Hey there,

It’s another massive news week for Virginia.

We’re officially one week away from Election Day. Virginia is in the middle of an historic special session as Democrats join the escalating national redistricting fight to counter Republicans’ attempts to give their party a huge advantage in the 2026 midterms.

The federal government shutdown, with its particular impact on Virginia, is now likely to last the entire month of October and into November. And millions of Americans, including hundreds of thousands of Virginians, are bracing for more misery as Republicans withhold federal assistance for groceries.

Looking to next week, Democrats are expected to have a good night on Election Day – the attorney general’s race notwithstanding.

If Democrat Abigail Spanberger has a big win, her victory could give Democrats a much-needed shot in the arm when it comes to fighting back against Trump’s nakedly corrupt policies and austerity measures.

Below, I report on the ongoing fight over health care affordability – or lack thereof – ahead of the start of the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period and share an update on the General Assembly’s special session.

Plus, a Richmond bar is struggling to keep up with demand for its anti-fascist shirts.

Michael O’Connor

Reporter, Dogwood

Demonstrators on a downtown Richmond street corner calling on Republicans to support affordable health care policies on October 27, 2025. (Michael O’Connor/Dogwood)

Health care is an expensive burden for far too many in the US, and the cost for care that is free in many other countries is only going up under the Trump administration.

That’s the case for 389,000 Virginians who depend on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for their health insurance, the vast majority of whom get hundreds of dollars in tax credits per month to make their plans more affordable.

As I’ve reported previously in this newsletter, those subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year, which will increase the costs of these plans.

Ahead of the state’s open enrollment period starting on Nov. 1, demonstrators rallied in Richmond on Monday to urge Virginia Republicans to help keep the cost of health care down.

Health care advocate Laura Packard took part in the demonstration on the capitol grounds where Virginia Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, were holding a press conference.

Packard gets her health insurance through the ACA marketplace, and she’s worried about the rising costs of her monthly payments.

“I’m a real person, and I’m facing a 21% increase in my health insurance premiums for next year,” Packard told Dogwood as law enforcement officers kept the demonstrators at a distance from the Republican press conference. “They clearly don’t want to hear what we have to say.”

Many Virginians — some of whom are self-employed or don’t get insurance from their employers — will face even higher premium increases. What happens if they can’t afford them? What if they lose coverage, get sick, and can’t show up for work? The ripple effects could be devastating.

You can read my coverage here.

A coal mining company is laying off 118 workers in Southwest Virginia, Katherine Schulte at Virginia Business reports.
Jeff Lester of Cardinal News has a dispatch from the campaign trail on Spanberger’s stop in Lee County, where she called out the impact of Republican policies on rural health care.
Charlotte Rene Woods at Virginia Mercury has more details on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plans for the state to cover the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Virginia during the government shutdown.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, right, at a campaign rally at the Salem Civic Center, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Salem, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Today marked the second day of the special session in the General Assembly where Virginia Democrats are putting themselves in position to join the national redistricting fight.

I was there for the first day on Monday.

Democrats are taking their time with the roll out of their plans, despite the tight timeline. The details have trickled in. The actual resolution that will be advanced was posted late this afternoon.

But in the two days of public debate in the chambers of the General Assembly thus far, I’ve been struck by how Virginia Democrats are showing some fire in their bid to make big changes to the state’s congressional map to push back on the Trump administration. Equally striking is just how tone deaf Virginia Republicans have been about this moment.

To hear Virginia Republicans tell it, Trump poses no threat to democracy and gerrymandering is wrong, so Democrats should not pursue it. Nevermind that their party has redrawn maps in places like Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri.

Virginia Democrats point out they aren’t operating in a vacuum as other states gerrymander their maps to pick up more Republican seats. And what they hope to pass this week merely leaves open the option of pursuing redistricting – it doesn’t actually make it happen.

And in any case, even if Democrats do eventually pass new maps, Virginia’s voters would get the final say on approving or rejecting them next year.

(Edgar Chaparro/Unsplash)

A Richmond bar is making headlines for selling out an antifascist shirt.

As Landon Shroder reports at RVA Mag, Richmond’s McCormack’s Irish Pub has sold out of t-shirts that say, “F*CK ICE – F*CK NAZIS – F*CK TRUMP.”

It’s quite the statement from an eatery and pub, but one worth drinking to. Sláinte.

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