In era of national gridlock and division, Northam urges Virginia lawmakers to find 'a different path forward'

In his first official State of the Commonwealth address, Northam urged the legislature to “offer a different path forward” in a national political climate dominated by partisan fights and gridlock.

Pointing to the partial federal government shutdown that has affected thousands of Virginia workers, Northam said that in Washington “some politicians have a way of making even the simplest things look difficult.”

“I believe that most of the time, people find what they’re looking for. If they’re looking for division, they’ll find it,” Northam said. “But if they — if we — look for areas where we can agree, we’ll find them.”

Entering the second year of his four-year term, Northam seemed to be trying to avoid a repeat of his first speech to the General Assembly in January 2018, which Republican leaders condemned as overly partisan and combative. After a 2017 election that saw Democrats sweep statewide races and pick up 15 seats in the House of Delegates, Northam said last year that voters had delivered a “mandate” and everyone should get the message.

In a radio appearance Wednesday morning, Northam said he had “a little bit too much fire in my belly” for his 2018 speech and would try to focus on a message of civility to begin what could be a pivotal election year.

Republicans hold slim majorities in both chambers, and holding control of the legislature would be a much-needed win for a party that hasn’t won a statewide race since 2009. Democrats could seize full control of state government for the first time in decades by picking up just a few more seats. All 140 General Assembly seats are up for election in November.

During his hourlong speech, Northam laid out a Democratic legislative agenda that includes gun control, no-excuse absentee voting, preserving abortion rights and passing the Equal Rights Amendment, decriminalization of marijuana and tax policies that the governor said will restore “balance and fairness” that federal tax reforms lacked.

“When corporate stockholders benefit but a teacher does not, that isn’t what I call a fair system,” he said.

Northam has proposed using roughly $1.2 billion in additional tax revenues caused by federal changes to help low-income working households and fund efforts to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and expand rural broadband access.

Republicans, who have called Northam’s proposal a “tax hike,” want to forgo much of that revenue to keep taxes lower for earners they call middle class: two-income families making between $125,000 and $150,000.

Northam didn’t focus on the most controversial of his legislative proposals, such as scrapping the state’s law requiring voters to show photo identification or passing an assault weapons ban that would outlaw guns with magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. Instead, he emphasized his calls for extreme risk protection orders, a system that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from people who may pose a threat. In a call for obstacle-free voting that included a reference to Virginia’s history of “both liberty and enslavement,” Northam suggested letting people cast absentee ballots without having to give an excuse for why they can’t make it to the polls.

“If we are able to agree that we need to act when we have a problem with highway safety and preventable deaths, then surely we can agree to work together to keep more Virginians alive by improving gun safety,” he said.

GOP leaders said they noticed a shift in Northam’s approach.

“I did appreciate the tone in a lot of spots. There are a lot of places where I do think we can work together,” said House Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights. Cox highlighted K-12 education improvements and higher education affordability as areas of agreement.

Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment, R-James City, said he saw a more “gentlemanly manner” from Northam.

“I appreciated his tone this year. I think it was much less confrontational,” Norment said. “He certainly set an atmosphere before launching into his legislative issues.”

Even if the tone changed, Northam’s policy proposals were just as partisan, Republicans said.

Cox said the governor “checked all the boxes with his liberal base.” Noting that the governor highlighted the state’s low crime recidivism rates, Cox said that could be attributed to a strong criminal justice system. Weakening the criminal justice laws championed by past Republican leaders, Cox said, could jeopardize that.

House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said the GOP is willing to discuss risk protection orders, as long as protecting gun owners’ rights is a focus.

“We certainly are interested in any kind of dialogue about how to protect people, keep people safer, “ Gilbert said. “But we should do that in the context of respecting our traditional rights that we have and have respected for hundreds of years in this commonwealth.”

After the bipartisan passage of Medicaid expansion and Amazon’s decision to bring 25,000 tech jobs to Northern Virginia, Northam joked that his first year in his office had been so successful that he’s started thinking about 2020.

“And so tonight, I am proud to announce I am going to seriously explore a run for president ... ,” Northam said, “ ... of the Eastern Shore Antique Car Club.”

In typical fashion, the first day of the session focused mainly on organizational procedure and formalities. Over the course of the 46-day session, lawmakers will take up thousands of bills before they adjourn on Feb. 23.

To mark the 400th anniversary of the first democratic assembly in Virginia, members of the Jamestown Color Guard with medieval-looking halberds stood sentry in the House chamber.

Northam and Cox noted that history was still being made, acknowledging new House Minority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, as the first woman to lead a House caucus.

The governor said he knows Republicans and Democrats won’t always agree, but he’ll continue to seek “common ground.”

“I’m not going to pretend that there won’t be 140 campaigns to run after we adjourn here,” Northam said. “But this isn’t Washington — we come to Richmond to do the people’s work, the way they expect us to do it. And there’s a lot we can accomplish together.”