How Trump's assault on bureaucracy could rock Virginia elections

Virginia Democrats have a new message for the tens of thousands of federal workers who will vote in their state elections this fall: Republicans stood by silently as President Donald Trump came for your jobs.

The state’s off-year races are often a bellwether for the national mood a year before the midterms. But they are poised to take on even more significance this November because so many government employees and contractors who live in Northern Virginia are experiencing firsthand the impact of the Trump administration’s attempt to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

For Democrats, who have the thinnest of grips on the House of Delegates and are eagerly seeking to reclaim the governor’s mansion, it may be an opening.

“Of course it’s going to have an impact on the elections of Virginia, because we are seeing put into motion the potential destruction of massive amounts of our economy and of the very work that people have dedicated their lives to on behalf of our country,” said state Del. Dan Helmer, the Democratic campaign chair for the Virginia House of Delegates.




https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/12/trump-democrats-virginia-bureacracy-00203845