Tom Perriello is one of two Democrats running for governor in Virginia. He’s running against current lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam. Perriello, a former Congressman from Charlottesville, is a relative outsider to state politics. But he’s been barnstorming the state, taking his pitch for progressive ideas like free community college and universal pre-K, straight to Virginians.
Interview highlights (emphasis ours):
On tax increases:
"Even conservatives have given us credit in this race as being the only candidate from either party who has explained how we're going to pay for every single dollar of what we've proposed. And that's through a combination of spending cuts, closing of tax loopholes, and asking those making a million dollars or more to pay a little bit more in order to invest in the growth of all of Virginia.
We're the only candidate from either party that's done that, and I think that's how we break through this cynicism people have about both political parties. Yes, we need to invest in universal pre-K, we need to invest in at least two years of skills training, we need to have paid medical leave, we need a higher minimum wage. All of these things are doable."
On Democratic energy:
"First, I think we're going to have a very different legislature because this will be a wave year for Democrats. Second, those legislators that do survive from the Republican Party know that they're about to get redistricted because I'm going to insist on independent non-partisan redistricting -- which means the next time they're up for a vote things like Medicaid expansion and raising the minimum wage may be seen very differently by a new set of constituents..."
On working with Republicans:
"This is what I'm good at it. I'm really good at building coalitions that people think are impossible. When I moved to West Africa nobody thought it was possible to get a peace deal in the 9th year of the Civil War there, everyone had given up. It was about changing the nature of how the conversation was going and who was at the table... I'm sick and tired of people telling us what's possible instead of what's necessary. In Virginia, we have to start with what's necessary. And I think there's still common ground for common sense. And everything that I've outlined and everything that we've said how we're going to pay for, to me plays just as well with the conservatives I meet as it does with the progressives I meet."
On tuition-free community college:
"This is just a smart investment, we're the first campaign in Virginia history to offer two years of apprenticeship program, trade school or community college for everyone in Virginia. When we help people get that career and technical certificate and move into the mid 30's or mid 40's as a first job they become tax-paying citizens. When people come out and are at a $14,000 a year job and are at minimum wage chances are they're going to be in and out of public assistance over a career. So investing a little bit up front and making sure people have the skill set to move into middle class jobs means that they're actually going to expand the tax base and expand growth for everybody."
On clean energy:
"This is also where the jobs are going. We shouldn't be investing $6.7 billion in these pipelines that they haven't even proved that they need that are moving us in the exact wrong direction... Virginia is getting left behind right now because we've fallen behind North Carolina on solar jobs, we're falling behind Maryland on wind energy jobs. We want those jobs and businesses here in Virginia and to do that we need to have either a renewable energy standard or some sort of cap."
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
