by James A. Bacon

Taxes and transgender rights are the two big issues that John Reid, Republican nominee for lieutenant general, thinks will bring him victory in a year where the conventional wisdom favors a Democratic sweep in statewide elections.

Most Virginians hate the car tax, and an increasing number are stressed by the steady increase in property taxes. Even families that have paid off their mortgages are getting squeezed out of their homes by surging housing assessments and real estate taxes, said Reid in an interview today with Bacon’s Rebellion.

The other big issue he consistently hears about is the “insanity” of permitting biological boys compete in girls’ sports. That national issue has hit home in places like Loudoun and Hanover Counties here in Virginia, Reid said.

In the money race, Reid is running far behind his opponent, Ghazala Hashmi, a Democratic state senator from Chesterfield County who has outraised him by $1.3 million to $311,000 and, even after fighting a tough Democratic primary, has more than four times as much cash on hand.

While Hashmi has racked up huge contributions such as $475,000 from Charlottesville mega-donor Sonja Smith, compared to Reid’s biggest donation of $12,000, he’s running closer in the total number of donations — 1,875 to 1,142. And now that the Republican statewide slate has settled its internal differences and is presenting a unified front, he thinks fundraising will pick up.

On the issues that matter to voters, it won’t be hard for Reid to position himself as the moderate. From the deportation of illegal aliens to surgery and hormone therapy for minors with gender dysphoria, Democrats have picked a strategy of running in opposition to everything President Donald Trump says and does, no matter what the public thinks.

“Democrats have sided with the radical agitators,” Reid said in reference to the wave of antisemitism sweeping through college campuses, including those in Virginia. But the same holds true on almost every issue. Governor Glenn Youngkin has held back the tide by vetoing hundreds of bills passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature, He shudders when he thinks what will happen if there’s not a Republican in the Governor’s Mansion to curtail Democratic excess.

For Reid personally, the two biggest issues are economic growth and fiscal profligacy. Reid, whose career path included a stint with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is an old-fashioned, free-market, fiscal conservative. Democrats are the pro-regulation party, and excess regulation stifles economic growth, he said. “At some point you over-regulate so much that people throw up their hands and go to Tennessee or North Carolina.”

Another thing that worries him, said Reid, is the dependence of Commonwealth of Virginia finances on federal funding. “The federal government is $37 trillion in debt. We can’t count on federal money always being available. Smart people say we would have a problem governing. … Everybody needs to sober up and say, can we work out a plan for if this federal money is not in the pipeline?”

Raising taxes is not a viable option, Reid suggests. The unpopularity of the car tax has gotten considerable play in the media, but he’s been hearing an even bigger concern. The car tax means Virginians drive old cars longer; confiscatory real estate taxes mean they are under threat of losing their homes.

He’s heard stories of City of Richmond residents literally crying in City Hall because they can’t pay their property taxes and are about to lose their homes. “That is evil. That is unacceptable,” he said. “That’s one of the issues I think will appeal to people who aren’t normally Republican.”

More government spending is not the answer, Reid said. According to Hashmi, Virginia’s public schools are under-funded to the tune of $6 billion. That’s not the reason learning has collapsed. The biggest problem is the erosion of discipline in the classroom. Reid fully supports the ban on cell phones — advocated by Youngkin and passed with bipartisan support by the General Assembly — in the classroom. Distracted students cannot learn. He supports another measure, which has earned him some ridicule: uniforms in public school.

He is told that bullying is out of control, Reid said. Cell phones were a big part of the problem. But another source of disruption is how the kids ridicule one another over their shoes and apparel, which are markers of wealth and status. “We can send a message — we don’t care about your t-shirt, we don’t care about your tennis shoes. What counts is your ability to get good grades.”

Reid carries the same no-nonsense attitude into other areas of public policy, such as crime. The homicide rate in Virginia is down from the anarchy of the post-George Floyd era, which he credits in large measure to Attorney General Jason Miyaras’ Virginia Ceasefire initiative, but lawlessness is rampant for lesser crimes.

“I talk to shop owners frequently,” he said. “They told me they’re getting robbed every day, and they don’t even bother calling the cops. Corporate says they can’t go after shoplifters. If you don’t stop the small crimes, you send a signal.”

As a gay man in a committed relationship with an African-American man, Reid is not your standard right-wing culture warrior. As far as he’s concerned, gays have won almost all the battles worth fighting but the LGBQT+ movement has gone overboard with its advocacy of trans rights. Just as parents’ rights in schools proved to be the issue that propelled Youngkin to victory four years ago, he thinks “biological boys in girls’ bathrooms” could be the issue that moves the needle in 2025.

“I find it interesting how strongly parents feel about their daughters being protected in bathrooms and locker rooms” from exposure to “girls” with penises. Things have gotten so out of control, he added, that in Loudoun County three boys have sued when a trans boy videotaped them in the boy’s locker room — and the school system launched a disciplinary inquiry into the boys who complained about it.

Likewise, parents of many girls are unhappy with biological boys competing with them on girls’ sports teams. He finds that “absurd” and a step backwards for women’s equality in sports, and he believes it’s the kind of issue that will mobilize parents to say, “Stop.”

“Democrats have not recalibrated on this issue,” Reid said. “Democrats are flipping their middle finger at parents who aren’t necessarily Republicans.”