A proposed merger between Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy raises new possibilities and further questions in the race to match Virginia’s booming energy demand.
NextEra, which seeks to create the world’s largest regulated electric utility business through the $67 billion acquisition, has framed the plan as a path toward reducing energy costs in an era of rising need, driven in part by the construction of new data centers to power AI.
As she mulls over her own political future, Arlington’s senior state senator is seeking to help Democrats pick up seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Despite the Democratic redistricting map being overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court, Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40) believes her party has a chance in November to flip several of the five Virginia congressional seats currently held by Republicans.
All Virginia workers will be eligible for paid sick leave under new legislation backed by State Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40).
The new law, signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger yesterday (Wednesday), requires employers to provide both full-time and part-time employees with up to five sick days per year beginning in July 2027. Workers accrue one hour for every 30 hours worked, and will be able to take time off for either mental or physical illness.
Numerous pieces of legislation from Arlington lawmakers are officially set to become law following final approval from Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D).
Among the approximately 1,200 bills passed out of the 2026 session, legislation on elections, eviction prevention, tourism improvement districts and the minimum wage all came by way of state senators and delegates representing Arlington. Most signed bills will take effect on July 1, 2026, unless otherwise specified.
A bill seeking to permit by-right multifamily development in commercial zones was defeated in the Virginia Senate yesterday (Thursday) despite limitations proposed by Arlington’s state Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40).
The Senate voted 17-22 on HB 816 by Del. Dan Helmer (D-10). The House did not vote on the companion bill SB 454 by state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-16) but referred it back to the House Counties, Cities and Towns committee.
Arlington’s five-member legislative delegation heads into the General Assembly’s home stretch with a large number of its bills still alive.
Among the most successful was Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3), who got 21 pieces of legislation through the House of Delegates before crossover, the period when bills move to the opposite house for consideration.
Legislators representing Arlington are advancing matching bills to extend elections offices’ deadlines for receiving and counting absentee ballots.
HB 82 and SB 58, introduced by Del. Adele McClure (D-2) and State Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40), respectively, call for moving the deadline from noon to 5 p.m. on the third day after an election.
Northern Virginia Democrats were in high spirits at the inauguration of Gov. Abigail Spanberger this weekend, looking toward new opportunities for a variety of bills held back by the previous administration.
Legislators and political observers expect fewer vetoes and more collaboration with Democratic policymakers — including those in Northern Virginia — under Spanberger, a centrist Democrat who emphasized bipartisan solutions to issues like housing and health care costs on the campaign trail and in her inauguration speech.
Several Democratic policymakers have high hopes for a bill to crack down on assault weapons once Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger takes office.
Legislation to outlaw any sales or transfers of new “assault firearms” passed both chambers in each of the last two legislative sessions, but was vetoed upon reaching the desk of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
A Democrat is taking over for a Republican on the Arlington Electoral Board in the new year.
David Leichtman, a veteran political activist, will succeed electoral board vice chair Richard Samp, a Republican whose term expires Dec. 31.
Funding for Medicaid in Virginia and affordable housing on church-owned property were among Arlington residents’ priorities for state lawmakers at a meeting last week.
The pre-legislative meeting with Sens. Barbara Favola and Adam Ebbin, and Dels. Patrick Hope, Alfonso Lopez and Adele McClure, came ahead of the Virginia General Assembly session scheduled to begin on Jan. 14. Other topics of discussion ranged from expanding ranked-choice voting to an age verification law for pornography sites.
State Sen. Barbara Favola (D) is stepping into a new role as chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee on the other side of a recent battle with cancer.
When the Virginia General Assembly convenes in January, Favola, who announced in May that she had been diagnosed with uterine cancer, will be only two months removed from the end of chemotherapy treatments.
