No Queens: Stop Tyranny in Virginia

The Democrats’ budget will cost every Virginia adult an extra $3,880.

Virginia’s state motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” or “Thus Always to Tyrants,” declares that virtue and just governance always defeat tyranny. Yet Virginia Democrat leaders have become the tyrants.

Led by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, they ignore the Constitution and use the budget to pass sweeping marijuana laws, give themselves a hefty raise, and waste hard-earned taxpayer dollars on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) pork.

On July 1, some of the most extreme legislation in Virginia’s history takes effect. Democrats have solidified their long-standing goal of disarming law-abiding citizens by adopting broad anti-Second Amendment laws to tighten control over Virginians. They also used budget negotiations to implement dangerous marijuana laws that failed to pass in the regular legislative session.

The final pork-laden biennial budget totals $207 billion, a staggering $24 billion increase from 2024. With roughly 6.7 million people aged 18 and older in the state, that amounts to $3,880 more per adult compared to former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s budget.

Thomas Jefferson must be turning over in his grave.

Sen. Louise Lucas’ Pot Shops

For weeks, Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee Chair Louise Lucas claimed she wouldn’t approve the budget unless it included an elimination of tax breaks for data centers. Lucas even went on a “data center listening tour” across the state, referring to Spanberger as a “data center diva.” Yet when the final, agreed-upon bill was released, the tax exemption remained—alongside 149 new pages of legislation authorizing retail marijuana.

Lucas owns a pot shop in Portsmouth and has been pushing the legalization of marijuana for years. After the marijuana legalization language was included in the budget bill, she miraculously changed her tune on data center tax exemptions.

Under the new budget, data centers statewide will continue receiving a roughly $1.9 billion tax break. A new, lower tax was added on data center energy consumption, but nothing close to what Lucas initially wanted. She’s happy, though, because she’ll be able to legally push pot in her retail store.

Lucas got her pot shop, but Virginians got the bill—and the consequences.

Democrat Pork Projects

Not only did Virginia Democrats give themselves a hefty raise in the budget, but they also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on pet projects and social justice agendas.

Over $40 million is earmarked in the amended budget for implementing Lucas’ marijuana legislation.

Members of the part-time legislature voted themselves a 178 percent raise from $18,000 per year to $50,000—a $2.1 million added expense for Virginia taxpayers. This is on top of the travel per diem, staff expenses, and other extras they receive.

At least 64 additional employees were added to the already bloated state government at a cost of over $18.5 million. Plus, a $3.5 million per year salary increase for lawyers in Attorney General Jay Jones’ office—the guy who fantasized about shooting his political opponent and wished his children dead.

$77.1 million will be spent to restore the Virginia Medicaid FAMIS Prenatal Coverage for Pregnant and Post Partum Immigrant Persons program. This program provides taxpayer funding for illegal immigrants’ medical coverage, according to the website.

Some of the taxpayer dollars doled out have race-based qualifications, including $3 million over two years to “attract out of state visitors from Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic communities.” Also, $1 million to support the private entity Museum of Black Women Innovators in Portsmouth—Lucas’ home.

Virginia is allocating $3.6 million over two years for scholarships limited to students at institutions where at least 25 percent of undergraduates are Hispanic-identifying and hold a specific accreditation.

$60 million will be spent to provide childcare for state employees, including $35 million allocated to continue progress on a “new state agency building and a state employee childcare center.”

Here are just a few more examples of added items in the amended budget:

Social Services

• An additional $11,500,000 (totaling $322,662,101) for the "Virginia Eviction Reduction Program" that covers "expenses for households facing eviction."
• Increases the Virginia Housing Trust Fund by an additional $60 million up to a biennial total of $215 million to "address housing affordability, supply issues, and homelessness.” $20 million of that money will fund "loan origination and servicing activities for mixed income housing."
• An additional $14,000,000, for a total of $325,162,101, to "serve the growing population of Virginians at risk of or experiencing homelessness." This includes $7 million to the City of Charlottesville for "development of a transitional housing and life skills training facility."
• $5 million for Prince William County's "Affordable Housing Fund."
• SNAP programs will cost Virginians over $135 million, up $4 million in this year’s budget.
• $4 million in block grants for needy families to access "long-acting reversible contraceptives and other contraceptives."
• $8.6 million more each year to pay for school breakfasts.
• No additional cost but increases staff-to-child ratios for licensed child daycare centers.
• $1.5 million for Fairfax and Prince William counties to enhance workforce development and create new training spaces "for members of the immigrant community."
• $100,000 to "provide services and legal support to the immigrant and refugee population in South Richmond and North Chesterfield."

Energy and Environment

• $300,000 over two years for training resources for Virginia's offshore wind workforce.
• $10 million over two years for creating the "Clean Energy Innovation Bank."
• $100 million "to fund improvements in environmental monitoring in the Commonwealth."

Education

• $5.1 million for a statewide learning management system through the Department of Education.
• An additional $950,000 per year for PBS Appalachia.

Civic and Government Administration

• $10,000 for the creation of a website for the Commission on Civic Engagement to promote an annual Civic Education Summit.
• $247,500 over two years to fund third-party voter registration data exchanges, including the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC).
• $1.8 million to relocate three monuments and memorials of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Gov. William Smith, and Dr. Hunter Holmes McGuire.
• $3.3 million "to reflect the impact of the increase in the state minimum wage."
• $38 million "to support the implementation of the retail cannabis market."

Local Projects

• $3.5 million for two golf tournaments, including the 2027 LIV tournament in Gainesville, Virginia.
• $1.4 million for the City of Petersburg to "support the development of an aquaponics food production, education, and research facility."

Sic Semper Tyrannis was meant as a warning that unchecked power will eventually be used against the very people it claims to serve. Rather than providing relief to Virginians, Democrats are raiding their wallets and forcing through sweeping changes that couldn’t survive the regular legislative session.

Democrats have chosen a socialist agenda over fiscal restraint and have used the budget process for lawmaking rather than appropriations. Is that what Virginians thought they were voting for last November?

Queen Spanberger’s reign will be a costly one.

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