Politics in Virginia; What Is Happening in the General Assembly

Many of you might not be from Virginia, but since we are schooling in a university in Virginia, it will not hurt to know a little bit about the what is going on in the Virginia General Assembly. I worked in the Virginia General Assembly this semester, and I want to share a piece of what I observed from that experience.

There are 66 Republican delegates , and 34 Democratic delegates in the General Assembly. The Republicans hold an absolute majority, and it let them abuse their power. If a delegate wants to pass his/her bills, they only need to get half of the votes from the members. Since the Republicans have more than enough votes to kill all bills which are introduced by the Democrats if they attempt to. I observed this happening so many times in the floor meeting in the Capitol.  If all Democrats agreed to or disagreed to a bill, it does not really matter. This automatically makes it difficult for the Democratic delegates to pass bills especially when it comes to controversial issues such as gun rights, abortion issue.

This struggle can be observed from the Gun Deal, which allows individuals to carry concealed handguns. The deal was released in January 2015. This deal was done by the negotiation between Governor McAuliffe and the Republican leader. Individuals who are from states that have lower regulation about guns can carry concealed handguns in the Commonwealth. Although this deal also includes protective order and voluntary background check, the idea still leans to that of pro-gun. The strong relationship between power and politics  can be observed here in Virginia too.