This story was reported and written by VPM News.
Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi says the federal government and Republican President Donald Trump's administration is "abdicating" its responsibility of governing.
According to Hashmi, the Spanberger administration will fill the gap in leadership while focusing on top priorities; including lowering costs for Virginians, filling the gaps in health care funding, prioritizing public education and ensuring housing is available and affordable.
Virginia's new lieutenant governor has spent her career in higher education, teaching American literature and working as an administrator. She decided to run for public office during the first Trump administration, because she thought the federal government was trampling on Americans' fundamental rights.
Hashmi served in Virginia's Senate representing parts of Central Virginia for six years — until her historic win in November. On Saturday, she was sworn in as Virginia's 73rd lieutenant governor, becoming the first Muslim American woman in the United States to hold statewide office.
Prior to inauguration, she spoke with VPM News reporter Keyris Manzanares in her old Senate District 15 office.
This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.
Keyris Manzanares: What does being Virginia's lieutenant governor mean to you as a Muslim woman, but also as someone who has served Virginia for such a long time?
Ghazala Hashmi: I'm just truly honored to be stepping into the role as lieutenant governor, and I think — for me personally — it means that I get to represent many more constituents across Virginia.
You know, the past six years I've spent in the Virginia Senate representing parts of Richmond, and Chesterfield and Powhatan counties in my first term in office. It gave me such a unique window into the issues and concerns that are impacting constituents.
And now as lieutenant governor, I get to broaden that perspective. I get to talk to so many people across Virginia. My goal is to really bring the issues that are facing folks all across the commonwealth to Richmond so that we can address them and make some important progress legislatively.
As a Muslim American, it means that I am able to represent to a broader degree the communities that are part of Virginia. We know that immigrant voices and so many people of different faiths call Virginia home.
This is a chance to elevate a lot of those different voices and to make sure we have full representation of everybody that lives here.
Virginia has to step up. We have to plug in some of the gaps in health care. We have to plug in gaps around education and housing, as well.
What inspired you to campaign for the role of lieutenant governor?
Many of the same reasons that I decided to run for the state Senate. I'd spent almost three decades in higher education, and the first Trump administration really forced me to evaluate where this country is headed.
That first Trump administration was challenging our fundamental concepts of who is an American, who gets to speak in this country, and who gets to fight for democracy. I decided to run for the state Senate in 2019 for those same reasons.
Now, with the second Trump administration, we see even more challenges facing so many Americans, and much of those issues are focused on the definition of what it is to be an American and what our ideals of democracy are. So I decided to run for lieutenant governor.
I knew it was going to be critically important that we have strong state leadership to respond to the crisis that we are seeing now in Washington. Especially now, as we see Washington handing back to the states so many critical responsibilities. We see an abdication of responsibility at the federal level.
That means as state leaders, we need to respond to the crisis in health care, the crisis in our jobs, our economy, the rising cost of living for so many of our families — and that's the necessary work that we will be doing in this next administration.
With the Virginia Senate narrowly divided, your role as a tie-breaker voter could be pivotal.
How are you going to approach that responsibility, and what principles will guide you?
That is a very serious responsibility. And yes, the Senate is still very closely divided: 21 Democrats and 19 Republicans.
I think part of my preparation will be the same work that I've done in the Senate — which is to review legislation throughout the entire session, to be monitoring and talking to a variety of different stakeholders to understand what the legislation is, who is being impacted, what the benefits and challenges are, and making a decision that's best for the broader Virginia's communities.
I will be monitoring and observing all legislation coming through the House of Delegates and Senate very closely.
What issues do you want to champion early in your administration?
I want to continue the work that I have been doing. And so my five primary buckets have been on education, health care, housing affordability, our environmental and energy needs, and labor issues.
I plan to continue to focus on those same areas.
How do you plan to foster bipartisan support in Senate for some of those issues that are important to you and to Virginians?
I'm delighted to share that we actually do have a fairly strong bipartisan approach, especially in the Senate, since we are so narrowly divided. That's something that I've always valued and treasured.
Most of our issues are actually not even bipartisan, they're nonpartisan. And so when we're talking about improving education access that impacts families all across Virginia. When we're talking about housing affordability, it is not Democrat versus Republican. It really is looking at the best interest for so many of our families.
I really enjoy working with so many of my Republican colleagues. I have deep friendships that I value with the Republican members, and so I plan to continue that role.
I think it's an asset that Virginia has a lieutenant governor coming in who has already spent six years in the chamber and has built those necessary relationships — not just in the chamber, but also in the House and also across state agencies.
So much of the work that we do depends on a host of different offices and agencies, agency leaders, and these are critical relationships that I plan to continue to focus on and nurture over the next few years.
When you look back on this first year, how will you define success? What does that mean to you?
I think for us coming out of session, we want to have some very tangible results at the end, and so first and foremost we're going to need a comprehensive budget that tackles those critical issues.
With the federal government passing the financial cost back to the states on so many levels, we are going to have to respond to the crisis in Medicaid that we are seeing. Congress did not re-authorize the tax credits, and so many of our families are going to face a devastating escalation of premium costs on their health insurance.
Virginia has to step up. We have to plug in some of the gaps in health care. We have to plug in gaps around education and housing, as well.
Our budget is going to be the real focus for this session, and it's going to determine what our values are. You know, it's going to be a reflection of the values that this administration is coming in with: Lowering costs, and making sure that we are able to address the urgency of the moment is going to be critical for us in these first 100 days.
Looking forward over the next year, we have to make some tangible progress in making sure our schools are fully funded, that we are addressing the rising cost of housing — whether it's mortgages or rents — and we have to respond to the urgency of the energy crisis that we have.
Virginia is home to hundreds of data centers. We see the impact on our electric grid. We see the impact also on our rate payers. And addressing that urgency, lowering the cost for our consumers, is going to be a top priority.
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