Narrator: This is the Virginia Decides House of Delegates District 58 Forum brought to you in partnership with ChamberRVA and VPM News.

The forum's moderators are Billy Shields and Whittney Evans from VPM News.

The candidates for House District 58 are Rodney Willett and Riley Shaia.

Whitteny Evans: Welcome to the studios of VPM for this forum between candidates for Virginia House of Delegates, District 58.

Thank you for joining us.

I'm Whittney Evans for VPM News.

And I'm Billy Shields, multi-media reporter for VP Team News Focal Point, Live stream and broadcast of the Forum are produced by VPM and the in-person event is made possible in part by Dominion Energy, which contributed funding the Chamber RVA for candidate events prior to its partnership with the VPM News.

Evans: Before we begin a brief word about the format and rules of this forum.

Both campaigns participated in a coin toss prior to the debate to determine the order of questioning.

Candidate Rodney Willett won the toss, and will start with opening statements.

Then candidate Riley Shaia will share her introductory remarks.

Each candidate is allowed 2 minutes.

Shields: After opening statements, we'll have a round of Q&A in which the candidates will each have an opportunity to answer the same questions with 90 seconds to respond any redirect, the rebuttals will be given at the sole discretion of the moderator asking the question.

The debate will include a sort of lightning round of questions.

It involves very brief yes or no answers.

Well then go back to another round of Q&A with 90 second answers and then finish up with the with one minute closing statements again, starting with candidate Willett, who won the coin toss.

Evans: Most of the questions we prepared for this forum were written by journalists with VPM news, and a few additional questions came from members of the live audience here.

No questions were shared with the campaigns ahead of this forum.

Candidate Willett will lead now with the first opening statement.

You have 2 minutes.

Please begin.

Rodney Willett: Thank you Chamber RVA rand VPM for continuing to provide this forum for local candidates.

I am also very thankful to be representing the 73rd District in Western Henrico since 2020 When I was sworn into office with a Democratic majority.

We proceeded over the next several years to pass an unprecedented number of laws.

We increased teacher salaries that were lagging behind national averages and causing teachers to leave the state.

I championed expanding mental health support for individuals, including those suffering from drug addiction.

We made it more convenient to vote with with early voting as well as no excuse absentee.

We protected LGBTQ rights.

We removed abortion restrictions that were endangering women's health, making it difficult for them to get reproductive health care.

We passed eight gun safety measures, all aimed at making Virginia a safer place for families.

I helped to carry an unprecedented number of environmental protections for the state and we did that to combat climate change while also creating a clean economy green jobs.

We increase the minimum wage, which helped workers.

But we also did that while supporting businesses with a better workforce.

Finally, we helped families trying to make ends meet.

We increased the standard deduction actually twice, provided tax rebates.

And I was also pleased to help in repealing the grocery tax.

I'm proud to be known by Democrats and Republicans for being willing to reach across the aisle to work to pass common sense legislation.

I've carried dozens of bipartisan bills.

I will continue to work to find consensus, but there are certain issues that I will not back down on.

That includes protecting Virginia from laws that Republicans have passed and other states laws that would completely ban abortion.

Laws that restrict voting access.

Defund schools, repeal gun safety laws, and have gutted environmental protections.

I'm interested in passing laws that'll help all Virginians, and I really look forward to the discussion today.

Thank you.

Evans: Thank you for those remarks.

Candidate Shaia, you have 2 minutes.

Shaia: Thank you as well.

To VPM, to the chamber, to the moderators and to all of you.

This is a really important discussion that we're having today.

I'm Riley Shaia and I am a former physical therapist.

I'm a small business owner.

I'm a wife and I'm a mom to three great kids.

When I look around me, I see things that I don't like and I see politicians that aren't doing the right things for their constituents.

Like many busy parents, COVID lockdown measures forced me to slow down.

And when I took a look around at the community around me, I saw the health and wellness of a community that was in decline.

I see an economy that is failing Virginians.

I see an education system that is reeling from COVID learning loss and a lowering of standards over the past few years.

And I see a mental health and substance abuse crisis that is simply heartbreaking.

And so I am here and I'm getting off the sidelines to try to fix some of these problems.

I do not feel that we have adequate representation currently, and so I am putting myself forward and hoping to become your delegate so that I can bring common sense back to politics in this district.

Evans: Thank you both for those opening remarks.

Now, we'll begin with our first question, which, according to the rules, goes to candidate.

Willett.

You'll have 90 seconds to respond.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Virginia has just 47 available workers for every 100 open jobs.

Labor shortages are affecting many sectors, including law enforcement, health care, education and child care.

What can the state do to get more people in those positions?

Now, I appreciate that question, and there are definite been major workforce challenges that have come about even before COVID, but certainly during COVID, We need to match worker skills to the jobs that are out there.

That's really where we are with the economy right now.

A strong is supported the administration's efforts to consolidate our workforce efforts.

A lot of folks don't know, but there are literally several dozen agencies that were responsible for workforce efforts, hundreds of programs uncoordinated.

We now have centralized.

That was one of the champions for that bill in the House.

And we got it to the closure and we're going to do better.

There was a new office that's overseeing that.

We're making these changes to be more efficient and effective in how we do workforce in Virginia.

This is changing even more critical now because Virginia just just doesn't compete with neighboring states.

We compete with the whole country.

We compete internationally.

And so it's even more important to align those jobs.

Another critical part of this is fully funding our education system that involves kids who are in traditional track, maybe go on to college or community college, but also our career and technical education programs.

Henrico has a great example of that, actually a model of that here in the county.

But we've got to do more to get these students on those tracks, their jobs out there for them.

A couple of final thoughts.

One is a clean economy.

We've got thousands of jobs now that match that need to be filled in the clean economy space.

And then finally, health workforce really needed to make progress there.

So much more to do.

Candidate Shaia the same question to you and I'll pose that once again.

What can the state do to get more people into the jobs into jobs with employers that are desperate for workers?

Shaia: Yes, you know, that's a great question.

And I think this is something that Mr. Willett and I agree on.

The biggest need that we have is we need to match up the jobs that we do have with the workforce.

And we have made great strides on a workforce pipeline that will fulfill some of the jobs that we have that are open.

But I think the place that we need to focus on as well is making sure that the students in our education system are making it affordable for students to go to school so we can do things like create passport credits where they can use pass they can use credits at a junior college and apply them to a four year institution.

They can take those credits maybe from high school, and they can apply those to a four year institution.

But we really need to also be focusing on the fact that we need to realize that not everybody needs to go to a four year institution.

We need to make sure that students know all of the options available for them and really focus on matching up the jobs with workforce development.

Shields: How would you tackle the issue of learning loss?

For example, test scores paint a dour picture of post-pandemic academic achievement in Virginia schools.

The Department of Education calls the declines in reading and math scores for elementary and middle schoolers alarming.

Is the state doing enough to address the learning losses?

And how would you work to address this problem?

Shaia: Sure.

I am very excited that Governor Youngkin has put forth the all-in plan.

I feel as if it gives us a much more comprehensive pathway to getting these students back to where they need to be.

They're great strides that have been made.

There is so much more that we can do.

Teachers pay raises have gone up, but we need to do more.

We need to make sure that we are focusing on intensive tutoring for students in our schools.

We also need to make sure that our teachers have the appropriate support they need in school.

As I talk to many people at doors and I've knocked over 5000 doors at this point.

I hear from teachers that they don't often feel very supported.

And so we need to make sure that we are putting things in place to help them with that.

And that can look like more guidance counselors, more mental health professionals, more behavioral health specialists.

Because what I'm hearing from teachers is that they are having to deal with behavioral issues rather than getting back to teaching what our students need.

The basics, reading, math, science, history.

And so I think if we can focus on those things, we will achieve, then we will get rid of the learning loss that happened.

Shields: Candidate Willett.

I'll pose the same question to you.

What is it that the state can do about learning loss?

Willett: We've got several lever to pull there.

And first of all, we absolutely have to recognize the fact that there is learning loss in Virginia.

Some students, by some reports are saying they lost as much as a year and a half of learning.

So it's absolutely an issue.

I also supported the governor's all-in plan because I funded it.

I want the folks who signed off on that budget amendment recently to put $400 million out there.

There's a three pronged approach.

It's part of that.

One of them on tutoring is absolutely the most essential part that's front and center to it in terms of having schools focus on that.

There's a focus on the we've signed a similar legislation expanding the literacy Act to affect and cover more people in Virginia, more students, and then also chronic absenteeism.

A lot of students are not coming back to the classroom and we can't help them if they're not in the classroom.

So that's a critical three pronged approach.

I mentioned studies.

JALARC does the oversight for the state issued a very significant report recently talking about school funding.

We are not where we need to be.

We've made progress.

Yes, we have increased teacher salaries.

We are still not fully funding our schools.

And until we do that, we're not going to be able to address all these issues.

So I think, again, I love the progress we made.

We did just passed an additional teacher salary increase.

We're improving counselors, the counselor ratio.

That's fantastic.

There is more to be done.

There are schools that are really literally falling apart out there.

And we've got to do more.

Evans: Candidate Willett well begin this time with you.

What is and we touched on this quite a bit already, but what is the biggest issue facing Virginia public schools today and what would you do to address it?

Willett: I think we did cover a couple of those topics, but certainly to reiterate some some key points, it really comes down to a combination of things.

But if I had to say one thing, teachers, we've got to have our teachers back.

And like my opponent, I talked to a lot of people at the doors.

Parents biggest concern today is losing good teachers.

Henrico has an amazing school system.

We have amazing school leadership.

But even Henrico is losing teachers.

Yes, we've increased salaries, but we're still below the national averages on that.

And then you get into facilities.

Henrico, we do pretty well here.

We can do a little bit better job of taking care of ourselves.

There are schools out there in the state with buildings that are literally 100 years old and falling apart and actually don't have to go that far to see some of the buildings in bad shape.

In the city of Richmond, for example.

But there are other facilities in America we'd like to upgrade.

We've got to invest in our schools.

If I could pick one thing, I think it's the investment teachers.

We want to keep these good teachers here and retain them.

Don't give them an excuse to leave the profession.

Don't give them a excuse to leave the state.

Let's keep them engaged in our classrooms and taking care of our kids.

Evans: Thank you.

And candidates, I had the same question to you.

Shaia: Yes, I agree that we need to do a better job of attracting and retaining teachers.

I believe, though, that we are missing some of the low hanging fruit, and that is that we have a very antiquated model for how we fund our schools.

Currently, the way we fund our schools is looking at number of students to number of teachers, and that just isn't adequate for funding appropriately.

We need to pay better attention to who is in that school and the types of learners that are in that school and fund the schools appropriately based on those things.

I firmly believe that we need to take another look at how we fund our schools.

So, for example, if we have a student population that is largely English as a second language in one school, they are going to have very different needs than a school that doesn't have that type of population.

And so we need to make sure that we're funding those schools in ways that they can have the resources they need to ensure that their students are getting the best education, because all of our children deserve that.

Shields: And now we go to a question about abortion.

Candidate Shaia Virginia is the last Southern state without significant abortion restrictions.

The Commonwealth bans elective abortions after 20 weeks and six days of pregnancy.

Would you support any measures to further restrict abortion access in Virginia?

Shaia: I want to be clear I do not support a ban on abortion.

However, I also want to be clear I do not support unfettered access to abortion to the moment of live birth.

As is my opponent's position, as he has stated in votes in the legislature, it is too extreme.

Across the district.

I have talked to many people who are in support of Governor Youngkin's 15 week proposal.

I've also talked to others who would like access beyond that point.

And while I respect everyone in my party's opinion, I believe that we should allow abortion through the second trimester and then in the third trimester for the life or health, mental health or physical health of the mother.

It is my firm belief that we can find common ground here.

We can balance, protect women's rights with protecting the sanctity of life.

As a mother, I want my daughter to know that her future and the future of all the women across the Commonwealth is my top priority.

And here's how I will do that.

I will make sure that they have access to affordable and quality childcare.

I will make sure that they have access to reproductive care and I will make sure that they have access to long acting contraceptives because it is a fact that when we do this, we decrease the abortion rate by 46%.

I will make sure that all of our women know that they do not have abortion as their only option.

Shields: Just to clarify, the current ban in the Commonwealth of Virginia is 26 weeks and six days.

I misspoke earlier.

Now candidate Willett, now is your opportunity to explain your own position on the issue.

Would you back any measures to further restrict abortion access in Virginia?

Willett: No.

Any any further restrictions than what the current law in Virginia is, which is based on the Roe decision, is a ban.

And I don't support additional ban.

I don't support me as a legislator standing between a woman and her doctor.

That is not an appropriate place for us, not an appropriate decision for us to be making.

That needs to be a decision by a woman with her health provider, with her family, without counsel.

It's shocking to think that my daughter has fewer rights today.

Because of the Supreme Court recent Dobbs decision, my daughter has fewer rights today than my wife had.

And when she when we were coming along and raising a family, that's a step in the wrong direction.

I'm concerned about the national trends.

You look at what happened as happened to particularly to the south of us with other states.

Virginia really is the last state standing that protects abortion rights.

I have a son and daughter in law getting ready to move back to Texas.

I am very concerned.

I am very concerned about the health access that my daughter in law is going to have in Texas because of the restrictions there.

We need to protect women, and I absolutely support the health care component of that.

Abortion is one part of health care.

It is not the only part of health care.

And we need a comprehensive approach.

We need child care to increase that as well.

All those things need to be done.

But this is a slippery slope.

You've seen it.

in the other states, 15 weeks becomes six weeks, becomes a complete ban, becomes outlawing abortion, becomes criminalizing abortion, becomes criminalizing doctors, trying to do their job, and women trying to get reproductive health.

Evans: And a candidate Willett, we will begin with you.

This question comes from the audience.

What would you do to address the mental health and substance abuse crisis in this district?

Willett: First, by recognizing we absolutely have a mental health and substance abuse crisis in the state, in this country and in Henrico County, an unfortunately, disproportionately high number of mental health issues, and particularly addiction issues in this county.

It's impossible to find a family in Virginia that is not affected by these issues, be it mental health crisis, addiction.

It's all around us.

I, from the get go, have made mental health access a priority.

I've run on that since 2019.

I was a mental health advocate before I ran, but certainly as a delegate, I think you can ask almost anyone, the legislature, anyone around the legislature, and let you know that.

Yes, Rodney Willett it is a mental health advocate.

Former speaker Eileen Filler- Corn appointed me to chair the Behavioral Health Subcommittee in the House when we were the majority in that leadership role.

We've passed a record amount of spending to go towards mental health.

We've made some reference to the recent budget amendments more than $100 million for mental health programs there.

That's going directly to crisis centers, crisis receiving centers, mobile units, particularly in underserved areas targeting K through 12 students.

Those are wonderful things.

We've got to do more.

College students are being affected this.

They need summer programs that we're doing for K through 12.

We need those crisis centers, not just in the underserved areas, in all areas of the state.

And that is absolutely my highest priority.

Evans: Candidate Shaia, what would you do to address the mental health and substance abuse crisis in this district?

Shaia: I completely agree.

I have three kids who went through COVID in school and I see them and I see their friends and I see them suffering.

And we need to address this crisis and we need to do it right now.

And the thing that I think is most impactful is we need to make sure that we're thinking about our subject matter matter experts in this area.

So I would like to galvanize community service boards like the Mcshin Foundation, because I think they are our best source for how we combat these issues.

And I think that we can do a lot with their tutelage.

We need to make sure that we are incentivizing people to go into mental health professions.

We clearly do not have enough access and resources in our schools and in our communities, and it's a very big problem.

We also need to make sure that we are putting in place in schools prevention and treatment programs so that we take the stigma off of mental health and substance abuse.

That's a large part of it.

We oftentimes stigmatize people and we don't talk about it, and we need to make sure that our kids are aware of the resources that they have so that they can get help when they need it.

Shields: Sticking with candidate Shaia, in light of Fox Elementary School burning down, is it time for more statewide safety standards for schools?

Shaia: Absolutely.

You know, we need to make sure that our kids are safe in schools.

As a mother, I worry about that all the time.

And one of the easiest things that we can do is fully fund our schools so that we don't have issues like fire issues.

There are so many other things that our kids are worrying about, and we need to make sure that they can worry about the things that are important, like learning, especially after the huge learning loss that we have experienced during COVID.

So I absolutely would be in support of funding schools so that they are safer.

Shields: Candidate Willett you mentioned school conditions earlier.

In light of the Fox situation, is it time for more statewide safety standards?

Willett: I think so.

And particularly it's one thing to test standards.

That's fine.

But if you don't back it up with funding, then they really are meaningless.

And that's the issue right now in Virginia is the funding side of it again.

And right now, we're doing pretty well.

But you don't have to travel far to see schools that are not and their buildings that are just literally not up to code.

And that's a problem.

And unfortunately, we had a unfortunately, there's no light loss of life.

And we did lose an amazing school I used to live across from Fox School.

Beautiful building, beautiful community that was disrupted by that fire.

But they're they're all levels of investment that's on the fire safety side.

But this talk about gun safety in the schools, that's another thing that this funding could help.

And we talk about safe schools.

Henrico has now has firearm detectors in the schools.

That's a significant expense.

Most school systems probably can't afford to do that.

We made the investment and have done it.

It's a one level, a sad reality.

We've had to do that.

But these are the times we live in.

But that's part of the environment.

We've got to provide a safe environment.

That's what we have to do.

Then that's an investment to make.

But we've got to let all schools do that, not just those that can take care of themselves.

And it is a funding commitment, a full a fully funded commitment.

I agree with my opponent's point earlier.

We need to change the funding model.

It is absolutely adequate.

Antiquated, Absolutely needs to be updated and particularly to help these less fortunate school systems.

Evans: Let's move on to the topic of taxes, beginning with candidate Willett.

The governor proposed cutting the state's corporate income tax rate from 6% to 5%.

Is this something you support?

And please just give a short answer.

Willett: Is this lightning round?

Evans: Yes, this is the lightning round.

Willett: I was like, I didn't I didn't hear I was making sure was lightning round.

I have longer answers.

The short answer is I have not supported that.

And the reason is we have we have made significant tax reductions already in the state, including the recent rebates we awarded increase the standard deduction twice, but we are not fully funding our schools.

And I think the voters I talked to, the businesses I talked to, they would rather see us fully fund education than giving tax breaks to folks who really don't need it.

Evans: Same to you, do support that tax cut?

Shaia: Yes, I do, because we have states right next door like North Carolina, who are going to go to no income tax for businesses and we must compete when we have a broad tax base, we bring good businesses to the state.

It is going to benefit everyone.

The larger the tax base, the more money we have to pay things like fully funding our schools.

So we need to be able to bring those businesses here.

And if we don't cut that corporate tax rate, then we are going to lose businesses.

Shields: So, Candidate Shaia, another quick answer.

The Commonwealth currently has $1,000,000,000 budget surplus.

What's one thing that you, if elected, would propose spending that money on?

Shaia: I think child care is one of those things that affects multiple things.

It affects all of our families because when we have good, affordable, quality child care, our families can work.

You know, one of the things that I have had an interaction with the doors with this one wonderful young woman, she had three kids and she had to stay home with them and she had to be on assistance.

She wanted to go back to school and better her family.

And she wasn't able to because she couldn't put her kids in affordable child care.

So I really believe that we need to be putting some of that funding into incentivizing businesses so that they can help their employees either through onsite child care or maybe through stipends.

Shields: Going to candidate Willett.

Remember, keep your answer brief.

What's one way you would recommend the state use that billion dollar budget surplus?

Willett: I'm never going to say no to childcare.

That's super important.

But but I do think the if we get education right, so many other things are right.

We haven't talked about early child education.

We do not most at risk.

Three and four year olds in Virginia do not get do not get an education until they're in kindergarten.

That is absolutely wrong.

And we've got to fund that and candidate will it.

Evans: And candidate Willett, we will begin this next question with you.

Virginia allows 45 days of non excuse, no excuse early voting in your view, is that too long, too short or just right?

Willett: I talked to a lot of voters who really like the convenience of early voting, including 45 day early voting, which starts this Friday.

Yes, there is a cost to that for the administration through our registrars, but we've got to meet the people where they are and folks are super busy.

I don't I don't think people have ever been busy in their lives with all that.

The juggling you have to do these days, kids jobs, other their involvement.

And we just need to make it easier to vote.

I'd like to actually see additional reforms and voting.

We've made progress for Virginia.

The people may forget this.

We once ranked at the bottom of the country, number 49, for ease of voting.

In Virginia.

We're now top ten and we're top ten.

Because of Democratic initiatives.

We made it easier to vote, including Evans: Ill have to cut you off there.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Yes, I'm you.

I'm still in lightning rounds, Willett Oh, I'm sorry.

Evans: Still in lightning round.

45 day early voting.

No excuse.

Is that something you agree with?

Shaia: I think 45 days is a little bit long.

I really feel like it.

We do need to make sure that we make it convenient for everyone.

I'd like to shorten it up just a bit.

I strongly feel that there's a lot that happens in the last few days and I want to make sure that our voters are as informed as they need to be.

But of course I want to make sure that all Virginians have access to early voting.

Shields: Sticking with candidate Shaia, and remember to keep your answer succinct.

Income tax brackets have remained the same since 1990.

Many public school teachers pay the same income tax rate as corporate lawyers.

Do you think the state should adjust its tax bracket criteria?

Shaia: Yes.

In the light of inflation, I believe that women, not women and... excuse me, that we need to adjust our tax brackets so that we are making sure that we are making everyone in the state prosperous.

And so, yes, I would I would encourage us to take a look at the tax brackets and make sure that they are meeting the needs of everyone in our community.

Shields: Candidate Willett, should the state change up its tax brackets?

Willett: I serve on the House Finance Committee.

We talk about this all the time.

This is a heavy lift.

A more immediate benefit that would help more people is, for example, bringing and targeted relief for the less those who are less fortunate, those who need direct tax breaks and a child tax credit would be great.

Evans: And this question again for your candidate Willett.

Governor Youngkin supported a bill last General Assembly session that would set aside some state education funding for parents to spend on private school tuition or home schooling.

Do you support this concept and give a short answer, please?

Willett: I do not.

We've got to focus on the public schools first.

In a perfect world, we would have all the money for all the programs.

I am a lab school kid myself and I love lab schools, but we've got to fund the public schools first.

Evans: Thank you.

Same question to candidate Shaia.

Do you support the concept of allowing parents to use state education funding to pay for private school tuition or homeschooling?

Shaia: Yes, I do, because I do not believe that they are a mutually exclusive thing.

So we can fully fund and we can have the absolute best public education system.

But it is not a one size fits all approach.

And there are circumstances where children are best served in other places.

And so, yes, I would support that.

Evans: And that wraps up our lightning round.

We return to regular questions.

Now.

You will be once again given 90 seconds to answer those questions.

And so the first question begins with candidate Willett.

And this year, the governor did not finalize the budget process until last week.

In your mind, is it conceivable or necessary to make the budget process more efficient?

Willett: It absolutely is necessary, but I'll tell you, when the stakes are this high, I will say it's worth the deliberation.

Maybe not six months worth, but certainly needs our full attention and focus.

We had an opportunity, Virginia, to make some investments that we have been able to make before in education.

We talked about the teacher salary increases, increasing the councilor ratios, improving the councilor ratios, mental health spending, I mean, hundreds of millions of dollars needed.

And this was a unique opportunity.

We yes, we had money that we don't normally have.

Can the process be more efficient?

Of course, But there's a deliberation and and that's part of our system.

I will say the governor is pushing I work really hard with the governor on a lot of issues we're coordinated on.

I did disagree with him on his push for tax cuts and he was stuck on that as were the Republicans representing him in the budget negotiations.

I felt like we shouldn't bend on that.

There was so many other priorities.

I talked to businesses every day.

I talked to the taxpayers slash voters every at their doors.

They're not asking for those tax cuts.

They're asking for mental health access.

They're asking for education supports.

They're asking for good infrastructure, good roads.

Those are their priorities.

I have not talked to a single business, has said they want to leave Virginia because their taxes are too high Evans: and candidate Shaia, the same question to you.

You're an outsider.

However, looking in just for the same as we are.

So what, from your perspective can we do to make the budget process faster, more efficient?

Shaia: Yeah, I do talk to voters who feel like tax cuts are very important to them.

They're suffering, the economy's failing, and those tax cuts mean a lot to them.

In fact, when my opponent had the chance to cut the grocery tax during COVID, he voted against that.

We definitely do need to make the budget process more efficient.

There's a lot in government that needs to be a lot more efficient.

So, yes, we need to do that.

What I saw as an outsider was a bunch of partisan politics, and it is my pledge to you that I will try very hard for that not to be the case.

I will work hard to listen to the constituents and to take those concerns to the legislature and work for you, because I really feel like we need to get away from this partisan politics.

It is hurting all of us and it is time for it to stop.

Willett: May I make one rebuttal, a correction regarding the grocery tax.

Evans: 30 seconds.

Yes.

Willett: First of all, just to clarify, I absolutely voted for the repeal of the grocery tax.

So the vote is right there in the record.

You hear the LIS system and see that.

Myself and others did vote against early versions of that.

There were versions that bill that would have gutted education funding at the local level.

We thought that was too far, but talked to the bill's sponsor, Joe McNamara.

I reached across the aisle from day one on the Finance Committee telling him, We will get this grocery tax, this repeal done.

It was originally a Democratic idea.

Republicans carrying it that was fine.

We got to the finish line Shields: And we'll go back to candidate Shaia for another question.

Pedestrian and traffic deaths are on the rise in Virginia and across the country.

What should the state do to help reverse this trend?

Shaia: Walking around, knocking on doors, I understand why that might be the case.

We have a lot of issues with speeding in our neighborhoods.

I hear that all the time from voters.

In fact, that's one of the top things that I hear.

They feel like their neighborhoods are not safe.

They feel like their kids are not safe to walk down the street or walk to school, which really makes me sad because those are things that we shouldn't have to worry about as citizens of Henrico.

We need to make sure that we are putting forth a committee that is taking a very hard look at we can address those issues.

And what I will tell you is I will do everything in my power to make sure that things that are going to be effective and take care of this problem are put into place.

Shields: Candidate Willett.

It's up to you.

What can the state do to lower pedestrian traffic deaths.

Willett: There's been an incredible spike in pedestrian deaths.

It started during COVID and continued.

It's arguably one of the most troubling numbers that you can think that the drug addiction increases.

We have passed laws in Virginia.

Start with cyclists to make cycling safe.

Republicans repealed one of those laws this past session.

I'm a cyclist.

I like my space when I'm on the road area cyclists.

I have friends I have lost because they were hit by cars.

When cars didn't give them the margin and hit them.

When a car hits a cyclist, car wins, a cyclist loses pedestrian safety.

The same issue.

I've lost friends from pedestrian deaths.

Too much speeding.

The need for speed reduction zones.

Some of that can be done locally.

It's great, but there are actually a lot of the roads in Virginia.

Most of the roads Virginia are controlled by VDOT.

And we need to give that more money and more authority to deal with these speed issues.

You're seeing it in some places and right now takes care of a lot of our own roads.

So you will see more roundabouts, more speed tables.

Those are great steps, trying to space out the bikes where we can put bike lanes in.

It's a lot of retrofitting that we don't have a lot of sidewalks.

And in Henrico you can see the paths along the side of Quioccasin and Parham and Patterson.

People are walking on the dirt.

I mean, walking on the grass because there's no sidewalk there.

We've got to separate the traffic from the people.

Folks want to walk to the store, walk to school.

They should be able to do that Evans: Candidate Willett, this question begins with you.

Richmond is one of the most populated cities in the state, and yet the percentage of Richmonders who use public transit lags behind the national average.

Should the state work to address this?

Willett: Oh, absolutely.

We are fortunate in this area that finally we created a regional transportation authority this able to compete for state dollars, for road projects and for public transportation projects.

And we should absolutely be doing that as a whole state.

I've been more focused on our region, which which was losing out to Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads for a lot of those dollars dollars.

Now we're competing for that money and we're going to put that money to good use.

And public transit should actually be part of that.

You look at the success in Richmond, what's happened with the pulse and bringing that further people riding, that people are taking advantage of it and I think that's showing there's a change here.

Yes.

With this area when when cars were invented, we we adopted cars.

We built a car first infrastructure.

But families today and especially younger generations, immigrant generations, our folks really want alternatives out there and we need to provide that.

Evans: Candidate Shaia, same question to you.

Do you think the state should be working to address low public transit ridership in the Richmond area?

Shaia: Sure.

I believe that we should as well.

It is only going to help our population with being having access to good paying jobs.

And when we have people who have access to good paying jobs, they have the ability to go get their groceries.

They don't have to be in a food desert, for example.

They have access to good groceries.

All of those things help all of us as Virginians.

So of course we can increase the ridership.

It's only going to raise everyone's level of prosperity in Henrico County and across the Commonwealth.

So I would absolutely be in favor of increasing the ridership.

Staying with you Candidate Shaia, Do you think building casinos is a good way to invest in economically depressed areas of the state?

Shaia: Well, I know that Richmond has voted against a casino and it is on the ballot for Petersburg.

I feel that casinos can be a great economic boon for a lot a lot of communities.

We need to make sure that we're balancing the downsides like crime.

But there is also a lot of job opportunity there and a lot of opportunity for an economic prosperity.

And when we do that, we know that we increase the tax base.

We create a stable business environment for businesses in the area.

And all of that improves funding to all the things that we've talked about today, our schools providing better access to mental health care and making sure that we can keep our taxes low and making Virginia one of the best places to live, work and raise a family.

I mean, after all, that is what all of us want.

Shields: Back to candidate Willett.

Do you think building casinos is a good way to bolster the less well-off parts of the state?

Willett: You know, and voting on that, I did support, as we call it now, the local option.

We've we really left that question for localities.

A city or county wants to have casino gambling.

They can the voters can decide it and choose on that.

I'm not a casino person myself.

They would lose money if they were just depending on me for their revenue.

But there are other folks who do enjoy going to casinos and there absolutely could be an economic boon to certain areas.

I think there are surrounding factors to look at and certainly abuse of gambling and crime does come and certain certain parts of that and also making it sustainable.

I think big, shiny new buildings are wonderful and I love the economic development opportunities for my area and the whole state, but they've got to be sustainable.

We put this infrastructure in or these buildings and these facilities in, and these have got to be sustainable opportunities.

You know, Virginia, I can remember back when Virginia debated whether to have a lottery or not, there was a discussion about that.

But the bottom line was all the states around us had a lottery.

So we said, hey, we're losing money to these other states.

We need to have a lottery.

And we did.

We voted for that.

I think there's similar pressure on casinos.

There are a lot of casinos around us, and we felt like we were losing revenue to other places.

So I understand that argument.

But I really think that the question rests with localities Evans: and well continue with candidate Willett for this next question.

The effects of global warming include rising sea levels in Hampton Roads, more heat waves and floods across the state.

What should the Commonwealth do to address these impacts?

Willett: No, no question.

In fact, you mentioned rising waters and Hampton Roads are actually the most significant environmental climate change related impacts in the last two years have been in Southwest with unprecedented flooding, loss of life, loss of property from massive floods where these storms park themselves in the mountains and flooded the valley areas there.

So it's a statewide problem.

Richmond floods and Henrico floods.

We have tornadoes like we've never had before and at times of year we've never had before the intensity of storms.

You see that globally.

So it's absolutely something to address to how we do it.

Virginia passed and I was very proud to be part of this unprecedented environmental protection legislation with the Clean Economy Act, as well as our clean emmission standards.

We also participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative program.

All of those programs, all these programs are to address climate change.

The issue now keeping them.

We have made great progress.

I'd actually like to do more in terms of making it easier to find clean vehicles, easier to afford clean vehicles, easier to adopt solar technology, things like that.

But we have Republican leadership that is trying to repeal all three things.

I just listed the clean economy Act RGGI, and the clean emission standards.

They want to get rid of all three of those.

That is an absolute step in the wrong direction.

We're creating jobs, too, with these programs.

Virginia has an opportunity to have one be one of the leading states for cleanup for green jobs.

And why would we go against that?

Evans: Thank you.

And candidate Shaia, same question to you.

What should the state be doing to address impacts of climate change in the state?

Shaia: The impacts of climate change are definitely being felt and Republicans get a bad reputation for not wanting to be good stewards of our environment.

And that is absolutely not the case.

I am concerned about our environment as well.

The issue I have is that with programs like RGGI and the Virginia Clean Economy Act and other things that address climate change, what we are doing is we allowing other states to make decisions for us.

And as Virginians, it is very important that we are allowed to make the best decisions for our state, not for California or any other state.

That's the issue that Republicans have.

That's the issue that I have with all of those things.

So we need to make sure, of course, that we are investing in clean energy.

And I love the fact that we are putting record investment into solar and wind and all of the things we need to make sure that we have an all of the above energy strategy.

However, because if we only have one of those, we are not going to have a reliable and safe power grid.

And so all of those things need to be on the table so that we have the power that we need when we need it Shields: and we'll stay with candidate Shaia.

How much control should parents have over the education their child receives in a public school?

Shaia: There has been a lot of debate about that and I strongly feel that parents should be at the table for the education decisions for their students.

They need to be at the head of that table, but they also have a responsibility to their children and they need to make sure that they are involved.

But what I think that oftentimes is left out of that conversation is that we need to make sure that the parents, the teachers, the students and the school are all part of that conversation.

That is when our children get the best education and the most benefits from their school.

But the parents need to be at the head of the table.

I want to know when things are happening to my three kids in school.

I need to know so that I can parent them better.

And unless I have a seat at the head of the table, I'm not going to know that, you know, my opponent voted to keep things from parents and to keep us from knowing when children were starting to transition at school.

I'm not okay with that.

I need to know those things so that I can support my children.

Shields: And now candidate Willett has a chance to respond.

How much control should parents have over the education their child receives in a public school?

If you really look the success of Henrico public schools and say, you what is it?

Why are we so successful?

Obviously, money is a big part of that.

Outstanding leadership is a part of that.

If you look at our superintendent in our school board, we are top tier with that.

But parents, parents are absolutely part of that equation and should be.

And if you look at the schools, you go to the classrooms, parents are there.

Parents are supporting the classrooms and learning efforts, field trips, PTA programs and the fundraising side there in so many ways.

And that really is one of the keys here.

It's part of the learning equation, too.

When you have parents involved, when they understand what the kids are learning in school, they come home, they need assistance or whatever.

Parents are there.

And that's that's a successful system.

And so I absolutely support that.

And again, we're fortunate in Henrico to be able to have done that.

I think there are unfortunate pressures today, and these are some really bad bills that were introduced in the Senate in the past session, the one before that to restrict what can be done in the school from a learning standpoint, from access to certain books.

Right now in Henrico, if you as a parent don't want a kid to read a particular book, you can tell the school that.

You can tell the library that they have a system to mark that and that kid, your kid will not be allowed to see that book.

But those same parents who don't like that book should not be telling my kids that they can't read a Toni Morrison book, which I actually would like them to read.

I wish I had read that book when I was in school.

Why are we cutting off access to that?

Those books Evans: Ill take this question back to energy, and the question goes to candidate Willett.

Where do you stand on nuclear energy and in particular, small modular nuclear reactors?

Willett: Virginia absolutely needs a combination of sources to meet our power needs.

I don't need to even bring up the data center demand we're dealing with.

I love the revenue from data centers.

It's helping so many localities, including Henrico County.

But there's absolutely a power demand for that.

I spent a lot of time talking to the folks who make power from a variety of sources, and the clean energy sources are there.

The clean energy sources can meet that.

If you look at solar, wind, geothermal, all of those sources are there and can be leveraged.

Nuclear has a current place in Virginia.

Absolutely.

Small nuclear reactors are unproven.

It's an unproven technology.

It's a technology as much in development, actually, much less develop.

And solar certainly less developed than wind.

We don't have time.

I don't have time to wait for that.

We need these energy sources today.

We have clean energy sources available today.

And I'd like to see us leverage those.

Canadidate Shaia, where do you stand on nuclear energy and in particular, small modular nuclear reactors?

Shaia: We do need an all of the above energy policy.

I'm fine with solar and wind energy as well, but we do need to invest in other types of energy.

Small nuclear modular reactors.

No, we don't have all the advancements in technology that we need currently, but I do believe that we need to put money into that so that we can improve that technology.

It is one of those sources that we can use and that all of the above energy policy.

You know, my opponent is completely correct in that we have a large influx of data centers that are coming to Northern Virginia, and they're coming to us and here in Henrico County as well and in Hanover.

And we need to make sure that we have an energy grid that can support all of that.

And I feel strongly that we need to include those small nuclear modular reactors as part of that.

All of the above energy strategy.

Evans: Thank you for that response and thank you both for your cooperation and your civility.

That concludes our question and answer portion of this debate.

Now we'll go to the candidates for their closing statements.

Candidate Willett, you have one minute for closing remarks.

Willett: Thank you again Chamber RVA and VPM for providing this this forum.

I am so proud.

So proud.

The bipartisan legislative accomplishments I've been part of for the last four years, and we talked a lot about that.

But there's so much more to be done.

We certainly need to focus more on our schools.

I've mentioned the study saying we need to fully fund our schools.

We're not there yet.

And we absolutely to do that.

We're losing teachers, 4300 teacher vacancies right now in Virginia.

That's a crazy number.

And we've got to meet that with adequately paying our teachers health care costs.

Absolutely.

One of the biggest burdens right now on families are health care costs.

Yes, we did cap the cost of insulin and we also provide funding for health exchange subscribers.

That's that's great.

I will carry a bill to create a prescription drug costs review board that's going to bring down as many prescription drug costs as possible for Virginians health workforce.

We've talked a lot about that.

Vice chair of the Health Workforce Development Authority here.

We've got to get health workers to come to Virginia and stay here.

Gun safety did not talk a lot about gun safety.

Absolutely a huge concern.

I've been proud to support the gun safety measures we passed.

I have looked parents in the eye who lost children to gun violence and I've committed to them to pass bills for safe storage.

Evans: Thank you.

Candidate Shaia, You have one minute.

Shaia: Thank you.

And thank you also to everyone here today.

I have an opponent who talks like a moderate at the doors and talks to voters in a way that makes him seem like he's almost a Republican sometimes in an election year.

And his actions speak louder than words.

Know he voted to release violent criminals early when he was talking about safety.

That's not keeping our families safe.

He voted against a bill that would punish fentanyl distributors for murder.

That is not keeping our children safe.

And so I'm today to ask you to allow me to work for you to keep your families safe and prosperous.

I will work tirelessly for you to end the era of empty promises and get things done.

Evans: Thanks to each of you for these closing remarks and for participating in this forum for the 58th House of Delegates District seat.

This debate was brought to you by the VPM News and Chamber RVA.

I'm Whittney Evans with the VPM News.

Shields: And I'm Billy Shields for VPM News Focal Point.

For our continuing coverage of the 2023 election or if you just want to find out when this forum broadcasts on TV or radio visit VPM dot org.

Thank you for watching.