our children as pawns. They’re more concerned with that than giving them a fair shot to an education,” Stoney said.
Domestic violence
To protect people against domestic violence, Hashmi said, “It is so important that we empower individuals to be able to stand up and protect themselves and their families.” That should be done by providing mental health services, funding nonprofits that support victims, and making sure perpetrators do not have access to guns.
“We need to have more safe havens,” said Stoney, who said that, as a child, he was exposed to domestic violence in his own household.
Bastani called for universal healthcare, free counseling, eliminating the stigma against seeking treatment for mental illness, and raising the minimum wage “so domestic partners don’t feel trapped and have to stay with their partner.”
Both Rouse and Salgado called for stronger gun laws, and Lateef said victims need legal assistance so they can win in court.
The winner of the Democratic Primary will face Republican lieutenant governor candidate John Reid in the general election in November.
