Progressive Dem eyes Virginia congressional bid amid possible redistricting

State Del. Sam Rasoul of Roanoke says he supports Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and an end to US military support for Israel.

In the wake of November’s elections, more candidates are gearing up for next year’s all-important midterm elections that will determine which party controls the US House and US Senate. 

Among them is state Del. Sam Rasoul, a Democrat representing House District 38 in Roanoke. He announced on Monday plans to form an exploratory committee for a congressional bid next year.

“As a Palestinian-American who has represented Appalachia for over a decade, I have spent my career standing up to special interests who have rigged the system against Virginia’s working families,” Rasoul said in his announcement. 

Rasoul’s announcement comes as Virginia Democrats are proceeding with plans to re-draw the state congressional map in response to Republican gerrymandering underway in Texas and other states. Rasoul tells Dogwood if Virginia’s map gets redrawn, he wants to be in position to launch his candidacy. 

“After the Supreme Court’s decision on Texas this past week, it looked more likely that Virginia may be redrawing its districts with Trump attacking our democracy by trying to change things in the US House,” Rasoul said in an interview. “We just want to be prepared for any district. So I’m preparing the paperwork for an exploratory committee should new districts be drawn.”

Rasoul, 44, says he does consultant work to help organizations with their strategic planning and has served in the House of Delegates since 2014. Previously, he ran for Congress in 2008 to represent Virginia’s sixth congressional district but lost, and he came up short in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2021. 

The Dogwood caught up with Rasoul by phone on Monday about why he’s considering a run for Congress, what Democrats need to do to win elections, redistricting, and health care policy. 

The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

How do you plan to make your case to voters about why they should support you? 

My first foray into politics was running in the sixth congressional district back in 2008. Since then, I’ve been campaigning and fighting for access to health care for all; a Green New Deal, where I believe that we can economically uplift communities in need while tackling the climate crisis. And I think that we should stop sending billions of our tax dollars abroad to bomb little children and end this genocide in Gaza.

It seems like more Democrats are coming around to the idea that they haven’t handled the issue of Israel’s genocide well, which is an issue you’ve been consistent on and been attacked for. Where do you think the Democratic Party goes from here? 

Oftentimes our elected officials are not necessarily leading the charge, and what we see today is there’s a groundswell of people who want a variety of changes. They want special interests to stop controlling the legislature. They would like us to stop spending billions of dollars on bombs abroad, and we’re forcing that conversation from a grassroots level to have candidates and elected officials evolve quickly on these issues. 

And so I tell people, it’s not a Democratic Party, it’s a coalition of a variety of factions, and we need to continue making our case to push for change.

On redistricting, how do you think Democrats can make the case for it to voters? 

I have always been someone who says we shouldn’t be playing dirty, even when others are playing dirty, but this goes beyond that. This is changing the rules of the game. And we can’t simply say that it’s okay for the president to force these legislatures to change the rules in the middle of the game. 

We’ve got to be able to stand up and do something, and that’s why there’s a temporary proposal in this modification of the (state) constitution to make sure that over the next few years, we are standing up to (President) Donald Trump trying to steal our democracy.

As we speak, enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans are weeks away from expiring. What do you make of the current fight over health care policy? 

When (former President Barack) Obama was elected, he came forward with a single payer proposal. The Affordable Care Act as it came together was a Republican compromise, and sadly, that compromise put the insurance companies in the driver’s seat. I believe that there is very little value that our society gains from health insurance companies. We should shift to a single payer model and ensure that we recognize that healthcare is a fundamental right.

What’s your position on labor issues in Virginia with things like “right to work” and the expansion of collective bargaining being debated? 

I’ve been 100% pro-labor through and through for years. I was one of the few Democrats who voted to repeal “right to work” in a very difficult vote when we had the trifecta last time and am certainly in favor of collective bargaining. I think that collective bargaining is actually a bigger issue for workers than “right to work.” It’s just “right to work” has been kind of symbolically this issue that we’ve gone back and forth on. I think that there is so much power in the hands of the special interests that we deserve to have workers being able to represent themselves well.

What issues or bills are you most proud of from your time as a delegate?

I represent a pretty poor district, and it’s hard for me to go to people and say we’ve accomplished all these things when they’re just trying to make ends meet. I have worked hard on keeping the utilities accountable and trying to make sure that we’re supporting public education and bringing millions of dollars back to our public schools and trying to get more and more raises to our teachers who are not being paid enough. But the reality is, no matter how much we’ve accomplished, it always feels like we’ve never done enough.