November 3, 2025 • 38 mins
Ballots open doors—and this year in Virginia, they may also redraw the map of power. We break down exactly how to vote with confidence, then dive straight into the real stakes: a historic governor’s race, a hard look at abortion policy, and a charged fight over whether the Commonwealth’s bipartisan redistricting system can be sidelined in a special session. No fluff, no hedging—just a clear-eyed view of what your choice could change.
We walk through voting hours, ID requirements, and the simple rule that protects your voice if you’re in line by 7 p.m. From there, we contrast the candidates’ agendas and explain why policy outcomes matter more than headlines. The heart of the show centers on the redistricting push: how the commission came to be, why it won broad support, and what it would mean if lawmakers trigger earlier map redraws despite voter intent. With insights from Delegate Nick Freitas on floor procedure, germaneness, and power dynamics, we map the mechanics that often get lost behind slogans.
The conversation expands to principle: fair maps, civil process, and the long arc of Virginia’s civic identity. We speak plainly about life and women’s privacy, raise concerns about last-minute procedural maneuvers, and offer a resilient plan whether results thrill or sting—organize, vote, and keep the guardrails intact. If you care about election integrity, redistricting reform, and the future direction of the Commonwealth, this is your field guide for an election that reaches beyond one news cycle.
If this resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for more candid breakdowns, and leave a review with your top issue this year—what should Virginia protect or change next?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:15):
Welcome back to Overopinionated.
It's going to be a shorterepisode, guys.
We're going to talk about theelections happening across the
Commonwealth today.
We have the every house in theum House of Delegates is up for
re-election.
The governor's mansion, thelieutenant governor, the
(00:39):
attorney general.
The free big statewide racist.
Always is.
But before we do that, we'regoing to say the Lord's Prayer.
We'll skip the Apostles' Creed.
We'll just say the Lord'sPrayer.
And uh we'll get on with theshow.
(01:00):
Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name, and thy
kingdom come, thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily breadand forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespassedagainst us.
Lead us not in temptation, butdeliver us from evil.
Thine is the kingdom, the power,and glory forever and ever.
(01:20):
Amen.
Well, it is election day againin the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This Tuesday at 6 A.M.
Um the polls will open and theywill close at 7 p.m.
and everywhere in theCommonwealth.
If you are in line before 7p.m., they have to let you vote.
(01:44):
They have to.
You have to have one form of ID.
Doesn't even have to be photoanymore.
It could be your social securitycard.
So go vote.
Make sure you're in the rightpolling location.
There's not much there's not aton more I can say really than
what I said in the previousepisode where I talked um about
(02:07):
the Virginia politics.
Um so it'd be the one uh afterit'd be the one uh after the
Reformation Day that's labeledrage and hate.
There's not been a ton ofchange, really, so we're gonna
do a quick recap.
Abigail Spanberger, the formercongresswoman and CIA agent, is
(02:34):
seeking to become the firstfemale governor of of Virginia,
and Winston Earl Sears, aimmigrant from Jamaica, and a
Marine Corps veteran, formerdelegate, and current lieutenant
governor of Virginia, is alsoseeking to become the first
(02:57):
woman governor in the history ofVirginia.
It will be a history, um, of thefirst female governor in the
Commonwealth.
So that that's neat.
I guess it's cool, but I'll behonest, I don't care that much.
Um not because I'm againstwomen, I'm not because I care
(03:21):
about the policies of these two.
And we have seen Democratpolicies and Republican
policies.
Obviously, I'm a Republican, Ithink that's the best way to
govern.
And the last four years beforePresident Trump retook the White
House, I believe spoke loudly.
(03:43):
Abigail Spanberger supported JoeBiden every step of the way, um,
when he made horrible decisionsthat hurt this country and this
Commonwealth.
Um and so there's that.
Um there's the fact that shewants to codify abortion and
(04:04):
make it a comp a stateconstitutional amendment.
Uh to have abortion all the wayup to the moment of birth,
ripping apart a baby limb forlimb, uh denying them their
universal human right to existand to be born safe.
America is a great country ifyou can make it out of the womb.
(04:27):
And some states respect thatmore than others.
Right now, Virginia has norespect for unborn babies,
despite the efforts of peoplelike Glenn Youncan and Winsome
Sears.
So they say that they want toprotect democracy while they
want to go against aconstitutional amendment that
(04:49):
was passed by every localityexcept one in Virginia, and that
was Alexandria.
Every locality, every countyexcept one, passed by over sixty
percent of the vote, um, was anonpartisan, a nonpartisan
redistricting committee made upof both Republicans and
(05:12):
Democrats, and if they couldn'tgo get along, it would go to the
Supreme Court of Virginia.
The Supreme Court it last timethey couldn't get along, so it
went to the Supreme Court ofVirginia, where the Supreme
Court of Virginia hired veryprofessional map surveyors and
makers to make our current mapswhich are not gerrymandered.
(05:34):
Well, Democrats and the GeneralAssembly have passed in both
chambers a proposedconstitutional amendment as the
election is underway.
And in Virginia you have to haveyou have to have um an election.
You have to have an election andyou have to pass the amendment
(05:58):
twice before it can go up for avote.
Uh I'm sorry, two elections.
Have to pass the amendment twiceuh before it can go up for a
vote and uh before the people ofVirginia.
But uh the election didn't startwhen they uh called for a
(06:21):
special assembly to pass this sothat we could so that Democrats
could gerrymander uh the stateand help out Democrats in
Congress.
Democrats in the legislaturedidn't pass this before the
election started.
The election in Virginia startswhen the first ballot is cast.
(06:44):
And I've already cast my ballot.
I cast my ballot forty-five daysago.
And Democrats want to sneak thisby.
Well, that's that's definitelygoing to head to the courts.
And we'll see where the courtsdecide if the election starts.
(07:04):
Um does the election start thefirst day it's cast?
Or is it on election day?
Or do they have to go back tothe drawing board and pass it
again on 26?
But regardless, Democrats in inthe House and the Senate do not
care, and that's the VirginiaHouse and Senate, do not care
(07:25):
about the will of the people,wherever 60% said we don't want
gerrymandered maps.
They blame states like Texas andOhio and the Republicans for
redistricting for umgerrymandering.
And make no mistake, we havebeen.
(07:48):
But so are Democrats.
So are Democrats.
Are you telling me that not oneRepublican could be elected, or
at least not have a swingdistrict in Massachusetts?
Have you not looked at Illinoisor Maryland in their maps?
It they gerrymander too.
We're just better at controllingmore states.
(08:11):
That's all it is.
And in principle, I'm completelyagainst gerrymandering.
That's why five years ago Ivoted for um amendment one, uh
proposed constitutionalamendment one with everyone else
to get rid of uh uh just thelegislatures drawing the maps
and have a commission made up ofan equal number of Republicans
(08:34):
and Democrats, or close to anequal number of Republicans and
Democrats, appointed by thelegislature.
Um I understand they'reappointed by the legislature,
but if they can't get along, ifthey can't agree, then it goes
to the Supreme Court ofVirginia.
And I want to play you part ofum Nick Faradas' podcast.
(08:59):
He's a delegate, a Republicandelegate in the state of
Virginia, libertarianlibertarian leaning.
I really like a lot of what Nickhas to say.
And uh I want to play you someof what him, Christian Hines,
he's big on Twitter, are sayingabout the redistricting
campaign.
(09:20):
And um, we'll just give him alisten.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
So why is this potentially illegal?
Why is this so different thanwhat's going on in other states
right now?
Well, like I said before, ifyour state legislature has full
authority to draw the lines,then all they need is to pass a
bill in order to draw the lines.
That's it.
Now, maybe you like that, maybeyou don't like that, but it's
not illegal.
I mean, now there's some peoplethat are claiming the special
session is illegal.
(09:44):
That's not accurate.
The special session itself isillegal.
The speaker of the House, thehead of the Senate, they can
call a special session.
They can call us back in inorder to address issues.
Now, the way that they'retypically supposed to do it,
especially when they're actuallypiling on to an existing special
session, is we're only supposedto cover down on certain things
(10:05):
that we've agreed to.
And typically, when you'readding something so different
from what currently existed,then it's supposed to require a
two-thirds majority.
Why do we do this?
Well, because special sessionsare supposed to be just that.
They're supposed to be special,and that's supposed to be
something that we do all thetime.
We're supposed to handle ourbusiness during regular order,
which is the constitutionalprocess where we have our
(10:26):
general sessions.
We're only supposed to pick upspecial sessions if something
crazy is happening.
Now they started in specialsession because they wanted to
trash Trump.
And what they were doing is theysaid, well, because of Doge,
Doge is gonna Doge is gonnaimpact federal workers.
And because Virginia has so manyfederal workers, we might need
to come back into specialsession in order to adjust the
(10:47):
budget and to help those federalworkers.
When in reality, what they meanis we might need to come into
special submission to trashDonald Trump.
unknown (10:54):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
That's what they said about.
But the reason why they couldget away with it is because Doge
was going on.
There were discussions about umfederal employees being cut, and
because that is such an impactto the Virginia budget, they can
get away with saying we really,really need to have them special
submission.
Now, originally, they wanted tocall the special session to deal
with SNEP benefits because ofthe government shutdown, which
(11:17):
by the way is a Democrat causedgovernment shutdown, and we've
explained that on a previousepisode.
Instead of Democrats calling uptheir two senators, Mark Warner
and Tim King, and saying, hey,how about you guys stop
threatening a filibuster, votefor the clean continuing
resolution, and then you candebate about all these other
things.
They said no because they wantthe leverage.
They want federal workers to besuffering right now so they can
(11:39):
use it as leverage because theythink Republicans will get
blamed for it.
Right?
Virginia House Democrats andVirginia House Senators, or
Virginia Senators, thought thesame thing.
And so they thought this is thisis gonna be key.
Because the government shutdownis impacting SNEP benefits for
our federal employees.
We're gonna call the specialsession then we're gonna come
in, and an endward fallsperfectly in line with why we
(12:00):
have the special session going.
The problem is Governor GlennYoungkin declared a state of
emergency and then funded theSNEP project for Virginia
federal workers.
So now all of a sudden, theydon't have the same
justification to come in.
But the real reason why theywanted to come in was twofold.
The first reason why is theywanted to do redistricting
(12:20):
reform.
So again, despite the fact thatjust five years ago, Virginians
voted overwhelmingly to send upa bipartisan commission in order
to drum our lines, Democrats arenow coming and say, nope, we're
gonna totally kick that out, andnow it's gonna be Democrats the
ones joining the lines forVirginia.
That's what we want.
Not what the people want it, butthat's what Democrats want.
So that's what they'reattempting to do.
Now, technically, could they dothat?
(12:44):
Yes, it's a little bitquestionable on whether or not
they should be able to add it tothe resolution, right?
If if you wanted an honestinterpretation of what we call
germaneness, or is the topicthat you're bringing up relevant
to the topics that you said youwanted to cover in special
session?
The answer to this would be no.
And and a speaker of the housethat was being honest about this
would say, yeah, this is nottechnically germane to what we
said about, but they decidedit's just been the rules, and
(13:06):
quite frankly, they have thepower to do so.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
And we don't have the way it seems like um the
whoever's in power gets todecide if it's germane or not.
(14:39):
Yes.
Like I was watching the sessionand and they they pulled
themselves back for like jumpingoff the cameras for a second,
conferred with each other, andthen came back and beat them
like we've decided it's germane.
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
It's it's a delegate pony show.
Like I've actually seen speakerscome forward and and rule
something ungermane, like notgermane, against their own
party, but it's far and fewbetween.
This happened with Bill Hammell.
Bill Hammell were you gonna beelected.
It happened on this topic.
This we were gonna read thetopic.
We were gonna redraw the linesin Virginia.
Republicans were gonna redrawthe lines in Virginia in order
(15:14):
to help tremendo pick up anascendancy for the Republicans.
And Bill Hamel, the thenRepublican speaker of the House,
when the bill came over from theSenate to the House, Bill
Hammill said, This is notgermane.
He killed it.
I mean, he was giving he killedit right there.
He was given in an honest, hegave what he believed was an
honest interpretation.
He thought this was aninappropriate way to do this.
And so a Republican had anopportunity, and this is before
(15:36):
we had a commission.
Before we had an independent, ifhe would have said yes, they
could have done it just likethat.
And he said, nope, I don't thinkthis is the proper way to do
business.
He didn't say no because, well,this violates this independent
commission we just voted on.
He said no because he didn'tthink it was in the proper order
the way that we did thesethings.
And and to and and to his point,it wasn't in the way that we
typically did it.
(15:57):
Right?
But here's the thing, here's thedeal.
His intellectual honesty andconsistency, which was praised
by the Democrats at the time, itis now just being completely
disregarded and ignored by thecurrent Democrats.
And this is another reason whywhen people say, oh, well, Texas
started it, I'm looking at himgoing, oh, no, they did not.
(16:18):
No, they did not.
In many respects, this is what Ilike to refer to as a delayed
reaction to Democrat aggression.
And now the Democrats are comingback and demonstrating that,
yep, they just don't care.
So, anyways, they they ruleeverything germane, and um, I
totally forget where I was atnow.
Um they were they were goingthrough, you know, so they
(16:39):
brought in the special session,um, and then they they they
brought up forward theresolution, adding the
redistricting, and we had somequestions for now.
Before they even got to that,there's another thing I need to
point out.
We have something in the GeneralAssembly called morning hour.
And what morning hour is, isit's an opportunity for us to um
make various motions, tointroduce people that have
visited the Capitol, um, or touh pass commending or memorial
(17:03):
resolutions.
These are just kind ofresolutions where we
congratulate something forsomething they did well, or we
memorialize someone who'srecently died.
Um and then we do four speeches.
Uh that's what we call points ofpersonal privilege.
A point of personal privilege isan opportunity for a legislature
to be able to speak on anythingthey would like to speak about.
Here's what typically happens: Democrats get up, they do some (17:22):
undefined
introductions, Republicans dosome introductions, um, and it
it basically happens in orderthat you push your button.
So you push your button tospeak, the speaker sees it, and
then you know, the the delegatefrom so-and-so may rise up, you
know, Mr.
Speaker, I rise for the purposeof an introduction, I rise for
the purpose of a motion, I risefor the purpose of a request, I
(17:43):
rise for the purpose of a pointof personal privilege, whatever
it is.
He grants you the floor and thenyou speak.
And it usually goes back andforth.
Democrats have introductions, wehave them, they have points of
personal privilege, we havethem.
This time, let me get thisclear.
On a random Monday, in a specialsession where we almost never
have any guests, they filled upthe entire morning and hour with
(18:05):
just introductions and allDemocrat introductions.
And I know them because I pushedmy button.
And they went throughintroduction after introduction,
they introduced PlannedParenthood, they introduced all
kinds of left-wingorganizations, democratic
committees.
Democratic committees,democratic committees.
So instead of us getting to sayanything about the actual
reasons why we were there duringmorning hour, Democrats crammed
(18:28):
up the entire time is becausethe speaker gets to decide who
gets called on.
Zero Republicans were called on,it was all Democrats, and it was
all Democrat pony show.
Then when they moved intopresenting the resolution and we
had questions on the resolution,the speaker started rolling them
out of order.
Now, again, the speaker claimsthat we you're not addressing
the resolution, you're trying totalk to the underlying
(18:50):
legislation.
But no, a lot of our concernsweren't having to do with
whether or not this resolutionactually made sense.
And so they just ruled them outof order.
And then finally we had someonethat got to speak to the
resolution who basically broughtup that he just thought this was
unprecedented in Virginiahistory.
And that was it.
That was all we got.
That was all we got.
Then we got to come back onWednesday, and Wednesday is when
(19:12):
they're actually gonna presentthe language, and then that's
where we have an opportunity,and this part is important
because there's a lot of peoplequestioning whether or not we
should even show up to this.
And I tend to be of the opinionthat this is kind of a Duncan
pony show, and you know, I don'treally want to be a part of it.
The one thing that is importantthough is we need to be able to
ask questions about what they'reactually going to do.
(19:34):
We need to be able to askquestions about the language of
this resolution because there'sa couple areas where this is
truly problematic.
What do you want to say withthat?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Um, you know, from left-wing media sources that
that claim they have sourceswithin the Democratic Party is
that, oh no, no, no, this isn'tgoing to get rid of the
bipartisan commission.
This is just going to triggerthe bipartisan commission to
redraw the lines.
And so they they have these,it's basically no no them that
(20:11):
amendment stays, but we're we'regoing to trigger them to go
ahead and do it you know, at thefive-year mark instead of at the
10-year mark.
SPEAKER_00 (20:19):
Which would make no sense.
Why would you do that unless youthought you could gain from it?
In fact, now might be a goodtime to talk about what would I
will go into what what I thinkis illegal about this process of
what they're doing, but now itmight be a good time for us to
actually pull up thecongressional map and show you
what Democrats are really gonnatry to do in Virginia, right?
This is what I think they'regonna actually try to do.
Do you got the uh maps you wantto show?
(20:40):
Oh no, Nick Cott Nick Cotton.
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
We're gonna we're gonna call it right there.
Um from Delegate Freitas, but uhthat that just shows you typical
Democrats.
Um and uh so it's very, very,very important that you go out
and you vote for Winsom Sears,you vote for John Reed, and you
(21:04):
vote for Jason Meneeris.
Our side's not perfect, Iunderstand that.
But there used to there's an oldsaying that Republicans say is
we may not be perfect, but we'renot crazy.
Um I understand John Reed'sopenly gay, we've talked about
that before.
I disagree with that lifestyle.
(21:25):
But the lieutenant governor canpat can strike down bad bills.
And um he's very close in thepolls.
And um you know, I'm not gonnamake a prediction about anyone
who wins.
But I will ask you this.
Go vote for your localRepublican candidate running for
(21:50):
the House of Delegates.
It's so important.
We need we gotta we need toelect Mitchell Cornet to his
first term.
We need to elect Jason re-electJason Balor in my whole
district.
We need to elect Chris Oberchainin a very um very tight
(22:13):
election.
Um the way it's been drawn.
We um We need to re-elect thesepeople.
We need man, if I we flip theHouse of Delegates, I'd be so
happy.
But even if we can't flip it,let's just keep it the same.
Let's keep the governor'smansion, keep the veto power.
(22:38):
And um you know, let's mentionJay Jones one more time.
He said he wants uh he wantedformer Speaker of the House Todd
Gilbert to be shot in the headtwice.
Wanted his wife to feel the painof her children dying.
Why?
Because they have politicaldifferent opinions on gun
(23:00):
control.
And because Jay Jones is a pieceof human crap.
How can you say that and be aChristian?
Well, uh guys, I'm not denyingthat he's made the image of God.
Maybe I'm using some stronglanguage, but I don't want him
to die.
I want him to repent and go toheaven.
He shouldn't.
You do not wish death on yourpolitical opponents.
(23:25):
That's not something you do in athat's not something you should
do in America.
That's not something you shoulddo in Virginia.
They used to be called somethingthe Virginia Way, and a lot of r
establishment people love that.
They're gonna work together,they're gonna be better than the
rest of the country.
Put politics aside.
It was it was all a sham.
(23:46):
It always was a sham basically.
Now, there's always probablymore respect in Virginia.
Um you know, Virginia's no umVirginia's no stranger to having
a divided government.
In all reality, we're not.
(24:08):
Um there are many times wherethe uh Virginia had a a very
strong Republican presence inthe House of Delegates in the
Democrat Senate and the Democratum is the governor.
Happened a lot.
(24:28):
Uh the Republicans controlledthe House of Delegates for 30
years.
While Democrats controlled offand on the the state senate and
and the governor's race.
Um We know what the who everyonestands for.
(24:50):
We know what everyone standsfor.
Um we know the policies.
We know the positions.
Um, I just want to end with youguys.
Tonight.
Let's say worst case scenario.
I don't want it to happen.
This worst case scenario.
(25:11):
If we lose tomorrow, if theDemocrats take full control of
Virginia and we go through astretch of darkness in this
Commonwealth where the people inpower stop listening and start
stirring everything to suitthemselves.
(25:32):
If the Democrats pass thisconstitutional amendment to
redraw districts whenever itbenefits them, if it goes
through the courts and they say,Yeah, this was legal, they do it
one more time, and then it goesup to the people.
Maybe the people vote for it,maybe they don't.
But that's dangerous.
(25:52):
They'll tighten the grip.
They'll call it they'll call itum payback for what the
Democrats are doing, for whatthe Republicans are doing in
Texas and other states.
They screw us out of seats inIllinois and in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts should have atleast one Republican, a leaning
(26:16):
district.
But it's all about power.
That's all it is.
This is all about power.
Now, that's bad enough.
But it it kind of does go deeperthan that.
We're we're fighting foruniversal human rights of unborn
(26:37):
babies.
That's not just a buzzword.
A vision slapped on a campaignmailers.
This is something I mean.
This is something Christiansmean.
The human rights of unbornchildren to be born alive, not
discarded, not dehumanized, nottreated like some inconvenience,
(26:59):
not treat it like trash.
Life is life, and life that isinnocent deserves to be
protected in this Commonwealthand in this nation.
We are fighting for the rightsand dignity and privacy of women
in their own locker room, intheir own bathroom.
(27:19):
Cause just because you put a manwith a penis and a dress does
not make him a woman.
Oh, gender's different.
Gender is technically differentthan sex.
Shut up.
All this academical bullcrapwhere professors are coming up
with this crap, and not onlythat, it's just okay, uh there's
men and there's womenbiologically, and a very, very
(27:41):
small set of people that areintersex.
Very, very small.
Men cannot become women, womencannot become men, and w real
women, real women should be ableto have their private spaces
without men invading them.
That's common sense.
(28:07):
And we are fighting because weknow what's right.
We're not backing down, nottoday, not tomorrow, not ten
years from now.
In the worst case scenario, ifwe lose tomorrow, we will not
give up on Virginia, we will notgive up on freedom, we will not
give up on truth, we will notgive up on human rights for the
(28:30):
unborn or protection for women.
We will keep fighting for whatis right, no matter how long it
takes, because it is worth it.
Hear me.
Just because the road might godark does not mean the light
goes out.
Because I'm a proud Virginian.
(28:53):
This Commonwealth, my home, yourhome, is the birthplace of
America.
We produced Washington, the manwho walked away from power when
he could have taken it all.
We produced Jefferson, Madison,Monroe, men who carried a flame
that that caused the entireworld, that showed the entire
(29:15):
world that free people cangovern themselves.
Were we perfect?
No.
None of us are.
Were those men perfect?
No, none of us none of us are.
Virginia has stumbled, we havesinned multiple times, we have
taken step backwards in history.
We have we'll never forget.
(29:36):
But God has been merciful, Hehas corrected us, He has humbled
us, He has judged it, judged us,and sometimes He has restored
us.
And we have risen again andagain, not because we are
faultless, but because weremember what is right and we
resolve to do better.
(29:57):
So if the worst happenstomorrow, if the Democrats win
everything, if the ballots fallthe wrong way, I'm not going
quiet, I'm not g going todespair, I'm not giving up, I'm
not packing and moving toTennessee or West Virginia.
I don't think it'd be at thattime yet.
(30:17):
I think you can eventually, butthat's a last case scenario.
This is my home, and I'm gonnafight for it.
Because Virginia is older thanany trend, stronger than any
political party, and deeper thanany political moment.
It's older than theConstitution, it's older than
(30:38):
this country itself.
We have survived tyrants, war,uh depression, riots, failures,
storms, civil war.
And we are still here.
Still standing, still proud,still free, because we choose to
be.
So tomorrow, let's make theright choice.
(31:02):
Let's stand up for life, let'sstand up for women's privacy and
dignity.
A man should not be standing inthe way of them in their locker
rooms or in their bathrooms.
Let us stand for dignity andtruth for families, for what is
(31:22):
good and right in God honoring.
Because God still judges thenations.
No matter what, I'll say thisI'm a proud Virginian, and you
should be too.
I've lived in the Commonwealthfor twenty nine years.
I wasn't born here.
I was born, I like to joke andsay I was born on the wrong side
(31:44):
of Bluefield.
Bluefield hospital, which isfive minutes from well,
actually, it's not even I usedto say it's five minutes.
It borders Bluefield, Virginia.
There's a town called Bluefield,half Virginia, half West
Virginia.
Just like Bristol, Tennessee,half Tennessee, half Virginia.
(32:04):
It was the closest hospital tomy parents.
Maybe I was born on the wrongside of Bluefield.
Bluefield West.
But I've lived all 29 years inthis beautiful Commonwealth in
Southwest Virginia.
Much of it in the New RiverValley.
Um I love.
I love this state.
(32:25):
I love this state from the oceanto the mountains.
I love being a Virginian.
That means the world to me.
Um when I read history, even menlike I know, I know people hate
Robert Ely now because of theConfederacy, but if you look and
(32:49):
see why he fought for Virginia,you can disagree with his
reasonings, but it's because heloved the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
And I love this Commonwealth.
I love this Commonwealth.
No matter who's my governor, nomatter who's in charge, I might
criticize, I might hit my headagainst the wall, but I'm just
(33:12):
as proud of Virginia as I am anAmerican, and sometimes more.
Virginia helped found the UnitedStates of America, not the other
way around.
We are the Commonwealth ofVirginia.
We are Virginians.
Let's make the right decision.
Let's look at the past when wehave ignored people that were
(33:34):
different than us.
Like Native Americans, likeAfrican Americans, like many
minorities that we denieduniversal human rights to.
And now let's look at theunborn.
They're different than us.
They're less developed than us.
They don't look exactly like us.
Should we deny their humanrights, their right to life,
(33:56):
because they they're not thesame as us?
The same way God judged us forthe evils of Jim Crow and
slavery and the harsh treatmentsof a Native American.
I do believe God judged Virginiaharshly.
He spared us, he gave us mercy,but he judged us harshly too.
I believe he will also do thatfor killing unborn children.
(34:22):
And you can claim that you'reafraid Trump is a threat to
democracy.
Even though he's not, eventhough he's obeyed the process.
Oh, January 6th, whatever.
Donald Trump never called for aninsurrection.
(34:44):
He called for them to fight likehell.
Um, maybe some words that heshouldn't have said at a heated
moment.
But I've been told to fight likehell in a locker room before a
football game.
Many times.
He wasn't saying to literallyinvade the Capitol building.
(35:06):
So no, you're not saving thesaving democracy.
You're not.
You're not a superhero.
You're not saving democracy.
You know, it seems like everytime Republicans win, it's
because democracy is die dead toDemocrats.
So if you vote for the wrongperson, then democracy's dead.
(35:30):
That's just how Democrats feel.
If you vote for the rightperson, then um then democracy's
not dead.
So if you vote if you vote forthe right person in their eyes,
the Democrats, then democracy isnot dead.
If you vote for the wrongperson, the Republicans,
democracy's dead.
And there'll never be anelection again, except for every
(35:54):
year in Virginia we have anelection.
But they'll take away our rightto vote, and they don't.
Still here.
This is not Nazi Germany.
This is not the Soviet Union.
This is the United States ofAmerica.
We have elections, they're freeand fair.
Not saying you can't criticizeanomalies or you can't criticize
(36:17):
the laws, you can.
But um yeah, this wholeRepublicans are taking away
democracy as Democrats try torush in at the very last minute
a constitutional amendment tomake Virginia's maps less fair.
Talk about ironic.
(36:38):
Talk about eronic.
So I ask for you this to I askfor you this today.
To simply vote and pray.
May God bless you.
May God bless the Commonwealthof Virginia.
Um end on the Lord's prayer.
(37:01):
Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name, and thy
kingdom come, thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day your dailybread and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive thosewho trespass against us.
Amen.
God bless you.
(37:21):
God bless Virginia, six centerTyranos.
Welcome back to Overopinionated.
It's going to be a shorterepisode, guys.
We're going to talk about theelections happening across the
Commonwealth today.
We have the every house in theum House of Delegates is up for
re-election.
The governor's mansion, thelieutenant governor, the
(00:39):
attorney general.
The free big statewide racist.
Always is.
But before we do that, we'regoing to say the Lord's Prayer.
We'll skip the Apostles' Creed.
We'll just say the Lord'sPrayer.
And uh we'll get on with theshow.
(01:00):
Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name, and thy
kingdom come, thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily breadand forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespassedagainst us.
Lead us not in temptation, butdeliver us from evil.
Thine is the kingdom, the power,and glory forever and ever.
(01:20):
Amen.
Well, it is election day againin the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This Tuesday at 6 A.M.
Um the polls will open and theywill close at 7 p.m.
and everywhere in theCommonwealth.
If you are in line before 7p.m., they have to let you vote.
(01:44):
They have to.
You have to have one form of ID.
Doesn't even have to be photoanymore.
It could be your social securitycard.
So go vote.
Make sure you're in the rightpolling location.
There's not much there's not aton more I can say really than
what I said in the previousepisode where I talked um about
(02:07):
the Virginia politics.
Um so it'd be the one uh afterit'd be the one uh after the
Reformation Day that's labeledrage and hate.
There's not been a ton ofchange, really, so we're gonna
do a quick recap.
Abigail Spanberger, the formercongresswoman and CIA agent, is
(02:34):
seeking to become the firstfemale governor of of Virginia,
and Winston Earl Sears, aimmigrant from Jamaica, and a
Marine Corps veteran, formerdelegate, and current lieutenant
governor of Virginia, is alsoseeking to become the first
(02:57):
woman governor in the history ofVirginia.
It will be a history, um, of thefirst female governor in the
Commonwealth.
So that that's neat.
I guess it's cool, but I'll behonest, I don't care that much.
Um not because I'm againstwomen, I'm not because I care
(03:21):
about the policies of these two.
And we have seen Democratpolicies and Republican
policies.
Obviously, I'm a Republican, Ithink that's the best way to
govern.
And the last four years beforePresident Trump retook the White
House, I believe spoke loudly.
(03:43):
Abigail Spanberger supported JoeBiden every step of the way, um,
when he made horrible decisionsthat hurt this country and this
Commonwealth.
Um and so there's that.
Um there's the fact that shewants to codify abortion and
(04:04):
make it a comp a stateconstitutional amendment.
Uh to have abortion all the wayup to the moment of birth,
ripping apart a baby limb forlimb, uh denying them their
universal human right to existand to be born safe.
America is a great country ifyou can make it out of the womb.
(04:27):
And some states respect thatmore than others.
Right now, Virginia has norespect for unborn babies,
despite the efforts of peoplelike Glenn Youncan and Winsome
Sears.
So they say that they want toprotect democracy while they
want to go against aconstitutional amendment that
(04:49):
was passed by every localityexcept one in Virginia, and that
was Alexandria.
Every locality, every countyexcept one, passed by over sixty
percent of the vote, um, was anonpartisan, a nonpartisan
redistricting committee made upof both Republicans and
(05:12):
Democrats, and if they couldn'tgo get along, it would go to the
Supreme Court of Virginia.
The Supreme Court it last timethey couldn't get along, so it
went to the Supreme Court ofVirginia, where the Supreme
Court of Virginia hired veryprofessional map surveyors and
makers to make our current mapswhich are not gerrymandered.
(05:34):
Well, Democrats and the GeneralAssembly have passed in both
chambers a proposedconstitutional amendment as the
election is underway.
And in Virginia you have to haveyou have to have um an election.
You have to have an election andyou have to pass the amendment
(05:58):
twice before it can go up for avote.
Uh I'm sorry, two elections.
Have to pass the amendment twiceuh before it can go up for a
vote and uh before the people ofVirginia.
But uh the election didn't startwhen they uh called for a
(06:21):
special assembly to pass this sothat we could so that Democrats
could gerrymander uh the stateand help out Democrats in
Congress.
Democrats in the legislaturedidn't pass this before the
election started.
The election in Virginia startswhen the first ballot is cast.
(06:44):
And I've already cast my ballot.
I cast my ballot forty-five daysago.
And Democrats want to sneak thisby.
Well, that's that's definitelygoing to head to the courts.
And we'll see where the courtsdecide if the election starts.
(07:04):
Um does the election start thefirst day it's cast?
Or is it on election day?
Or do they have to go back tothe drawing board and pass it
again on 26?
But regardless, Democrats in inthe House and the Senate do not
care, and that's the VirginiaHouse and Senate, do not care
(07:25):
about the will of the people,wherever 60% said we don't want
gerrymandered maps.
They blame states like Texas andOhio and the Republicans for
redistricting for umgerrymandering.
And make no mistake, we havebeen.
(07:48):
But so are Democrats.
So are Democrats.
Are you telling me that not oneRepublican could be elected, or
at least not have a swingdistrict in Massachusetts?
Have you not looked at Illinoisor Maryland in their maps?
It they gerrymander too.
We're just better at controllingmore states.
(08:11):
That's all it is.
And in principle, I'm completelyagainst gerrymandering.
That's why five years ago Ivoted for um amendment one, uh
proposed constitutionalamendment one with everyone else
to get rid of uh uh just thelegislatures drawing the maps
and have a commission made up ofan equal number of Republicans
(08:34):
and Democrats, or close to anequal number of Republicans and
Democrats, appointed by thelegislature.
Um I understand they'reappointed by the legislature,
but if they can't get along, ifthey can't agree, then it goes
to the Supreme Court ofVirginia.
And I want to play you part ofum Nick Faradas' podcast.
(08:59):
He's a delegate, a Republicandelegate in the state of
Virginia, libertarianlibertarian leaning.
I really like a lot of what Nickhas to say.
And uh I want to play you someof what him, Christian Hines,
he's big on Twitter, are sayingabout the redistricting
campaign.
(09:20):
And um, we'll just give him alisten.
SPEAKER_00 (09:24):
So why is this potentially illegal?
Why is this so different thanwhat's going on in other states
right now?
Well, like I said before, ifyour state legislature has full
authority to draw the lines,then all they need is to pass a
bill in order to draw the lines.
That's it.
Now, maybe you like that, maybeyou don't like that, but it's
not illegal.
I mean, now there's some peoplethat are claiming the special
session is illegal.
(09:44):
That's not accurate.
The special session itself isillegal.
The speaker of the House, thehead of the Senate, they can
call a special session.
They can call us back in inorder to address issues.
Now, the way that they'retypically supposed to do it,
especially when they're actuallypiling on to an existing special
session, is we're only supposedto cover down on certain things
(10:05):
that we've agreed to.
And typically, when you'readding something so different
from what currently existed,then it's supposed to require a
two-thirds majority.
Why do we do this?
Well, because special sessionsare supposed to be just that.
They're supposed to be special,and that's supposed to be
something that we do all thetime.
We're supposed to handle ourbusiness during regular order,
which is the constitutionalprocess where we have our
(10:26):
general sessions.
We're only supposed to pick upspecial sessions if something
crazy is happening.
Now they started in specialsession because they wanted to
trash Trump.
And what they were doing is theysaid, well, because of Doge,
Doge is gonna Doge is gonnaimpact federal workers.
And because Virginia has so manyfederal workers, we might need
to come back into specialsession in order to adjust the
(10:47):
budget and to help those federalworkers.
When in reality, what they meanis we might need to come into
special submission to trashDonald Trump.
unknown (10:54):
Right?
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
That's what they said about.
But the reason why they couldget away with it is because Doge
was going on.
There were discussions about umfederal employees being cut, and
because that is such an impactto the Virginia budget, they can
get away with saying we really,really need to have them special
submission.
Now, originally, they wanted tocall the special session to deal
with SNEP benefits because ofthe government shutdown, which
(11:17):
by the way is a Democrat causedgovernment shutdown, and we've
explained that on a previousepisode.
Instead of Democrats calling uptheir two senators, Mark Warner
and Tim King, and saying, hey,how about you guys stop
threatening a filibuster, votefor the clean continuing
resolution, and then you candebate about all these other
things.
They said no because they wantthe leverage.
They want federal workers to besuffering right now so they can
(11:39):
use it as leverage because theythink Republicans will get
blamed for it.
Right?
Virginia House Democrats andVirginia House Senators, or
Virginia Senators, thought thesame thing.
And so they thought this is thisis gonna be key.
Because the government shutdownis impacting SNEP benefits for
our federal employees.
We're gonna call the specialsession then we're gonna come
in, and an endward fallsperfectly in line with why we
(12:00):
have the special session going.
The problem is Governor GlennYoungkin declared a state of
emergency and then funded theSNEP project for Virginia
federal workers.
So now all of a sudden, theydon't have the same
justification to come in.
But the real reason why theywanted to come in was twofold.
The first reason why is theywanted to do redistricting
(12:20):
reform.
So again, despite the fact thatjust five years ago, Virginians
voted overwhelmingly to send upa bipartisan commission in order
to drum our lines, Democrats arenow coming and say, nope, we're
gonna totally kick that out, andnow it's gonna be Democrats the
ones joining the lines forVirginia.
That's what we want.
Not what the people want it, butthat's what Democrats want.
So that's what they'reattempting to do.
Now, technically, could they dothat?
(12:44):
Yes, it's a little bitquestionable on whether or not
they should be able to add it tothe resolution, right?
If if you wanted an honestinterpretation of what we call
germaneness, or is the topicthat you're bringing up relevant
to the topics that you said youwanted to cover in special
session?
The answer to this would be no.
And and a speaker of the housethat was being honest about this
would say, yeah, this is nottechnically germane to what we
said about, but they decidedit's just been the rules, and
(13:06):
quite frankly, they have thepower to do so.
SPEAKER_01 (13:08):
And we don't have the way it seems like um the
whoever's in power gets todecide if it's germane or not.
(14:39):
Yes.
Like I was watching the sessionand and they they pulled
themselves back for like jumpingoff the cameras for a second,
conferred with each other, andthen came back and beat them
like we've decided it's germane.
SPEAKER_00 (14:52):
It's it's a delegate pony show.
Like I've actually seen speakerscome forward and and rule
something ungermane, like notgermane, against their own
party, but it's far and fewbetween.
This happened with Bill Hammell.
Bill Hammell were you gonna beelected.
It happened on this topic.
This we were gonna read thetopic.
We were gonna redraw the linesin Virginia.
Republicans were gonna redrawthe lines in Virginia in order
(15:14):
to help tremendo pick up anascendancy for the Republicans.
And Bill Hamel, the thenRepublican speaker of the House,
when the bill came over from theSenate to the House, Bill
Hammill said, This is notgermane.
He killed it.
I mean, he was giving he killedit right there.
He was given in an honest, hegave what he believed was an
honest interpretation.
He thought this was aninappropriate way to do this.
And so a Republican had anopportunity, and this is before
(15:36):
we had a commission.
Before we had an independent, ifhe would have said yes, they
could have done it just likethat.
And he said, nope, I don't thinkthis is the proper way to do
business.
He didn't say no because, well,this violates this independent
commission we just voted on.
He said no because he didn'tthink it was in the proper order
the way that we did thesethings.
And and to and and to his point,it wasn't in the way that we
typically did it.
(15:57):
Right?
But here's the thing, here's thedeal.
His intellectual honesty andconsistency, which was praised
by the Democrats at the time, itis now just being completely
disregarded and ignored by thecurrent Democrats.
And this is another reason whywhen people say, oh, well, Texas
started it, I'm looking at himgoing, oh, no, they did not.
(16:18):
No, they did not.
In many respects, this is what Ilike to refer to as a delayed
reaction to Democrat aggression.
And now the Democrats are comingback and demonstrating that,
yep, they just don't care.
So, anyways, they they ruleeverything germane, and um, I
totally forget where I was atnow.
Um they were they were goingthrough, you know, so they
(16:39):
brought in the special session,um, and then they they they
brought up forward theresolution, adding the
redistricting, and we had somequestions for now.
Before they even got to that,there's another thing I need to
point out.
We have something in the GeneralAssembly called morning hour.
And what morning hour is, isit's an opportunity for us to um
make various motions, tointroduce people that have
visited the Capitol, um, or touh pass commending or memorial
(17:03):
resolutions.
These are just kind ofresolutions where we
congratulate something forsomething they did well, or we
memorialize someone who'srecently died.
Um and then we do four speeches.
Uh that's what we call points ofpersonal privilege.
A point of personal privilege isan opportunity for a legislature
to be able to speak on anythingthey would like to speak about.
Here's what typically happens: Democrats get up, they do some (17:22):
undefined
introductions, Republicans dosome introductions, um, and it
it basically happens in orderthat you push your button.
So you push your button tospeak, the speaker sees it, and
then you know, the the delegatefrom so-and-so may rise up, you
know, Mr.
Speaker, I rise for the purposeof an introduction, I rise for
the purpose of a motion, I risefor the purpose of a request, I
(17:43):
rise for the purpose of a pointof personal privilege, whatever
it is.
He grants you the floor and thenyou speak.
And it usually goes back andforth.
Democrats have introductions, wehave them, they have points of
personal privilege, we havethem.
This time, let me get thisclear.
On a random Monday, in a specialsession where we almost never
have any guests, they filled upthe entire morning and hour with
(18:05):
just introductions and allDemocrat introductions.
And I know them because I pushedmy button.
And they went throughintroduction after introduction,
they introduced PlannedParenthood, they introduced all
kinds of left-wingorganizations, democratic
committees.
Democratic committees,democratic committees.
So instead of us getting to sayanything about the actual
reasons why we were there duringmorning hour, Democrats crammed
(18:28):
up the entire time is becausethe speaker gets to decide who
gets called on.
Zero Republicans were called on,it was all Democrats, and it was
all Democrat pony show.
Then when they moved intopresenting the resolution and we
had questions on the resolution,the speaker started rolling them
out of order.
Now, again, the speaker claimsthat we you're not addressing
the resolution, you're trying totalk to the underlying
(18:50):
legislation.
But no, a lot of our concernsweren't having to do with
whether or not this resolutionactually made sense.
And so they just ruled them outof order.
And then finally we had someonethat got to speak to the
resolution who basically broughtup that he just thought this was
unprecedented in Virginiahistory.
And that was it.
That was all we got.
That was all we got.
Then we got to come back onWednesday, and Wednesday is when
(19:12):
they're actually gonna presentthe language, and then that's
where we have an opportunity,and this part is important
because there's a lot of peoplequestioning whether or not we
should even show up to this.
And I tend to be of the opinionthat this is kind of a Duncan
pony show, and you know, I don'treally want to be a part of it.
The one thing that is importantthough is we need to be able to
ask questions about what they'reactually going to do.
(19:34):
We need to be able to askquestions about the language of
this resolution because there'sa couple areas where this is
truly problematic.
What do you want to say withthat?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Um, you know, from left-wing media sources that
that claim they have sourceswithin the Democratic Party is
that, oh no, no, no, this isn'tgoing to get rid of the
bipartisan commission.
This is just going to triggerthe bipartisan commission to
redraw the lines.
And so they they have these,it's basically no no them that
(20:11):
amendment stays, but we're we'regoing to trigger them to go
ahead and do it you know, at thefive-year mark instead of at the
10-year mark.
SPEAKER_00 (20:19):
Which would make no sense.
Why would you do that unless youthought you could gain from it?
In fact, now might be a goodtime to talk about what would I
will go into what what I thinkis illegal about this process of
what they're doing, but now itmight be a good time for us to
actually pull up thecongressional map and show you
what Democrats are really gonnatry to do in Virginia, right?
This is what I think they'regonna actually try to do.
Do you got the uh maps you wantto show?
(20:40):
Oh no, Nick Cott Nick Cotton.
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
We're gonna we're gonna call it right there.
Um from Delegate Freitas, but uhthat that just shows you typical
Democrats.
Um and uh so it's very, very,very important that you go out
and you vote for Winsom Sears,you vote for John Reed, and you
(21:04):
vote for Jason Meneeris.
Our side's not perfect, Iunderstand that.
But there used to there's an oldsaying that Republicans say is
we may not be perfect, but we'renot crazy.
Um I understand John Reed'sopenly gay, we've talked about
that before.
I disagree with that lifestyle.
(21:25):
But the lieutenant governor canpat can strike down bad bills.
And um he's very close in thepolls.
And um you know, I'm not gonnamake a prediction about anyone
who wins.
But I will ask you this.
Go vote for your localRepublican candidate running for
(21:50):
the House of Delegates.
It's so important.
We need we gotta we need toelect Mitchell Cornet to his
first term.
We need to elect Jason re-electJason Balor in my whole
district.
We need to elect Chris Oberchainin a very um very tight
(22:13):
election.
Um the way it's been drawn.
We um We need to re-elect thesepeople.
We need man, if I we flip theHouse of Delegates, I'd be so
happy.
But even if we can't flip it,let's just keep it the same.
Let's keep the governor'smansion, keep the veto power.
(22:38):
And um you know, let's mentionJay Jones one more time.
He said he wants uh he wantedformer Speaker of the House Todd
Gilbert to be shot in the headtwice.
Wanted his wife to feel the painof her children dying.
Why?
Because they have politicaldifferent opinions on gun
(23:00):
control.
And because Jay Jones is a pieceof human crap.
How can you say that and be aChristian?
Well, uh guys, I'm not denyingthat he's made the image of God.
Maybe I'm using some stronglanguage, but I don't want him
to die.
I want him to repent and go toheaven.
He shouldn't.
You do not wish death on yourpolitical opponents.
(23:25):
That's not something you do in athat's not something you should
do in America.
That's not something you shoulddo in Virginia.
They used to be called somethingthe Virginia Way, and a lot of r
establishment people love that.
They're gonna work together,they're gonna be better than the
rest of the country.
Put politics aside.
It was it was all a sham.
(23:46):
It always was a sham basically.
Now, there's always probablymore respect in Virginia.
Um you know, Virginia's no umVirginia's no stranger to having
a divided government.
In all reality, we're not.
(24:08):
Um there are many times wherethe uh Virginia had a a very
strong Republican presence inthe House of Delegates in the
Democrat Senate and the Democratum is the governor.
Happened a lot.
(24:28):
Uh the Republicans controlledthe House of Delegates for 30
years.
While Democrats controlled offand on the the state senate and
and the governor's race.
Um We know what the who everyonestands for.
(24:50):
We know what everyone standsfor.
Um we know the policies.
We know the positions.
Um, I just want to end with youguys.
Tonight.
Let's say worst case scenario.
I don't want it to happen.
This worst case scenario.
(25:11):
If we lose tomorrow, if theDemocrats take full control of
Virginia and we go through astretch of darkness in this
Commonwealth where the people inpower stop listening and start
stirring everything to suitthemselves.
(25:32):
If the Democrats pass thisconstitutional amendment to
redraw districts whenever itbenefits them, if it goes
through the courts and they say,Yeah, this was legal, they do it
one more time, and then it goesup to the people.
Maybe the people vote for it,maybe they don't.
But that's dangerous.
(25:52):
They'll tighten the grip.
They'll call it they'll call itum payback for what the
Democrats are doing, for whatthe Republicans are doing in
Texas and other states.
They screw us out of seats inIllinois and in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts should have atleast one Republican, a leaning
(26:16):
district.
But it's all about power.
That's all it is.
This is all about power.
Now, that's bad enough.
But it it kind of does go deeperthan that.
We're we're fighting foruniversal human rights of unborn
(26:37):
babies.
That's not just a buzzword.
A vision slapped on a campaignmailers.
This is something I mean.
This is something Christiansmean.
The human rights of unbornchildren to be born alive, not
discarded, not dehumanized, nottreated like some inconvenience,
(26:59):
not treat it like trash.
Life is life, and life that isinnocent deserves to be
protected in this Commonwealthand in this nation.
We are fighting for the rightsand dignity and privacy of women
in their own locker room, intheir own bathroom.
(27:19):
Cause just because you put a manwith a penis and a dress does
not make him a woman.
Oh, gender's different.
Gender is technically differentthan sex.
Shut up.
All this academical bullcrapwhere professors are coming up
with this crap, and not onlythat, it's just okay, uh there's
men and there's womenbiologically, and a very, very
(27:41):
small set of people that areintersex.
Very, very small.
Men cannot become women, womencannot become men, and w real
women, real women should be ableto have their private spaces
without men invading them.
That's common sense.
(28:07):
And we are fighting because weknow what's right.
We're not backing down, nottoday, not tomorrow, not ten
years from now.
In the worst case scenario, ifwe lose tomorrow, we will not
give up on Virginia, we will notgive up on freedom, we will not
give up on truth, we will notgive up on human rights for the
(28:30):
unborn or protection for women.
We will keep fighting for whatis right, no matter how long it
takes, because it is worth it.
Hear me.
Just because the road might godark does not mean the light
goes out.
Because I'm a proud Virginian.
(28:53):
This Commonwealth, my home, yourhome, is the birthplace of
America.
We produced Washington, the manwho walked away from power when
he could have taken it all.
We produced Jefferson, Madison,Monroe, men who carried a flame
that that caused the entireworld, that showed the entire
(29:15):
world that free people cangovern themselves.
Were we perfect?
No.
None of us are.
Were those men perfect?
No, none of us none of us are.
Virginia has stumbled, we havesinned multiple times, we have
taken step backwards in history.
We have we'll never forget.
(29:36):
But God has been merciful, Hehas corrected us, He has humbled
us, He has judged it, judged us,and sometimes He has restored
us.
And we have risen again andagain, not because we are
faultless, but because weremember what is right and we
resolve to do better.
(29:57):
So if the worst happenstomorrow, if the Democrats win
everything, if the ballots fallthe wrong way, I'm not going
quiet, I'm not g going todespair, I'm not giving up, I'm
not packing and moving toTennessee or West Virginia.
I don't think it'd be at thattime yet.
(30:17):
I think you can eventually, butthat's a last case scenario.
This is my home, and I'm gonnafight for it.
Because Virginia is older thanany trend, stronger than any
political party, and deeper thanany political moment.
It's older than theConstitution, it's older than
(30:38):
this country itself.
We have survived tyrants, war,uh depression, riots, failures,
storms, civil war.
And we are still here.
Still standing, still proud,still free, because we choose to
be.
So tomorrow, let's make theright choice.
(31:02):
Let's stand up for life, let'sstand up for women's privacy and
dignity.
A man should not be standing inthe way of them in their locker
rooms or in their bathrooms.
Let us stand for dignity andtruth for families, for what is
(31:22):
good and right in God honoring.
Because God still judges thenations.
No matter what, I'll say thisI'm a proud Virginian, and you
should be too.
I've lived in the Commonwealthfor twenty nine years.
I wasn't born here.
I was born, I like to joke andsay I was born on the wrong side
(31:44):
of Bluefield.
Bluefield hospital, which isfive minutes from well,
actually, it's not even I usedto say it's five minutes.
It borders Bluefield, Virginia.
There's a town called Bluefield,half Virginia, half West
Virginia.
Just like Bristol, Tennessee,half Tennessee, half Virginia.
(32:04):
It was the closest hospital tomy parents.
Maybe I was born on the wrongside of Bluefield.
Bluefield West.
But I've lived all 29 years inthis beautiful Commonwealth in
Southwest Virginia.
Much of it in the New RiverValley.
Um I love.
I love this state.
(32:25):
I love this state from the oceanto the mountains.
I love being a Virginian.
That means the world to me.
Um when I read history, even menlike I know, I know people hate
Robert Ely now because of theConfederacy, but if you look and
(32:49):
see why he fought for Virginia,you can disagree with his
reasonings, but it's because heloved the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
And I love this Commonwealth.
I love this Commonwealth.
No matter who's my governor, nomatter who's in charge, I might
criticize, I might hit my headagainst the wall, but I'm just
(33:12):
as proud of Virginia as I am anAmerican, and sometimes more.
Virginia helped found the UnitedStates of America, not the other
way around.
We are the Commonwealth ofVirginia.
We are Virginians.
Let's make the right decision.
Let's look at the past when wehave ignored people that were
(33:34):
different than us.
Like Native Americans, likeAfrican Americans, like many
minorities that we denieduniversal human rights to.
And now let's look at theunborn.
They're different than us.
They're less developed than us.
They don't look exactly like us.
Should we deny their humanrights, their right to life,
(33:56):
because they they're not thesame as us?
The same way God judged us forthe evils of Jim Crow and
slavery and the harsh treatmentsof a Native American.
I do believe God judged Virginiaharshly.
He spared us, he gave us mercy,but he judged us harshly too.
I believe he will also do thatfor killing unborn children.
(34:22):
And you can claim that you'reafraid Trump is a threat to
democracy.
Even though he's not, eventhough he's obeyed the process.
Oh, January 6th, whatever.
Donald Trump never called for aninsurrection.
(34:44):
He called for them to fight likehell.
Um, maybe some words that heshouldn't have said at a heated
moment.
But I've been told to fight likehell in a locker room before a
football game.
Many times.
He wasn't saying to literallyinvade the Capitol building.
(35:06):
So no, you're not saving thesaving democracy.
You're not.
You're not a superhero.
You're not saving democracy.
You know, it seems like everytime Republicans win, it's
because democracy is die dead toDemocrats.
So if you vote for the wrongperson, then democracy's dead.
(35:30):
That's just how Democrats feel.
If you vote for the rightperson, then um then democracy's
not dead.
So if you vote if you vote forthe right person in their eyes,
the Democrats, then democracy isnot dead.
If you vote for the wrongperson, the Republicans,
democracy's dead.
And there'll never be anelection again, except for every
(35:54):
year in Virginia we have anelection.
But they'll take away our rightto vote, and they don't.
Still here.
This is not Nazi Germany.
This is not the Soviet Union.
This is the United States ofAmerica.
We have elections, they're freeand fair.
Not saying you can't criticizeanomalies or you can't criticize
(36:17):
the laws, you can.
But um yeah, this wholeRepublicans are taking away
democracy as Democrats try torush in at the very last minute
a constitutional amendment tomake Virginia's maps less fair.
Talk about ironic.
(36:38):
Talk about eronic.
So I ask for you this to I askfor you this today.
To simply vote and pray.
May God bless you.
May God bless the Commonwealthof Virginia.
Um end on the Lord's prayer.
(37:01):
Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name, and thy
kingdom come, thy will be doneon earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day your dailybread and forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive thosewho trespass against us.
Amen.
God bless you.
(37:21):
God bless Virginia, six centerTyranos.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Bobby Bones Show
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.