The Jefferson Journal

Commentary

Derrick A. Max
October 10, 2025

Last night’s first and final Virginia gubernatorial debate between Winsome Earle-Sears and Abigail Spanberger had one clear loser — the approximately 446,000 Commonwealth voters who had already cast their early ballots.   For a state that has such a storied civic heritage, relying on a single, late-stage debate fails the test...

Christian Braunlich
October 10, 2025

The measure of your character is what you do and say when you think no one is looking or listening. But what does it say about you when you declare horrible intentions even when people are listening? The latest spin from his fellow Virginia Democratic candidates wants us to believe the text-messaged...

Derrick A. Max
October 3, 2025

The debate over school bathrooms has taken center stage in Virginia’s campaign for Governor. More than a political flashpoint, however, school restrooms are a little-understood source of profound anxiety, embarrassment, and even physical illness that directly undermines student learning. Today, Governor Youngkin issued a directive to the Virginia Board of Health to promulgate regulations...

Christian Braunlich
October 2, 2025

For more than a half century, it has been the case that Virginia elects a Governor who is from the opposite party as the President elected the year before. With one exception. In 2013, the year after Barack Obama’s re-election, Virginians sent Democrat Terry McAuliffe to the Governor’s Mansion.   The background to that should send a chill down the spine of gubernatorial candidate...

Stephen D. Haner
September 26, 2025

No, Virginia, we cannot blame the data centers. The impact of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) on rising electricity bills is more significant and destined to grow. With the cost of living turning up in election polls as a top voter concern, a repeal of the VCEA is one...

Derrick A. Max
September 18, 2025

As early voting in the gubernatorial race in Virginia is about to begin, students in the Commonwealth hang in the balance.  While Governor Youngkin was able to implement a landmark school accountability measure that will help inform parents and the public about our students’ true performance, most of his other...

Derrick A. Max
September 14, 2025

For several years now, Virginians have been told that the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is necessary to save Virginia and is a necessary step to save the planet. We’ve been told that rising seas, worsening storms, and other supposedly catastrophic impacts of man-made climate change justify a radical restructuring of Virginia’s...

Stephen D. Haner
September 6, 2025

Based on the most recent carbon tax imposed on the member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), Virginians will pay about $500 million more per year for electricity if Virginia again becomes one of those member states. Your vote in November may determine that.  Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger has pledged to...

Derrick A. Max
September 3, 2025

Since 1982, residents of these Northern Virginia counties: Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park, have been subject to a mandatory vehicle emissions testing program, a policy enacted in 1982 under the 1970 Clean Air Act to combat significant regional air pollution....

Stephen D. Haner
August 22, 2025

Every solar facility in Dominion Energy Virginia’s expanding fleet of silicone panels is failing to perform up to its initial energy promises, according to a State Corporation Commission staff analysis. In many cases the shortfalls are dramatic. A high confidence in the ability of solar power to replace Virginia’s dominant natural...