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Ghazala Hashmi: Well, good morning. I think it’s a little bit of both. Virginia is the home of the largest population of federal workers. We certainly felt the immense harm with the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts and now with the federal shutdown, we continue to see the impacts on Virginia and Virginia’s economy. So there is certainly a great deal of anger at the chaos and the dysfunction coming out of Washington at the same time. I think we brought a message that spoke and resonated to Virginians. We were campaigning on the issues that impact all of our families, whether it’s affordable housing, lowering costs for child care, making sure that we have a strong and thriving economy. The other side ran on a message of bigotry and xenophobia, and I think Virginians responded knowing that they had very stark contrast between the two tickets. Ghazala Hashmi: Well, the immediate concerns right now are, of course, responding to the chaos that we have coming from the federal shutdown. We are anticipating a serious crisis with the cuts to Medicaid, the loss of SNAP benefits is already impacting so many families. Our food banks are struggling, so in the immediate few weeks, we have to make sure that we can respond to support our families. And the Senate and the House in the General Assembly have already been working on crafting budget items that are going to be able to support Virginia’s families in the long term. You know, I’m a 30-year educator, and education has always been my top priority. I am excited at the opportunity to continue my work focusing on universal pre-K as well as comprehensive public education efforts and focusing also on strengthening our higher education and career and technical programs. That’s going to be a major focus for me over the next four years. Ghazala Hashmi: Well, you know, I was part of the Senate that was meeting last week as a sitting senator, we had extensive discussions on the proposals in front of us. We passed the resolution out of the House and out of the Senate, and it is the first step of a lengthy process. As you know, the resolution will be coming back in front of our new General Assembly in January, and then that proposal will go to voters, and that is a critical option that we’ll need to keep on the table, given the dire crisis that we are seeing across the country and in so many states, such as Texas and Florida and Ohio. This gives Virginia’s voters a voice in responding as Americans to the situation that’s happening nationally. Ghazala Hashmi: You know, I think for me, the biggest strength that I bring is that I’ve spent six years now in the Virginia Senate. I’ve built those critical relationships, not just across the aisle, but across the chamber, and across so many state agencies and departments, it is really incumbent upon us to hit the ground running. I will be in a position to work very closely, not just with the our incoming new governor, but also with our general assembly, ensuring that we are able to work on those policy priorities around health care, education, housing affordability, all of those concerns are going to be in front of us this upcoming session, and I am ready to help navigate a lot of that policy work. Ghazala Hashmi: Well, I’m deeply, deeply honored. You know, I think this is not so much about me, but it’s about where we are in Virginia, that we have an opportunity here to demonstrate the diverse communities that we have, the inclusive values that we share. It really is representative of the dramatic changes that we have seen in Virginia over the past several decades. I know so many of our communities are just very excited about the direction that we are charting now for the commonwealth. Ghazala Hashmi: You know, there’s a lot of complexity in that question. New York City is, of course, a very different space than Virginia, and I can speak about what I’ve seen living for over three decades in Virginia, that we have been the home now of an expanding immigrant community and population. We have seen tremendous growth in many of our urban and suburban areas, and we have been able to build an economy that responds to so many of the new developments in a global way, and we’re in a position to be leaders on many different issues, and I see great potential for us to continue that work. As I said, I’m focused on education, and the biggest goal is going to be that we are able to help educate the skilled and talented workforce for the next several decades so that we can meet the global challenges that Virginia and the country are looking at.
