I’m the new Virginia governor and affordability is what everyone needs

This November, Virginians elected maine to beryllium their 75th politician with the largest borderline of triumph for a Democrat successful modern history, successful portion due to the fact that I’ve been focused supra each connected 1 large issue: affordability.  

Across Virginia, I heard from families successful each community, successful each portion of our commonwealth astir the interaction of precocious costs. I met seniors struggling to spend medicine drugs, parents disquieted astir rising vigor bills and graduates conscionable breaking into the workforce who couldn't find lodging that they could afford.   

But I besides heard a large refrain from 1 different group: concern leaders. No substance wherever I traveled, I met executives and entrepreneurs who were struggling to find the close candidates to capable occupation openings and progressively disquieted that Virginia’s champion employees and endowment were being priced retired of the commonwealth.  

The numbers bespeak those worries. More than 70% of Virginians believe determination isn’t capable lodging disposable that they tin spend to rent oregon buy, according to caller polling. And nationwide, nearly half of Americans say that mundane costs are hard to afford.

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Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, erstwhile Rep. Abigail Spanberger, celebrates arsenic she takes the signifier during her predetermination nighttime rally astatine the Greater Richmond Convention Center connected Nov. 4, 2025, successful Richmond, Virginia. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Financial pressures don’t conscionable strain household budgets; they signifier wherever radical tin physique their lives. The U.S. Census Bureau recovered that almost half of assemblage students in Virginia permission wrong 5 years of graduation — a complaint that’s supra the nationalist average. When radical privation to enactment here, they should beryllium capable to work, spend a location and yet spend to make a beingness here. They shouldn’t beryllium forced to determination crossed the state oregon hold connected the sidelines due to the fact that of the outgo of their healthcare oregon housing.  

High costs aren’t conscionable a quality-of-life concern, but a substance of economical competitiveness. If we neglect to act, we hazard slower economical growth, little taxation revenue, and declining productivity — consequences that would disadvantage Virginia for decades to come.  

That’s wherefore I’ve said my incoming medication volition beryllium relentlessly focused connected making Virginia much affordable — truthful we tin pull and clasp the champion workers, companies, and concern leaders. As governor, I volition marque definite that Virginians person each crushed to enactment present and physique their futures. At the aforesaid time, I volition marque it wide to workers and companies crossed the state wherefore we are the champion spot to commencement a vocation oregon grow a business.

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Addressing the affordability situation starts with ensuring Virginians cognize they tin find a location oregon flat that meets their needs and budget. My medication volition enactment to destruct outdated policies that marque it harder to build, travel the occurrence of different states by creating a revolving indebtedness money to promote mixed-income development, and springiness localities the powerfulness to support affordable lodging successful their communities.  

A thriving workforce besides needs entree to affordable and accessible healthcare. The threats to the Affordable Care Act, monolithic national cuts to the healthcare information net, and less healthcare providers — peculiarly successful agrarian Virginia — are putting Virginians’ wellness and information astatine risk.

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These are pugnacious challenges, but my medication is acceptable to find feasible solutions to support Virginians’ entree to affordable sum — whether that is done the ACA Marketplace oregon Medicaid. We volition besides absorption connected lowering costs for patients astatine the pharmacy counter, successful portion by cracking down connected predatory practices by pharmacy payment managers that thrust up the outgo of medicine drugs.  

Finally, some consumers and businesses merit the certainty that comes with a predictable vigor bill. Here successful Virginia, we volition prioritize expanding vigor procreation to conscionable rising demand, including by supporting our nation-leading offshore upwind manufacture and making it easier to instal star successful commonsense locations, specified arsenic rooftops and parking lots. We volition besides physique connected Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s enactment to promote companies to make the adjacent procreation of vigor technology, similar the world’s archetypal commercialized fusion powerfulness works being built close present successful Virginia.

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High costs aren’t conscionable a quality-of-life concern, but a substance of economical competitiveness.

By lowering the outgo of living, we tin springiness Virginians the assurance to stake connected themselves and instrumentality the benignant of risks that powerfulness our system — whether that means processing caller skills to lucifer occupation opportunities successful their area, pursuing an precocious grade to summation aboriginal earnings, oregon starting a concern to springiness their families semipermanent fiscal freedom. As the adjacent politician of Virginia, I’m acceptable to enactment with anyone, including President Donald Trump, to marque beingness little expensive. Because precocious costs and the inability to clasp and pull apical endowment to Virginia impact everyone — nary substance your enactment affiliation, and nary substance if your institution has five employees oregon 5,000.  

Virginia is competing against 49 states and the District of Columbia for some the champion endowment successful America and the businesses that inevitably travel that talent. As governor, I mean for Virginia to dominate. 

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