Transcript

Heather Rose:

[Music]

Heather Rose:

There are countless jobs that make a society function. What does it mean to perform certain occupation? What are the day-to-day activities? This is Community Connections. I'm your host Heather Rose, and together we aim to find out.

Hi, this is Heather Rose. Community Connection is a program that chronicles the functions and everyday activities and the myriad roles we find in society. Joining us today is Luke Priddy, Chief of Staff to Senator John Edwards who recently announced his retirement, and a Democratic contender for the seat he is vacating. Hi Luke.

Luke Priddy:

Hi Heather. Happy to be there.

Heather Rose:

Absolutely. Thanks for joining the show. Well can you give a little background about yourself?

Luke Priddy:

Well, as you said before, my name is Luke Priddy. I’ve served as Senator Edwards’ chief of staff for the past five years. Just a few weeks ago, Senator Edwards announced that he is planning not to seek re-election this November and retire after nearly three decades in the Senate of Virginia.

After some careful consideration and speaking with my family, I decided that I'm going to give it a go. I think I've learned a lot from him over the past five years, and I think it's important that someone steps into this role that can carry on the legacy that he's put in place over the past three decades and keep this region in good hands.

Heather Rose:

Absolutely. Like what sort of things have you learned from him?

Luke Priddy:

Oh, endless stories, everything you can know about history, but even more broadly than a focus on the laws and the policies, he's really taught me how to be a good person.

You know, there was a debate I had last year when I was seeking city council, and one of the questions that they asked is “Who is your role model?” and I remember sitting there difficultly…I was staring at my parents. They were sitting in the audience and I had to make a decision, and I said it was John Edwards.

So, to take you back to 1999, I was entering the first grade. I was just learning how to read at Cave Spring Elementary School, which is part of the district now. I remember seeing in the hallways these rainbow colored posters that filled the halls that had character education on them.

Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

And as I was learning how to read, these were the first words that I really grasped the concept of and they had a strong impression on me. I even remember seeing in the bottom right-hand corner of some of those posters was some phrase that said something along the lines of “Character education is taught in Virginia Public Schools thanks to legislation that was passed by Senator John Edwards.”

I was just entering the first grade and he was, say 1999, he was just in the final year of his first term in the Senate of Virginia.

Those character traits have really had an impression on me. I know when I ran last year I really focused on how they may be Character Education but I consider them the Six Pillars of Public Service. They've really informed me on how to live my life, and I think it's a good example of how a policy that's put into place can have an impact on someone's life and you can see the ramifications going forward decades later.

I think that there are multiple things that Senator Edwards has worked on throughout his career, that it's very important to me that they continue to move forward and that they evolve.

You know when I finally decided I was going to run for this seat after careful consideration, I felt like I woke up from a dream I've been having my entire life, and now's the first time I truly feel awake. That this is the right decision for me to do this.

The first thing that I did working for Senator Edwards in October of 2017 is I took a picture of him getting off of the inaugural train Amtrak when it was returning to Roanoke. Capturing that moment and seeing all the work that he put into making sure that the train would come there. That we had an accessible platform that is available 10 feet off the ground so people can board directly onto it, and the economic impact that that train has had on this region having just returned after I think nearly probably five decades, those are the kinds of things to continue working on.

Right now we're trying to get Amtrak passenger rails still extended to the New River Valley, and given delays in either the administration or due to supplies, that that deadline has gone from I believe 2024 or 2025 and it may be pushed to 2026.

There are people in the legislature who will continue to work to make sure that things happen. The Amtrak platform itself Senator Edwards was told how long it was going to take, and it wasn't supposed to be done until, you know February or March that coming year. He got on the phone with the Governor at the time and he told them to work on it every hour of every day that they could, and they got it done ahead of schedule. That's the only reason it was ready in October 2017 was John Edwards.

Heather Rose:

He gets things done.

Luke Priddy:

He does.

You know, every year, we would put together his legislative agenda to focus on what bills he was going to introduce and he'd always look at what did he introduce years in the past and what hasn't passed yet and how could he improve those things. Because he says I, you know, I wouldn't keep bringing him back if they would have passed him last time, but we're going to figure out how to make it better and we're going to figure out how to improve the lives of people in Roanoke.

Heather Rose:

Right. That's what it's all about, improving people's lives like everyday, everywhere.

Luke Priddy:

That’s true.

I really see this election coming down to three overarching issues. While there may be more that that come up throughout it, they really are going to focus on (1) Education; (2) protecting Reproductive Rights; and (3) Public Safety.

I mean, when it comes to education, you know, this past year we saw a mistake that was made in the administration that led to a $200 million dollar shortfall for Virginia Public Schools and it was the General Assembly in the legislature that took recent action to make up for that loss.

Heather Rose:

What happened?

Luke Priddy:

There was a miscalculation due to the share that goes to schools from the removal of the grocery tax last year. It's not entirely gone but the portion that would have gone to schools there was a part that was made up by the budget, but when a memo was sent out sometime in last December, the numbers were wrong and that impacts the ability of schools to budget for years going forward.

Heather Rose:

Right.

Luke Priddy:

I mean, you know, if you think about when this current administration took office, one of the first things that they launched was a tip line so that you could report divisive topics, and that really made it untenable for teachers to do their jobs.

And this past year we saw legislation that tried to focus on banning our trans students from playing sports or being able to use the bathroom that they're legally entitled to due to Virginia Law, currently, and decisions at the Supreme Court.

It's really unfortunate what's happening with education right now. I think we're seeing teachers leave the workforce in drones because they're not getting the pay that they deserve, they're not getting the respect that they deserve

Heather Rose:

Absolutely.

Luke Priddy:

And they, honestly, many of them don't feel safe.

Heather Rose:

Right.

Luke Priddy:

I haven't had the time to read the news, but just earlier I heard that there was another mass shooting in Nashville, Tennessee at some school, as we think about how this relates to my issue, Public Safety, the teacher who was shot in her own classroom by a student. Earlier this year, it was Senate Democrats…

Heather Rose:

Six years old, wasn’t he?

Luke Priddy:

I believe that's correct.

The Senate Democrats put forward legislation that would have given an adult a penalty if they have a firearm in their home and they do not secure it.

Heather Rose:

Absolutely.

Luke Priddy:

This was legislation that was sponsored by Senator Boysko in Northern Virginia, who’s also a Hollin’s alumna, and Senator Edwards worked with her to improve the legislation to make sure that it would require all firearm dealers, like any gun store, to also post a sign where it could easily be seen that said if you have a child in your home, [then] you're responsible for locking up your firearm.

Heather Rose:

So what was the opposition?

Luke Priddy:

The opposition to that was in the House of Delegates.

There were provisions in it that they thought would be unreasonable and Senator Boysko even decreased the penalties that she was initially seeking in the original bill as a way to hope to get some bipartisan support. But seeing that no member of the other party ended up supporting it when it did pass the Senate, and when it went over to the House, ultimately the legislation died over there.

The General Assembly was able to get through some productive legislation on public safety this year as it relates to firearms, and it's, I believe it's a tax credit that is given to people who purchase a gun safe up to a certain amount, it might be $300 to encourage people, and that's a carrot, but with some of these issues we're seeing how

prevalent mass shootings are and how many children are being caught in the crossfire because of loaded firearms that are left in the home, we really need to focus on the sticks of the policy and the penalties that have to be in place to force people to think about are they going to lock their firearm up in the home.

I'll do a quick plug real quick because I know that Roanoke City Public Schools has thousands of gun locks available at every school that any parent can go pick up in order to secure their firearm at home. I know they still got more and I want to encourage anybody here to do that.

Heather Rose:

Free? Are they free?

Luke Priddy.

Yes.

Heather Rose:

Yeah, why don’t you do that?

Luke Priddy:

That's thanks to the wonderful work of Joe Cobb and the Gun Violence Prevention Commission and the work that they're doing in the City of Roanoke.

But there's one more issue that I think will be incredibly important this November and that is Reproductive Rights.

You know it was just about this time last year that we saw Dobbs and the effect that had on Roe v. Wade and the uncertainty that's given birthing persons across the Nation and particularly in Virginia about their access to reproductive health care.

Heather Rose:

Yes.

Luke Priddy:

This past year there was legislation that would have sought to protect people who seek an abortion in Virginia it would have protected them from extradition back to their own state where it would have been illegal.

There was legislation to try and prevent access to menstrual data which is available in the apps. Prevent that from being accessible by subpoena.

Heather Rose:

Why would somebody subpoena that? That’s weird.

Luke Priddy:

Nobody's been able to answer that question yet still…

Heather Rose:

That’s my menstrual data! That’s really weird. That’s very disturbing.

Luke Priddy:

Particularly what happened around this time last year, so not in this session of the General Assembly in 2023, but in 2022, my likely Republican opponent this November, because they haven’t yet had their contest, but we should know in the next few days.

My likely Republican opponent sponsored a budget amendment that would have made it that Medicaid eligible Virginians who seek an abortion after a physician certifies in writing that the fetus suffers from a severe and totally incapacitating fetal anomaly, that they would no longer be eligible to use Medicaid funds to have that abortion.

Now the Medicaid funds are already greatly limited and how they can be used to have an abortion already it's already limited to cases of rare cases of rape, incest, when their life is at risk, and in cases of an incapacitating fetal anomaly. What's so important about this is that it wouldn't prevent the woman from having an abortion, but it would prevent her from using Medicaid eligible funds in order to get that. It just penalizes her. Really they would have to make a difficult decision about are they going to pay out of pocket in order to pay to have this service done or are they going to be able to put food on the table.

You know, Senator, I'm trying not to use names so I continue to say my likely Republican opponent this November. When that budget amendment was put in thanks to the Democrats that were in the Senate, it didn't go anywhere. it didn't move forward yet around the time that the Dobbs decision originally leaked the Governor gets an opportunity every year to put amendments to the budget and he reintroduced the Identical budget amendment trying to seek to ban Medicaid eligible funds for the very same thing and it got so much more press coverage than it did when one of our local Senators…

Heather Rose:

Who was it? We deserve to know.

Luke Priddy:

Senator Suetterlein.

That's not the kind of legislation I think that people in Virginia need. I don't think it's what they expect out of their legislator. They need people who will stand up and fight for their rights and their ability to seek reproductive health care especially in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

This was something that I worked with an advocacy group the Roanoke Alliance for Reproductive Rights last year to try and get the Roanoke City Council to put some kind of protections in their legislative agenda before they adopted it this was prior to me being elected to serve so this was in a citizen capacity, and unfortunately the members of the City Council at the time did not opt to include these specific protections. They did adopt something by adding reproductive healthcare to their non-discrimination statement as over-ending policy, but they didn't adopt any specific policies and really take a stand to protect the women and other birthing persons who live in this area and give them some kind of comfort about what their rights may be like going forward.

It's really unfortunate because I find that City Council at the time, instead of taking a strong stance to protect reproductive rights, they opted instead to adopt a legislative agenda that sought to roll back many of the reforms that were put into place following George Floyd's death. Things that were supposed to help prevent future deaths like no knock warrants, like pre-textual traffic stops.

Heather Rose:

What’s that?

Luke Priddy:

Pretextual is a term that they use to say that it would be a primary offense to pull someone over for something like a broken headlight, a broken tail light, to have something hanging from your rear view mirror.

If you're vehicle had one of those defects it used to be a primary offense meaning you could be pulled over just because that defect was observed the term pretextual stop refers to more broadly a practice of where an individual is pulled over under that pretense that they have the broken taillight, broken headlights, something hanging from the rear view mirror and there's a whole list of other offenses.

That’s the quote unquote reason that they're pulled over, but it's but it's perceived to be done to give them more of an opportunity to perform, you know, maybe certain searches if they deem that's reasonable or something else and it had a disproportionate impact on people of color. That is why the Senate Democrats when they held a Special Session back when the trifecta controlled the General Assembly, that's why they saw it and made these changes to Virginia Code so that less people would end up in interactions, potentially deadly interactions with police.

Those are just three of the issues that I want to focus on with my race and I expect will come up a lot this year as I seek to represent Senate District 4.

Now redistricting occurred this past few years ago but finally was adopted and the districts that people lived in recently, all the lines have changed. Senator Edwards used to represent the City of Roanoke all the way to the Town of Blacksburg up to including Giles. When the Redistricting Commission was unable to perform their work and adopt a map, the Supreme Court of Virginia ultimately had to decide how the lines would be drawn and the communities of interest that they put together make the new Senate District.

It's the City of Roanoke, entirely, it is entirely the City of Salem and then it is the southern portion Roanoke County, so think of Windsor Hills, Cave Spring, Vinton, roughly those magisterial districts and then it goes through Shawsville and Elliston, kind of up 460, and then it includes Christiansburg and all of Eastern Montgomery County but they removed out the town of Blacksburg.

Heather Rose:

Where does that go?

Luke Priddy:

I's gone from being what was considered a 52 percent Democratic District to a 52 percent Republican District.

In recent years based on extrapolation of data and how people have voted, no Democrat has won the district with these lines except for Senator Tim Kaine in 2018. He did carry it with about 52 percent, roughly four points. It shows that it is winnable, it is doable, but it is going to be an uphill climb that requires a candidate who is young, experienced and hungry enough to work for it. I know that candidate is me.

Heather Rose:

Yeah.

Luke Priddy:

The training that Senator Edwards has given me over the past five years I think has prepared me for this role, and you know, I grew up in Windsor Hills but at Cave Spring Elementary School, I grew up in that part of the district and moved to the City later in life and I even spent part of my life in Montgomery County. I've got a lot of family that live over in Christiansburg and I know with the relationships that I've been able to form with people throughout this entire district and the work that I've done, Senator Edwards has prepared me to be in a position to make sure that this district is kept BLUE and more Importantly, kept in good hands

Heather Rose:

Absolutely. I can see that.

Well, why do you want to run for Virginia Senate?

Luke Priddy:

Truly to represent the people of this region and to carry on Senator Edward’s legacy. All of the hard work that he's put in improving people's lives with policies. I know that more can be built on that and he served as a mentor to me for so many years and while I understand that he had to make a difficult decision and decide not to seek re-election this November, I very much expect him to continue to be a mentor in my life and I hope to be successful in that, he'll still have input in this district.

Heather Rose:

Yeah. So what kind of platform are you running on?

Luke Priddy:

Back to those focuses on really policies that improve people's lives.

The focus on education, focus on reproductive rights, and on public safety, and most importantly investing in this region. You know with Senate Democrats in control of that chamber Senator Edwards was the western most Democrat representing the Commonwealth of Virginia, representing this region and as more people are elected from Northern Virginia I think that this is more a side effect than anything intentional with Democrats in control, their priorities I'd say get a little more attention, and you need someone with Democratic representation from this portion of the state in order to make sure that all the resources are distributed appropriately for where they go and that we're investing everywhere in Virginia. I know that's how the Democrats in the Senate currently right now are working to do it, but if we lose this voice in this region, I expect it will have negative impacts going forward for the resources that we get and we deserve.

Heather Rose:

I expect that too. Yeah. The economy actually does worse under Republicans you can look that up. Anyways how will you implement your goals?

Luke Priddy:

Really by doing what I've been doing for the past five years with Senator Edwards. It involves working with stakeholders. Very few pieces of legislation just spur from our minds. Thinking, oh, this is the right thing for the Commonwealth. That's rather paternalistic or patronizing to think.

It's more importantly comes from stakeholders and it's something that impacts them in their life that they're living and our ability to interpret the law, help them understand it and guide them through what legislation can we put in that's going to solve your problem and how is it going to improve your life.

You don't just put a bill in and then expect it to pass. There's a lot of work. You have to bring the right people to the table sometimes you have to make compromises that you aren't particularly keen on but ultimately the end goal is making sure that you are changing policy, and in the Senate be through the Code of Virginia, in a way that will have a positive impact on someone's life.

When Senator Edwards was interviewed upon his retirement he just spoke about on how happy he was getting to spend the past three decades putting forward an enacting policy that improves people's lives.

Heather Rose:

Absolutely. That is what everybody should achieve. Just to help people and simple loving acts.

Who will be your partners in implementing your goals?

Luke Priddy:

Well it will be all of the community organizations and the stakeholders that we see now in the General Assembly. They're very important to crafting the legislation that we work on and going forward, I do have to be careful about what organizations I mention because until I have someone's endorsement I don't want them to perceive that I'm name dropping in a way to make people think that I have their support, but as this campaign gets underway and I'm having contact with those organizations, I very much plan to announce the endorsements that I receive from each of them.

Heather Rose:

Cool. All righty. Well Luke, I know you said before you don't make promises but what is on your agenda to work on?

Luke Priddy:

Really the policies that we've spoken about before. Continuing to work on those and as I'm on the campaign trail knocking doors, talking to people about the issues that are impacting them every day, that will give me a better idea of, it's much like how my job works now. What policies can we put in place to solve your problem and improve your life.

Heather Rose:

Absolutely, well, you heard him. Well, will you vote along party lines or how will you vote?

Luke Priddy:

I remember what my answer was to this last time, and I'll give a similar one. I very much expect to vote with the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus in almost every policy because they take good stances and they know what needs to be done to represent the people.

Now with that said, they don't have a position as a caucus on every single policy that comes forward. Not every policy that's offered is particularly partisan or as divisive and I promise before I vote on anything that I will be thorough that I will do all the research and that I will be educated and I will speak to stakeholders before I take a vote so that they can take comfort in knowing that I'm representing their views in the General Assembly.

Heather Rose:
Well how do you speak with stakeholders?

Luke Priddy:

Well, you let them reach out to you by emails or mail that's one way that you can receive responses. People can come up and visit the General Assembly but you also have community meetings in your region you have town halls and you offer a time period before you introduce legislation to allow people to come into your office and talk

to you about the things that are impacting their life on a daily basis so that you can craft your agenda and put it together.

The issues I spoke about regarding education, reproductive rights, and public safety as it relates to firearms, you know, those are those are things that I think will shape the vision of what I plan to put forward and what I plan to support but it really goes back to those character traits that educate and help me know what my values are and how I should operate as a public official and in public service.

Heather Rose:

Oh can you say those again?

Luke Priddy:

Trustworthiness. Respect. Responsibility. Fairness. Caring and Citizenship.

While it doesn't have all the words in it, you can remember “terrific” and that's a good way to get it done.

Heather Rose:

Oh really. Cool. Trustworthiness…

Luke Priddy:

T-R-R-F-C-C.

Heather Rose:

All righty well is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Luke Priddy:

Just two things. A word of gratitude to Senator Edwards for all of the service that he's had in the General Assembly representing the Roanoke and New River Valleys and working to improve people's lives.

And a note of thanks about just being able to learn under his wing and prepare for this role. This is something that I've always kind of considered doing, but I didn't know that I was ready to do it until the moment came and I really had to step forward.

I know I'm the best person to take on this district this November, but when it comes to my likely Republican opponent, I know what it's like going toe-to-toe with him in a public forum. Over the past years when Senator Edwards has had other obligations or responsibilities at his law firm and can't make a certain legislative update to a Chamber of Commerce or some other kind of forum, I've stepped into that role to represent his office but when I've done it then I really had to make sure that I spoke on what I knew his views were and representing him in a fair way and combating against some of the things that my likely Republican opponent has said some of the policies he's put forward like I spoke about the budget amendment as it relates to Medicaid funds and abortions earlier.

Now as I step into this role, Senator Edwards will still be a mentor for me and inform the way that I move forward, but it's really growing into my own voice and taking this head-on myself. I know I'm prepared. I know I'm the best person to take him on this November. I plan on working hard talking to citizens at their doors to earn their support, ask them to consider me this November, and in the unlikely unfortunate event that I have a primary I'm also asking for them to support me this coming June.

Because I think everything I've spoken about up into this point, I hope has demonstrated that I am the best person to take on my likely Republican opponent this November.

Heather Rose:

All right. Well what are some of his views that um you stand, you know, in opposition with?

Luke Priddy:

Well, I spoke about what some of the policies were earlier. I would prefer not to put words in his mouth. If he takes up the opportunity…if he takes the opportunity to speak to your program and once I know more about what policy platform he plans on running this year, I mean there are countless votes that he's taken over the years that I disagree with and some of them are subtle and some of them are adequate strong opposition too, but in order to be fair to the voters, in order to be fair to him as a person, I'd rather not misrepresent his views. But if anyone ever has the opportunity to see us in a forum together, it's uh, it's quite a lively debate.

Heather Rose:

All righty. Well this is Community Connections. You're listening to Luke Priddy. Chief of Staff to Senator John Edwards who recently announced his retirement, and a Democratic contender for the seat Senator Edwards is vacating.

I’m Heather Rose with Radio Free Roanoke, 95.7 FM.

Luke Priddy:

I'm Luke Priddy, candidate for Senate District 4, and you're listening to WROE-LP, Roanoke.