Virginia Lieutenant Gubernatorial race focuses on healthcare and economic viability

• Race between Republican Jill Vogel and Democrat Justin Fairfax for lieutenant governor of Virginia one of could unseat one of Democrats in the top five state positions.
• Vogel spoke at Liberty University’s Convocation on Oct. 18 and previously served as a deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy.

The lieutenant governor position is one of the many being contested in the upcoming Nov. 7 election as Republican Jill Vogel faces off against Democrat Justin Fairfax.

The position of lieutenant governor is the second-highest ranking position in the state of Virginia, topped only by the governor. The lieutenant governor is expected to preside over the state senate, voting when a tie occurs and filling in for the governor when he or she is absent, resigns or dies while in office.

The last lieutenant governor election, held in 2013, saw Democratic incumbent and current gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam defeat Republican candidate E.W. Jackson by 10.6 percent — more than 200,000 votes.

Looking to this election, Vogel said she is not deterred by the significant deficit of the 2013 election, arguing that her qualifications will help bring her into office.

“So clearly for me, the main difference between me and my opponent is in what makes us qualified is simply experience,” Vogel said. “I have been in the senate of Virginia for 10 years, and I have worked every single day of those 10 years to make Virginia a well-managed state.”

In addition to her experience in the senate, Vogel, who spoke in Convocation Wednesday Oct. 18, has had experience as an ethics lawyer and as a deputy general counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy.

“As lieutenant governor, you’ve had to have had some exposure, some understanding, some working knowledge of how Virginia actually works, and in this case, how to run the senate,” Vogel said. “I really understand the issues in Virginia. I understand how the legislature works, and I happen to be running against a person who has not had any exposure of experience in legislature.”

Raised in a single-parent household, Fairfax’s story of overcoming poverty and graduating law school has inspired many. Fairfax has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and the deputy coordinator of the Northern Virginia Human Trafficking Task Force, and is a small business owner, running a dental practice in Richmond.

Fairfax is a big supporter of Medicaid and other federally funded support programs.

“I think we tend to talk about these programs as being wasteful, but when we really see how they impact lives in the long term, and that the majority of families that are utilizing these programs are doing it on a short-term basis,” chair of the Lynchburg Democratic Committee Katie Cyphert said. “I think that changes our perception of the value we’d receive from it.”

According to Cyphert, Fairfax’s rise from poverty to his position is partially attributable to the government aid he is supporting in office.

“When it comes to issues like the availability of Medicaid and the availability of free lunch, these are things that were available to Justin and to his family which allowed them to apply themselves and to get out of poverty,” Cyphert said. “Without those needs being met by some federal programs, I don’t know that they really would have had the capacity to apply themselves and to do as well as they have done.”

Vogel holds the opposite stance on healthcare projects.

“One of the biggest issues in this election is public healthcare,” Vogel said. “We ought to be doing everything that we can when it comes to healthcare and driving healthcare costs down and making healthcare more accessible and more affordable.”

Vogel said the core idea of her campaign is to make Virginia more economically and financially competitive with other states in the U.S.

“(I am) 100 percent focused on making Virginia the most modern, best managed, most competitive state in the nation,” Vogel said. “If you’re focused on making Virginia the most modern, best managed and most competitive state, that means you’re focused on the economy, you’re focused on jobs, you’re focused on workforce training and education and you’re focused on the tax climate and regulatory climate.”

With the top five positions in Virginia politics being filled by Democrats since 2013, Nov. 7 will be very telling for Virginia’s future.

“There’s so much that we could be doing in Virginia right now to have and impact,” Vogel said.

Editor’s Note: Information about Vogel was gathered through an interview with her. Fairfax’s campaign did not reply to our attempts to arrange an interview with him. His platform was defined by his website’s information and an interview with Cyphert, chair of the Lynchburg Democratic Committee.