Dogwood Daily: GOP candidates try to have it both ways

Welcome to today’s edition of the Dogwood Daily. We’ve got a round-up of all of today’s Virginia news coming right up. And if you’re a fan, please forward to three friends who need to know what’s going on in the Commonwealth and tell them to subscribe here. 

But first …

For the first time in 95 years (!!!) the Washington Nationals have won the World Series. Check out the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell piece on whether this was a baseball miracle, a deal with the devil, or just regular old National’s baseball.

Five things you need to know today …

1. Republican candidates try to have it both ways with suburban voters: GayDonna Vandergriff is running with Hillary-blue campaign signs and a website that touts her record on the environment and public schools but does not mention she’s a Republican. Meanwhile, she’s blasting her opponent as a socialist who wants to kill babies moments before birth, the Washington Post reports. GOP incumbent Glenn Davis is highlighting his record on gun safety and his support for LGBTQ anti-discrimination measures, the New York Times writes. But in Davis’ 2017 campaign, he said he was running to do exactly what Donald Trump did, and in 2019, he voted to adjourn a special session on gun control 90 minutes after it began. “We have a little bit of a messaging issue, we do,” Davis said.
   
2. Vandergriff and Dunnavant claim rated “false”: PolitiFact rated a claim made by Republican candidates Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant (SD-12) and GayDonna Vandergriff about a bill protecting women’s access to abortion as false. The bill, which was co-sponsored by Dunnavant challenger Del. Debra Rodman (HD-73) and Vandergriff opponent Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg (HD-72), “would not have created an unconditioned right to a third-trimester abortion in Virginia,” PolitiFact concluded, and rather “would have eased requirements for getting one by allowing one doctor to certify the abortion is necessary to protect the mother’s life or health.” -VPM
   
3. Alec Baldwin vs. Amanda Chase: Television actor Alec Baldwin, the man who currently satirizes President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live” campaigned in Chesterfield last week with Amanda Pohl, the Democratic candidate running for office in Virginia’s 11th state Senate District. The duo knocked on doors in Bayhill Pointe, the Midlothian neighborhood of Pohl’s opponent, state Sen. Amanda Chase. Chase has won the past two elections, and in 2016 voters in the district backed Donald Trump. But with Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam winning there in 2017, and Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger emerging victorious in 2018, the district is very much in play. –Chesterfield Observer.
   
4. Virginia AG sues drug company over opioids- Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against Teva pharmaceuticals, the latest in a string of legal challenges against drug companies’ role in the opioid crisis. Herring claims Teva Pharmaceuticals misrepresented the benefits and risks of products that include fentanyl. -Fox Business
   
5. Who’s afraid of the big red wolf? One of the most endangered mammals in North America could soon take refuge in western Virginia forests. The Center for Biological Diversity released a report finding that parts of George Washington National Forest, Shenandoah National Park, and Jefferson National Forest could be prime land for the red wolf, a critically endangered species with just 14 known individuals left in the wild. The group is suing the Fish and Wildlife to update their wold recovery plan. -Wavy