Race for Lieutenant Governor between Reid and Hashmi poised to make history

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Democratic State Senator Ghazala Hashmi and former conservative radio host John Reid have two things in common: they both want to be Virginia’s next Lieutenant Governor, and both would make history if elected.

Reid, as the first openly gay nominee, and Hashmi as the first Muslim and Indian-American on the ballot.

“What really affects me about this year is this is diversity on steroids,” said Larry Sabato, Director of the UVA Center for Politics. “The parties have done a good job in getting a better representation of the population.”

Though the two are alike in being firsts, Reid and Hashmi will tell you themselves that they couldn’t be more different, especially when it comes to experience.

For Hashmi, that’s her background as an educator and her six years serving as a State Senator.

“Voters will certainly understand that I have 30 years of experience as an educator myself, and as someone who has now been delivering on critical legislative concerns around education and housing and healthcare,” Hashmi said. “This is what folks are looking for.”

But Reid, the former host of a conservative talk radio show, says it’s his distance from politics that makes him the better pick.

“Some people have said, oh my gosh, you shouldn’t be Lieutenant Governor because you’re not an elected official,” Reid said. “You know what, I think that’s a benefit...I can come in, hopefully with a fresh set of eyes and a different attitude, and hopefully bring people together.”

Hashmi, like the rest of her ticket, says she wants to protect Virginians from White House policies.

“This is the chaos and dysfunctionality that we are seeing from the Trump administration,” Hashmi said. “Virginia in particular has been hit so hard with the catastrophic firing of so many federal workers.”

Reid, on the other hand, says he wants to focus more on recruiting businesses to the Commonwealth and strengthening the state’s workforce.

“I feel terrible that people are losing their jobs,” Reid said. “We are 36 trillion dollars in debt, and adjustments had to be made...but if we focus on a robust Virginia economy, there are opportunities when you lose your job, you can find another.”

Beyond the economy, Reid says his policy priorities are reigning in spending, giving parents more say in the classroom, and supporting Virginia law enforcement.

Hashmi says she’s zeroed in on protecting access to healthcare, creating affordable housing, strengthening public school systems, and preserving reproductive rights.

“So many of us never thought we would see the destructive actions that the Supreme Court sent to us with the Dobbs decision, and that decision imperiled the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals who are seeking critical medical care,” Hashmi said.

Though Reid is openly gay himself, he says he does not support the effort to enshrine same-sex marriage into Virginia’s Constitution.

“In my opinion, it doesn’t protect the rights of religious people who, you know, they’re not going to agree with me on gay marriage, but they have a right to run their church any way they see fit,” Reid said. “I have told pastors, who have said, ‘oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can support you,’ and I’ve said look, I’m not trying to be the associate pastor at your church. I’m running to be Lieutenant Governor.”

Though Reid was unopposed in the primary, he faced his own set of challenges in April, after Governor Glenn Youngkin asked him to step down over a pornographic content on a social media account that Reid says has nothing to do with him.

“It was awful, and I’ll be honest with you, I’m still mad...but I’m an adult,” Reid told 29News on Thursday. “You know why I think people have come to me after that? They finally saw someone who had some spine. Who said, you know what, no you’re not going to bully me, I’m not going to be blackmailed.”

Reid says he has spoken with his Republican counterparts, Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears and Republican Attorney General incumbent Jason Miyares just a few times since the controversy. The three have not appeared as a united ticket yet.

“On any given day it might change, but right now, they’re not as unified as Democrats are,” Sabato said. “[Democrats] have the single most intense unifying factor in modern times: opposition to Donald Trump.”

Hashmi has emphasized this unity in her own campaign, as she, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger, and Democratic Attorney General nominee Jay Jones prepare to rally together on a bus tour.

“We want to see economic opportunities... we want to make sure that working families have access to quality childcare, quality and affordable housing, and every chance to succeed through educational opportunities,” Hashmi said. “Those are the kinds of policy measures that I and my democratic colleagues have been truly focused on.”

Reid says he didn’t back down in April, and he’s not backing down now.

“I hope that even people who have never voted Republican will say, this guy’s different than the other politicians out there,” Reid said, “and maybe the bizarre way that I’ve come into this race will end up being a positive thing.”

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