Candidate Comparison:
Governor
Terry McAuliffe (D)
Glenn Youngkin (R)
Better Wages
McAuliffe supports raising the minimum wage and plans to speed up Virginia’s timeline to do so from 2026 to 2024. [1] | Youngkin does not support raising the minimum wage. [3] |
McAuliffe has plans to increase wage equity. [2] |
Helping Essential Workers
McAuliffe has developed a recovery plan that prioritizes hazard pay for essential workers. [4] | Youngkin has not made any statements on hazard pay. |
McAuliffe supported the American Rescue Plan, which provided $1,400 relief checks for individuals, funding for vaccines, childcare, small businesses, and schools. It also expanded access to COVID testing funding for workplace safety enhancements. [5] | Youngkin opposed the American Rescue Plan which provided $1,400 relief checks for individuals, funding for vaccines, childcare, small businesses, and schools. It also expanded access to COVID testing funding for workplace safety enhancements. [6] |
Affordable Healthcare
McAuliffe supports policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protects the more than 3.5 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. [7] | Youngkin voted against policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protects the more than 3.5 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. [9] |
McAulliffe’s plan “Prescription for A Healthier Virginia” will set limits on drug prices and make manufacturers defend requests for price increases. [8] |
Making Work Better
McAfflife called for Paid Sick Leave and Paid Family and Medical leave for all Virginia’s workers. [10] | Youngkin has not made any statement on Paid Sick Leave or Paid Family and Medical Leave. |
CHECK THE FACTS:
- WRIC, 2/19/2021
- Terry For Virginia, accessed 7/27/2021
- WJLA, 6/9/2021
- Terry For Virginia, accessed 7/29/2021
- Terry for Virginia, 7/6/2021
- Twitter, @vademocrats, 5/12/2021; UFCW, 3/15/2021
- Twitter, @TerryMcAuliffe, 5/30/2018; Twitter, @TerryMcAuliffe, 5/30/2019
- Washington Post, 1/14/2021 ; Terry For Virginia, 1/14/2021
- Facebook, @visitlifechurch, 4/25/2021
- Terry for Virginia, accessed 7/27/2021
Candidate Comparison:
Lieutenant Governor
Hala Ayala (D)
Winsome Sears (R)
Better Wages
Ayala supports raising the state minimum wage to reflect the rising cost of living in Virginia. [1] | Sears has not said what she would do to raise wages for working people or how she will help build an economy that benefits working- and middle-class families. |
As a delegate in 2003, Sears voted to allow wage garnishments to last up to 180 days. [2] |
Helping Essential Workers
Ayala introduced a bill, mandating hazard pay for essential workers during the pandemic. [3] | In January 2021, the deadliest month of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sears called for reopening schools and lifting what she called “hypocritical” stay-at-home orders. [7] |
Ayala is vocal about the need to better protect frontline workers, including those in grocery stores like her son, a UFCW member, during the pandemic. [4] | |
Ayala voted for legislation establishing COVID-19 as an occupational disease compensable under the Workers’ Compensation Act. [5] | |
Ayala voted to establish a formal program for Virginia to purchase and distribute PPE to help fight the spread of COVID-19. [6] |
Affordable Healthcare
Ayala supports policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protect coverage for the 3.5 million Virginians who have pre-existing conditions. [8] | Sears would repeal the policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protect coverage for the 3.5 million Virginians who have pre-existing conditions. [10] |
Ayala has sponsored bills capping costs for life-saving medicines such as inhalers and insulin. [9] |
Making Work Better
Ayala sponsored a bill providing 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave in Virginia, and called for a national paid leave program. [12] | Sears has not stated how she will improve the working conditions for Virginia’s workers. |
Ayala voted for bills to provide workers with earned paid sick time. [13] | |
Ayala voted to expand the right to organize a union and negotiate for better wages and benefits to Virginia’s public employees. [14] |
CHECK THE FACTS:
- Hala For Virginia, accessed 07/22/2021
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 1458, 3/24/2003
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 2015, 2/1/2021
- Hala For Virginia, accessed 07/22/2021; Twitter, @HalaAyala, 5/6/2021
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 2015, 2/1/2021
- LegiScan, SB 5039, 09/25/2020
- BallotPedia, VA Republican Convention, 05/08/2021
- Hala For Virginia, accessed 07/22/2021 ; Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 5001, 4/17/2018
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 66, 4/8/2020 ; Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 1822, 2/4/2021
- Virginia Conservatives, accessed 7/29/2021
- Hala For Virginia, accessed 07/22/2021; Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 2016, 2/5/2021; Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 2234, 1/8/2019
- Twitter, @HalaAyala, 5/16/2021
- Virginia Public Access Project, accessed 7/26/2021
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 582, 3/7/2020; Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 1755, 2/3/2021
Candidate Comparison:
Attorney General
Mark Herring (D)
Jason Miyares (R)
Better Wages
Herring supports increasing the minimum wage. [1] | Miyares voted against raising Virginia’s minimum wage. [3] |
Herring created the Worker Protection Unit, to prosecute wage theft, payroll fraud, and worker misclassification that irresponsible employers use to deny hard-working people the pay they earned and deserve. [2] |
Helping Essential Workers
Herring prioritized frontline worker’s safety defending Virginia’s mask requirement in stores and public places against more than 10 legal challenges. [4] | Miyares called for an end to Governor Northam’s Executive Orders for social distancing and mask wearing in October 2020, before the two deadliest surges of the pandemic. [6] |
Herring sent a letter to the Trump administration demanding the protection of meat and poultry workers during the pandemic. [5] | Miyares introduced legislation to make it harder for people to sue companies over COVID-19 issues. [7] |
Affordable Healthcare
Herring supports policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protect coverage for the 3.5 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. [8] | Miyares voted against policies that provide more than 500,000 Virginians with access to health insurance and protect coverage for the 3.5 million Virginians with pre-existing conditions. [10] |
Herring filed a brief in the Supreme Court supporting states’ right to regulate the rising cost of prescription drugs. [9] | Miyares voted to allow certain plans to increase premiums for pre-existing conditions and exclude coverage for maternity care, mental health, and prescription drugs. [11] |
Making Work Better
Herring supports paid sick leave. During the pandemic, he called on Amazon and Whole Foods to provide paid sick and family leave, and filed a legal brief supporting airline flight crew workers’ fight for paid sick leave. [13] | Miyares voted against paid sick leave for workers twice during the pandemic. Including, a bill providing paid sick leave specifically for essential workers. [15] |
Herring supports workers’ rights to form a union and negotiate for better pay and benefits. [14] | Miyares voted against bills to allow public-employees the right for form a union and negotiate for better pay and benefits. [16] |
CHECK THE FACTS:
- Virginia Star, 10/8/2020
- WTKR, 8/27/2020
- Mark Herring for Attorney General, accessed 8/4/2021
- Twitter, @MarkHerringVA, 6/7/2018; Commonwealth of Virginia Office of the Attorney General, 5/6/2020; Richmond Times-Dispatch, 11/9/2020
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 5001 05/30/2018
- Virginia Legislative Information System, SB 1674, 2/19/2019, WHSV, 3/26/2019
- Commonwealth of Virginia Office of the Attorney General, 3/25/2020
- Commonwealth of Virginia Office of the Attorney General, 5/19/2020
- Attorney General Mark Herring, 5/1/2021
- Virginia Legislative Information System, HB 2137, 2/25/2021
- Virginia Public Access Project, 4/22/2020