Virginia's newly formed 35th Senate district borders Arlington and Alexandria, in the East, and stretches West, across the 495 beltway, to include most of George Mason University. It includes NOVA Community College, Springfield, Annandale, Lake Barcroft, and Lake Accotink. Heidi Drauschak and Virginia state Senator, Dave Marsden (37th District) are facing off in a Democratic primary for the new 35th Senate district. One of them is running to represent the people by getting big money out of our politics. The other is running to keep giving corporations everything they want.
Virginia has no limits on campaign contributions and no restrictions on what candidates can do with the money. Virginia is ranked 43rd in terms of campaign finance laws and enforcement that prevent corruption. Corporate lobbyists have a superpower that makes elected officials believe they are doing what's best for everyone. This makes it too easy for some corporations to push through whatever they want and block anything they don't like. In a Democracy, we need representatives who protect us from these corporations, not give them everything they want. Sen. Dave Marsden has received over a million dollars from corporate donors. "My policy is I take contributions from everyone" - Sen. Marsden (2023). When these corporations want to abuse puppies, take away our rights, or crush working families, they turn to Sen. Marsden.
For example, Marsden chairs the committee that provides oversight on companion animals like dogs and cats. Because of Marsden, corporations, like Envigo were able to breed thousands of dogs, (Beagles) for medical experimentation. When the pictures of neglect and abuse came out of Envigo in 2020 and Governor Northam suggested an amendment that would provide some oversight, Marsden, who had personally inspected the Envigo facility, helped kill the amendment. "Marsden feared the amendment would have put Envigo out of business" "This is icky business,…But these dogs do provide life-saving research," said Sen. Marsden. Only after the scandal became a national disgrace, was action taken to close down the facility last year.
When Amazon wanted to take away our privacy rights, they also turned to Sen. Marsden. "Amazon had long before identified Marsden as a priority politician under its "watering-the-flowers" effort" "Amazon convinced Sen. Marsden, a business-friendly Democrat, to introduce privacy legislation that the company had drafted." "Its passage in February 2021,...was considered a “huge victory” inside Amazon." Marsden is now bragging about this but it should be repeated, Amazon hand-picked Marsden, they gave him a draft of the legislation, Marsden used a privacy-research firm, funded by Amazon and Amazon confirmed they consider its passage to be a "huge victory." Marsden also said, "We haven’t had any real angst on the consumer side." The time for consumer angst is June 20th.
In terms of crushing working families, Marsden has led several efforts to stop or slow down solutions to help working families. In 2021, Marsden helped block overturning the anti-labor “Right To Work law,” which lets Virginia employers fire people without warning or reason. Marsden watered down and delayed our minimum wage increase and he delayed sick leave. He helped payday lenders price gouge poor people. And he helps towing companies raise fees on all of us.
In addition to a ton of campaign cash, Marsden gets “gifts” like free trips to South Korea for no good reason. Dominion Energy gave him a free trip to the Masters' Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia in exchange for killing bills that would have provided oversight on Dominion. After getting caught, Marsden said, on reflection, he doesn't think it is the kind of thing legislators should do. This is all legal in Virginia because of legislators like Marsden.
Experience? Institutional knowledge? Yes, Marsden is an expert at giving corporate lobbyists what they want and stopping or slowing down anything they don’t want. In return, those same lobbyists cut deals to make sure their "friends" get re-elected. That kind of experience, we don’t need. I'm not against corporations. I am against giving corporations more power than the people. Marsden is a conservative, anti-labor, corporate shill, who has no business representing one of the bluest Democratic districts in the country. Here is the good news. Senator Marsden’s old district #37 only has a portion that overlaps the new 35th district. Two-thirds of the voters think someone else is their state senator.
If you want a legislator who will represent the people, please support Heidi Drauschak. Heidi has a record of fighting to reform our broken politics in Virginia. She understands we can't get things like affordable health care, affordable housing, better education, and clean energy until we get big money out of our politics. When Democrats invest our taxes from the bottom up and middle out, we create a stronger, more stable economy that works better for all of us, including corporations. We know this works because every time Republicans wreck our economy with trickle-down economics, this is how Democrats clean up their mess.
Heidi grew up near Philadelphia, worked in the Obama White House, and moved to Richmond to receive her law degree and MBA at the University of Richmond. Heidi founded CrowdLobby, which gives everyday people access to lobbyists, through crowdfunded campaigns, to advocate for issues that are often smothered by corporate lobbyists. Heidi was also one of the main organizers of Democracy Day which advocates for good governance reforms to reduce big money donations, improve disclosure and restrict the personal use of campaign funds. Heidi now lives in Springfield with her husband, two dogs, and a cat. All of whom are expecting their first baby boy soon. Please support and vote for Heidi Drauschak on June 20th.
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