Progressive Voters Guide Powered by Progress Virginia
Makayla R. Venable photo
Democrat

Makayla R. Venable

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This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent Republican Delegate Ellen Campbell faces a challenge from Democrat Makayla Venable in HD-36.

Virginia’s House District 36 spans parts of Augusta County, Staunton City, Waynesboro City, and Rockbridge County in Virginia’s central Shenandoah Valley. In the 2024 election it was strongly Republican by comfortable double-digit margins.

Makayla Venable is a lifelong Shenandoah Valley native and former healthcare provider. Her platform centers on healthcare as a human right, expanding Medicaid, lowering prescription drug costs, and boosting mental health access in rural clinics. She champions a living wage with collective bargaining rights, affordable childcare, and tuition-free community college funded by fair share taxes. Venable also leads on climate justice, supporting clean-energy jobs and commonsense regulations to protect the Shenandoah Valley’s air, water, and farmland.


Makayla Venable supports a $15/hour minimum wage and repealing the so-called right-to-work law, which would empower workers to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions as part of a union. 


She pledges to protect Medicaid and Medicare from funding cuts and to protect the right to reproductive freedom.


She has committed to championing farmers hurt by federal cuts to farming grants and programs. She supports critical infrastructure improvements for roadways and broadband internet access.


She vows to work to prevent gun violence, particularly amongst youth.


The Opposition

Ellen Campbell has served as a Republican Delegate since 2023, when she won a special election to succeed her late husband. A banking and finance professional, her legislative career is defined by fiscal restraint and local control. Campbell opposes any new tax increases and backs right-to-work policies that make it harder for working people to join a union. Progressive voters may balk at her focus on budget cuts over social investments, her limited stance on reproductive rights protections, her resistance to comprehensive public health funding, and her opposition to collective bargaining for workers


Recommendation

Based on her support for reproductive freedom, Medicaid and Medicare, and repealing the so-called right-to-work law, Makayla Venable is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2025-09-22

House District 036

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Election Day November 4, 2025
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Federal

Governor

Abigail Spanberger photo
Democrat

Abigail Spanberger

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This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Republican incumbent Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and former Democratic US Representative Abigail Spanberger will face each other in the general election for Governor of Virginia.

The Democratic nominee for Governor, Abigail Spanberger actually fights to expand healthcare and reproductive freedom instead of rolling over when conservatives threaten to restrict abortion rights. She’s committed to investing in clean energy, holding polluters accountable, and reducing energy costs for working families. Her gun-safety agenda goes far beyond “thoughts and prayers,” taking on the NRA head-on instead of cashing their donation checks. Spanberger’s pragmatic progressive vision gives suburban moderates and left-leaners tired of corporate centrism and culture-war theatrics a real reason to show up.


The Opposition

The Republican nominee for Governor, Winsome Earle-Sears is all about slashing taxes for big corporations while telling unemployed workers that losing a job is “no big deal.” She grandstands against critical race theory and “woke” classrooms to score culture-war points instead of tackling real education challenges. By waving her Marine Corps credentials, she sells herself as the ultimate tough-on-crime candidate, conveniently ignoring how lax gun laws endanger communities. Her true believers are MAGA zealots who think banning books, rolling back reproductive freedoms, and erasing civil liberties are more important than looking out for working families.


Recommendation

Due to her advocacy for abortion access, gun violence prevention, and clean energy, Abigail Spanberger is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2025-09-24

Lieutenant Governor

Ghazala Hashmi photo
Democrat

Ghazala Hashmi

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This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Democratic Virginia State Senator Ghazala Hashmi and Republican John Reid will face each other in the general election for Lt. Governor of Virginia.

The Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, Ghazala Hashmi is fighting to pump real money into public schools instead of the right’s perennial budget cuts and culture-war book bans. She defends reproductive freedom and Medicaid expansion for working families while conservatives keep dialing back healthcare access and waving anti-abortion placards. Her clean-energy agenda and environmental-justice bills actually target polluters, not the customary GOP handouts to pipeline lobbyists. Dreamers, suburban progressives fed up with partisan hijinks, and anyone who’d trade culture-war theatrics for equity and opportunity will cheer her unapologetic stand for Virginia’s working families.


The Opposition

The Republican nominee for Lt. Governor, John Reid is a self-styled small-government crusader who’ll happily cut taxes for wealthy donors while pretending he’s doing the same for working Virginians. He rails against “woke” curriculum and critical race theory, because apparently teaching actual American history is more offensive to him than runaway inequality. He touts law-and-order credentials and celebrity as a conservative radio host, hawking gun rights like they’re the ultimate public-safety strategy. He even plans to torpedo constitutional protections for same-sex marriage, proving that an openly gay candidate will stab his own community in the back for party unity, the perfect pick for culture-war diehards who prefer corporate giveaways to real solutions for working families.


Recommendation

Due to her advocacy for public education, abortion access, and environmental justice, Ghazala Hashmi is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2025-09-24

Attorney General

Jay Jones photo
Democrat

Jay Jones

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This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares faces a challenge from former Democratic Virginia State Delegate Jay Jones.

The Democratic nominee for Attorney General, Jay Jones has pledged to sue the Trump administration every time it infringes on the rights of Virginians. He’s secured victories for abortion access, expanded Medicaid to cover thousands more Virginians, and even wrote anti-price-gouging measures to keep corporate vultures in check. His public-safety plan pairs smart gun-violence prevention and community-based crime interventions rather than recycling the right’s tired “lock ’em up” mantra for political ads. Grassroots progressives, consumer-rights advocates, and anyone sick of endless culture-war stunts will line up behind a candidate who actually puts families over fear-mongering theatrics.


The Opposition

Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares cozies up to ICE, shaming local authorities who don’t cooperate with Trump’s policies of mass deportation, because terrorizing immigrant families is apparently his idea of due process. He grandstands on opioid crackdowns but turns a blind eye to corporate-friendly loopholes that keep the drug pipeline flowing. He bills himself as a federalism champion when suing Washington over environmental rules, conveniently ignoring states’ rights whenever big donors flash a check. His true believers are tough-on-crime zealots who think more ICE raids, harsher sentencing, and tax cuts for the wealthy are the pinnacle of compassionate governance.


Recommendation

Due to his advocacy for abortion access, gun violence prevention, and Medicaid coverage, Jay Jones is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2025-09-24

House District 036

Delegate

Makayla R. Venable photo
Democrat

Makayla R. Venable

Website Facebook Endorsements Instagram

This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent Republican Delegate Ellen Campbell faces a challenge from Democrat Makayla Venable in HD-36.

Virginia’s House District 36 spans parts of Augusta County, Staunton City, Waynesboro City, and Rockbridge County in Virginia’s central Shenandoah Valley. In the 2024 election it was strongly Republican by comfortable double-digit margins.

Makayla Venable is a lifelong Shenandoah Valley native and former healthcare provider. Her platform centers on healthcare as a human right, expanding Medicaid, lowering prescription drug costs, and boosting mental health access in rural clinics. She champions a living wage with collective bargaining rights, affordable childcare, and tuition-free community college funded by fair share taxes. Venable also leads on climate justice, supporting clean-energy jobs and commonsense regulations to protect the Shenandoah Valley’s air, water, and farmland.


Makayla Venable supports a $15/hour minimum wage and repealing the so-called right-to-work law, which would empower workers to collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions as part of a union. 


She pledges to protect Medicaid and Medicare from funding cuts and to protect the right to reproductive freedom.


She has committed to championing farmers hurt by federal cuts to farming grants and programs. She supports critical infrastructure improvements for roadways and broadband internet access.


She vows to work to prevent gun violence, particularly amongst youth.


The Opposition

Ellen Campbell has served as a Republican Delegate since 2023, when she won a special election to succeed her late husband. A banking and finance professional, her legislative career is defined by fiscal restraint and local control. Campbell opposes any new tax increases and backs right-to-work policies that make it harder for working people to join a union. Progressive voters may balk at her focus on budget cuts over social investments, her limited stance on reproductive rights protections, her resistance to comprehensive public health funding, and her opposition to collective bargaining for workers


Recommendation

Based on her support for reproductive freedom, Medicaid and Medicare, and repealing the so-called right-to-work law, Makayla Venable is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2025-09-22