On Monday, Buena Vista held its 54th annual Labor Day Festival. The event featured a parade and political speeches from statewide candidates as an official kick-off to the 2025 election season. WMRA’s Meredith McCool reports.
[marching drumline]
With the sun rising over the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Labor Day Parade marched down Magnolia Avenue in Buena Vista to the cadence of the Parry McCluer drumline. During the parade, the community unified in support of the Southern Virginia University football team and local first responders.
[fire engines honking]
Navy veteran John “Pops” Turner held a sign along the parade route proclaiming “community” and “unity.”
JOHN TURNER: Veterans stick together. Like, even Democrats, Republicans, we all stick together in unity. And I think the veterans bring our community together.
Attendees Bailey and her three sisters were able to amicably divvy up the candy tossed out along the parade route.
BAILEY: I got a lot of sour stuff. We've been trading for the sour stuff because I love sour stuff.
But the divisions were much clearer in the pavilion at Glen Maury Park, where folks gathered following the parade for political speeches. The Democrats sat on the left side of the pavilion, while the Republicans sat on the right. Buena Vista Mayor Tyson Cooper welcomed the crowd to the 54th annual Labor Day celebration.
TYSON COOPER: We're grateful that you all are here with us today. Labor Day is about honoring the dignity of hard work, the value of community, and the freedoms that allow us to gather in settings like this.
Those seated on the stage included Republican and Democratic candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general in November’s state-wide election. Current Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears greeted the assembled crowd. While many on the left side of the pavilion wore "Lex-Rock Democrats" shirts, which stands for Lexington-Rockbridge, Earle-Sears suggested that some attendees were from outside the area.
WINSOME EARLE-SEARS: Thank you all for coming to this great part of Virginia. Thank you all who actually live here for coming to this great part of Virginia. Thank you all. You didn't have to be bused here. You came because you wanted to be here, because you’re sincere.
On the right side of the pavilion, Melanie Kaiser had strong reactions to the candidates' speeches.
MELANIE KAISER: Democrats just are, like, a fraud and they lie all the time, and it's like to the point where you can't trust Democrats anymore, like when John F. K. was in office, that was the last Democrat president to actually care about the American people, and these Democrats today are just basically for themselves and not for the American people.
McCOOL: What were some of the things that you heard from the Republican candidates that resonated with you?
KAISER: I like the policies. I like how they put American people first. I like how they keep us safe. Unlike these Democrats, who put our lives at risk almost every single day.
On the policy front, WMRA previously reported on the work requirements and redeterminations of Medicaid eligibility as outlined in this year's budget megabill, which will be implemented in 2027. As a result, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee - Minority estimates that more than 300,000 Virginians will lose health insurance.
When asked to share her thoughts on mitigating the effects of Medicaid and hospital funding cuts in the so-named "Big Beautiful Bill" on Virginians, gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger replied that she would ensure the delivery of Medicaid is straightforward.
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER: Certainly, among the ways that this bill is meant to push people off of Medicaid is through the work verification process. Currently, Virginia does that work verification once a year. The bill now requires twice a year. Frankly, there is already a backlog currently at the state level, so we need to build out a more efficient, more effective system so … the state can actually fulfill that verification requirement.
Spanberger predicted that the backlog could be the impetus to kick people off of Medicaid. She shared that she’s looking for opportunities to strengthen the delivery of services through Medicaid and to work directly with hospital systems to ensure that care is provided to people across Virginia’s communities.
When asked if the Republicans have a plan for mitigating the twice-a-year work verification process, John Reid, candidate for lieutenant governor, replied –
JOHN REID: When I worked for the veterans, we had the same problem where there was a backlog of people who had applied for care through the VA system. … It was like a tidal wave, overwhelming. And the only way to do it is to upgrade the computer systems. And now that we have AI, maybe that would help a little bit so that you don't have to, you know, put people on a chair for 10 hours a day to go through it. … But you gotta have people who are at the Capitol with that mindset, you know, like a business, always looking, how can we simplify this, streamline this, make it more effective? I think it's possible to do. … And we have a $2 billion surplus right now, and we need to be very careful that we don't do what Maryland did, which is burn through all of that.
For this November’s election, early, in-person voting begins Friday, September 19, and election day is Tuesday, November 4.
