By Trevor Moncure
Commonwealth Strategy Group
Elections
This year in November, Virginia will hold its next statewide election for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Attorney General. Additionally, all 100 seats of the Virginia House of Delegates will be up for election. The Virginia State Senate will not be up for election this year. On Tuesday, June 17th, Democratic and Republican primary elections will be held to determine the party nominees for each of these elections.
The Democratic candidate for Governor will be former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger. She will face off against the Republican candidate, current Lieutenant-Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. No matter who wins in November, it will be a historic year in Virginia, as the Commonwealth will elect its first woman governor. Nearly all of recent Virginia polls have Rep. Spanberger holding a firm lead over Lt. Governor Earle-Sears.
The Lt. Governor candidate contenders for the Democrats include former City of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, Virginia State Senator Aaron Rouse (VA-Beach), Virginia State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (Chesterfield) and Prince William County Supervisor Barbur Lateef. The Republicans have a smaller field with Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity facing off against John Reid, a Richmond conservative talk show host.
Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares cleared the field for the General Election. He will face off against either former Democrat Delegate Jay Jones or Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor.
As for the House of Delegates, only a few sitting legislators will face primary challenges that will be decided on June 17th. These legislators include Delegate and House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), Delegate Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), Delegate Delores McQuinn (D-Richmond), and Delegate Terry Austin (R-Botetourt). After the June primaries, all attention will be on the November general elections. Polls currently show the Democratic party expanding their majority in the House of Delegates. Should the polls prove to be accurate, the Democrats would have a trifecta in January 2026.
Prescriptive Authority
For the Psychiatric Society of Virginia and the Washington Psychiatric Society, as well as other physician communities in Virginia, all focus will be on the ongoing debate as to whether or not clinical psychologists in Virginia should be granted prescriptive authority.
As you will recall, Senator Barbara Favola (D-Arlington) introduced and passed a bill during the 2025 legislative session that created a workgroup consisting of psychologists, psychiatrists, and other physicians to study the education and training of clinical psychologists, and whether or not such training qualifies them to be granted the ability to prescribe pharmaceuticals in Virginia. The first of these workgroup meetings will be held in early July at a location TBD in Richmond. There will be three representatives of the psychiatric community participating, including one to represent the general psychiatric profession and two others to represent medical schools in Virginia.
This workgroup, organized jointly by the Board of Medicine and the Board of Psychology, must report their findings to the Joint Commission on Healthcare by November 1st. It is expected that, regardless of the outcome of this workgroup, there will be legislation introduced in 2026 that would grant prescriptive authority to clinical psychologists in Virginia.
PSYCH-MD PAC
PSYCH-MD PAC, the Psychiatric Society of Virginia’s greatest advocacy tool, is currently operating a budget of $16,265.95. As we enter the Summer and Fall, our political contributions to friendly legislators will begin to increase, draining our current budget. It is imperative that we maintain a sizeable budget so that we can continue to gain access to and support legislators friendly to the physician community.
There are currently no medical physicians serving as elected officials, meaning that now more than ever, the General Assembly relies on the expertise and training of medical professionals to advise them on important policy decisions within the healthcare system. If we do not maintain access to legislators, it is unfortunately likely that they will turn their attention to more unqualified voices of advocacy, jeopardizing the standard and quality of healthcare in Virginia.
Please make a donation to PSYCH-MD PAC using this link: https://www2.psva.org/forms/PsychMD-PAC.iphtml
Alternatively, you can mail a check to PSYCH-MD PAC, 118 N. 8th Street, Richmond, VA 23219 with your donation including your name, address, and place of business (as required by state law). The Executive Boards of both the Psychiatric Society of Virginia and the Washington Psychiatric Society have pledged 100% participation rate amongst board members. This is a crucial year for PAC support – please consider a sizeable donation and give a voice to your profession.
Contact Trevor Moncure ([email protected]) for questions of more information.
