The Jefferson Journal
Commentary
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Virginia needs an energy policy capable of powering the success it helped create. Scapegoating data centers is not an energy policy.” 9/16/2026 — Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, who likely represents the Congressional District with the largest concentration of data centers, has become a leading advocate for placing new limits...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “The impact of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax on your electric bill – and everything you buy which depends on electricity – will be double what the General Assembly’s Democrats claimed it would be just a few months ago. The hit on your wallet is...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Government should not choose which industries to protect. It should let free people choose from whom they will buy and to whom they will sell.” 9/4/2026 — There are very few issues on which the Jefferson Forum has been in full agreement with Governor Abigail Spanberger. However, her...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Economic development requires more than low taxes and good infrastructure. It requires trust. If Loudoun wants businesses to invest billions of dollars here, create jobs here and put down roots here, then Loudoun must demonstrate that its promises mean something.” Derrick Max is Vice President of...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Data centers didn’t create Virginia’s policy challenges; they have created enormous wealth that can fuel Virginia’s economy for decades to come. Virginia policymakers should think twice before deciding to kill this golden goose.” 8/14/2026 — The anti-data center rhetoric has reached a fevered pitch. Living adjacent to “data center...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “The broader implication of Rowe and Wilcox’s argument is that government should not merely spend more money treating the consequences of family instability. It should ask whether its own policies strengthen or weaken families.“ 8/13/2026 — Scholars Ian Rowe and Brad Wilcox, writing recently in The Wall Street Journal,...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Nothing should be non-negotiable in an SCC proceeding except adherence to the law.” 8/7/2026 — Governor Abigail Spanberger’s announcement that she will intervene in the State Corporation Commission’s (SCC and Commission) review of the proposed Dominion Energy–NextEra merger is a reminder of why Virginia has an independent regulatory commission in...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “Socialism rarely arrives in America with politicians promising to confiscate every factory. It advances incrementally — one wage mandate, one payroll tax, one compulsory benefit, one housing control and one government-union contract at a time.” 8/5/2026 — Abdul El-Sayed’s narrow victory in Michigan’s Democratic primary for the United...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: “The appropriate tax treatment of data centers is the same as that of other industries.” 8/4/2026 — When Jared Walczak writes something down, you should read it. Whether you agree with his analysis or whether it serves your politics, you’ll be a little bit smarter. Everyone on any...
Key Takeaways: Key Quote: One historic Canadian wildfire season released many times the amount of carbon Virginia’s electricity sector emits in a year. It likely also exceeded several decades of the maximum annual carbon reductions the Virginia Clean Economy Act is expected eventually to achieve. 7/17/2026 — The thick haze now covering...