by Jacob Grandstaff

State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, the Democrats’ pick for Virginia’s Lt. Governor, has cultivated a social policy record more suited to San Francisco and New York City than the commonwealth she seeks to represent. From her attacks on the sanctity of life to her assault on Virginians’ Second Amendment rights, her agenda represents a direct affront to key principles that makes Virginia great—valuing life and the right to defend it.

A champion for abortion extremism

Hashmi is not only pro-choice; she’s pro-abortion. In fact, she voted to limit the information women could access to make an informed choice. Additionally, she enjoys massive support from the abortion lobby. She even brags of Virginia’s abortion tourism industry for women who want to kill their babies but can’t do so legally because of pesky right-to-life laws in other states.

In 2020, Hashmi voted for the Reproductive Health Protection Act. This expanded who could perform abortions to include nurse practitioners. It also eliminated mandatory ultrasounds and 24-hour wait times, which in the 2010s helped reduce abortions by around 32 percent in the commonwealth.

By expanding provider eligibility and removing mandatory in-person counseling, the bill made it easier for abortion providers to mail mifepristone and other abortifacients to women after the FDA approved telehealth abortions the following year.

A recent study by the Foundation for the Restoration of America found medical claims show one in 10 women who use mifepristone experience a serious adverse event—22 times higher than the rate the FDA predicted.

Hashmi also voted to make it illegal for Virginia to extradite doctors who perform illegal abortions in their home states and voted to prohibit the Virginia Board of Medicine from taking disciplinary action against Virginia doctors for performing illegal abortions elsewhere.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) proposed a moderate policy of making abortion illegal past 15 weeks—around the point at which an unborn baby can feel pain—with exceptions for cases of rape, incest, or risks to the mother. In January 2023, however, Hashmi voted to indefinitely table SB 1385, the senate version of this reasonable proposal.

The pro-abortion lobby certainly sees her as their champion. She’s received endorsements from Emily’s List and a former Director of Primary Care at Planned Parenthood. Additionally, she received the “Defender of Choice” award from the radical pro-abortion group REPRO Rising and in-kind contributions worth $85,000 from Vote Pro-Choice PAC.

Dangerously anti-Second Amendment

Hashmi is a gun-control radical. The positions she takes on the Second Amendment go beyond basic safety precautions. As lieutenant governor, she would use her position to violate law-abiding citizens’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms, making people less safe in their homes and in public.

She supports expanding the commonwealth’s red flag law. These can easily be abused to settle personal grudges, thereby rendering people defenseless against people who wish them harm. Tightening this law would remove necessary leeway local law enforcement enjoys in its execution.

Hashmi joined her Democrat colleagues in voting to ban firearms from public spaces after a shooting at a bus stop—as if the perpetrators cared about “gun-free zones.” Such a policy would render law-abiding gun owners in similar situations unable to defend themselves, their families, or innocent bystanders.

Hashmi wants gun storage laws, which could also cost lives. If gun owners can’t access a loaded gun quickly during a home invasion, it defeats the purpose of owning a gun for self-defense.

Finally, she supports an “assault weapons” ban. Last year, she voted for SB 1, which would have made it illegal for anyone to buy, sell, possess, or transport semi-automatic firearms and high capacity magazines manufactured after July 1, 2025. It would have also made it illegal for anyone under 21 to own any semi-automatic firearms regardless of the manufacture date. Thankfully, Gov. Youngkin vetoed this and dozens of other gun-grabbing bills Hashmi supported.

Ironically, despite voting to eliminate the 24-hour wait period for women wanting abortions, Hashmi voted for a five-day wait period for gun purchases.

Virginia’s lieutenant governor is more than a ceremonial position. It serves as the deciding vote in a tied senate. The Reproductive Health Protection Act only passed because of the tiebreaking vote of a Democrat lieutenant governor. If Hashmi wins in November, she will likely cast the deciding vote to criminalize gun ownership and make Virginia the most pro-abortion state in the country.

Jacob Grandstaff is an Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in election integrity and labor policy. This article is republished with permission from Restoration News.