as I know Virginia doesn't have rent control at all anywhere in the state and I wouldn't expect her as Governor to make a whole new policy to implement city-wide. So her policies on making housing more affordable make sense for the state. I wouldn't consider them "moderate" or "progressive" - just smart and appropriate for Virginia.
Re buses - while I know that Virginia has free bus lines in Alexandria, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Fairfax County, Loudan and Henrico in addition to Richmond - again I wouldn't expect Spanberger to run on the entire state have free public transportation. I doubt Mamdani would be doing that for all of NY. The simple fact is that there is a need for free public lines and even Mamdani isn't suggesting that all buses and trains be free. But Spanberger didn't run on getting rid of all those bus lines in Virginia so I don't consider Mamdani's proposal as particularly "progressive" and her not running on them as "moderate". I just think it's smart policy and appropriate for NYC and many cities in VA already have it - so not a point of contention.
I haven't seen much about taxes from Spanberger other than she has expressed a focus on fairness and she has expressed her position emphasizes ensuring that the wealthy and large corporations contribute more to the economy and tax system and wants to close tax loopholes that allow corporations to pay next to nothing on taxes. Mamdani has said he would like a 2% over $1mil. So a person in NYC that makes $1.5mil would wind up paying a whopping $10,000 more on their income tax!. Wow. So, again, with NYC being a city and having a real crisis in affordability and having a much larger concentration of wealth than VA overall - I can certainly see why Mamdani is looking to raise taxes on wealthy in New York City and Spanberger, as Governor, hasn't specifically addressed a policy on that. I do think the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors that runs Fairfax County which is one of the wealthiest areas in Virginia should probably address that rather than the across the board 4% food and beverage tax they instituted.
But I do appreciate your responding with real information. I find it makes for a generally interesting discussion about real things and I always welcome that.
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