Virginia lawmakers will reconvene in Richmond on Wednesday for the start of the 2026 General Assembly Session, which is expected to be marked by conversations about abortion, same-sex marriage, budgets gaps, data centers and gun control.
After November’s election, Democrats have the majority in both the state House of Delegates and Senate and have Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, who is also a Democrat.
Spanberger campaigned on an affordability agenda, and state lawmakers are expected to help her execute it.
The focus, according to University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth, could be on making it easier to buy a house and increasing the minimum wage.
“There are key issues with respect to what the legislature can do, though, because of the financial challenges Virginia faces,” Farnsworth told WTOP.
“The cutbacks in federal employment, coupled with anxiety from people who are federal employees or federal contractors or people who provide services to such people, all these anxieties discourage economic activity, and that’s going to put a damper on how much Virginia can spend for new initiatives.”
Almost immediately, there will be a focus on four constitutional amendments.
One would remove the same-sex marriage ban from the state’s constitution; one would restore voting rights for felons who have finished their sentences; one would codify Roe v. Wade; and the last focuses on redistricting efforts.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said the measures are all expected to pass within the first three days of the session. The redistricting amendment could be on referendum in April, and the others, if passed, could be in front of voters in November.
Lawmakers have already passed the proposed amendments once, and they’ll have to pass a second time before voters can weigh in.
Surovell said the redistricting measure comes in response “to what’s happening in the other states. It’s a very temporary measure to deal with what’s happening nationally.”
“Most people I’ve talked to are very upset about what they’re seeing happen around the United States of America,” Surovell said. “They expect Congress to step up and act as a check and balance on what’s happening at the presidency right now. And instead, we’ve got other states that are trying to rig the game so that Trump can remain in power unchecked for an extra two years.”
Meanwhile, while Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed legislation that would have established a legalized cannabis marketplace, Spanberger has signaled support for it.
Surovell said projections show it would generate between $150 and $300 million a year in extra revenue. The plan, he said, would involve robust enforcement, ensuring the marketplace isn’t oversaturated and making clear there’s a difference in ownership between the people who grow the marijuana, manufacture it and ultimately sell it.
Youngkin introduced a $212 million biennial budget proposal last month, which will likely undergo many changes before it clears both chambers. Surovell said there’s a large budget hole to address, with one priority being to address Metro funding problems.
“Convincing people downstate how important Metro is, not just for us in Northern Virginia, but for the entire state, can actually be a challenge,” Surovell said.
Conversations about a Tysons casino project will continue, Surovell said, because in the medium-term, “it’s really one of the best things we can do to sort of mitigate tax increases.”
There could be action on a proposed AR-15 ban, and other proposals to ensure there’s accountability if someone leaves a gun in a car and it’s stolen. One measure, Surovell said, will focus on “storing a gun safely in your home to make sure that your children don’t have proper access.”
Some bills will be tied to affordable housing, Surovell said.
Farnsworth said President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires states to engage in more monitoring of Medicaid recipients, “and that’s going to require more software, more hiring of state employees to monitor that. There’s also a cutback in subsidies for the Affordable Care Act enrollment. And if you look at the state’s desire to provide quality health care, it’s not clear how much that’s going to cost.”
As for data centers, Farnsworth is expecting some proposed legislation, because “an individual county would love to have a data center because of the revenue it would generate, but there are significant water and power questions that extend beyond county boundaries. And so those challenges, I think, are really going to require some greater statewide engagement on the question of where to cite the data centers and how many to have in Virginia.”
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