The modern political landscape of Virginia bears little resemblance to the past. The commonwealth is a nationally influential swing state alongside stalwarts like Florida or Ohio. But with increased power comes greater scrutiny--and corruption. Governor Bob McDonnell received a jail sentence on federal corruption charges, later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Corporate influence on the state legislature and other leaders resulted in numerous ethics violations. Scandal erupted at the prestigious University of Virginia when the school ousted its president amid political drama and intrigue. Author Jeff Thomas reveals the intersection of money, power and politics and the corrosive effect on government in a new era.

For four hundred years, Virginia's politicians have preached a "Virginia Way" of honor, gentility and democracy. In reality, this ideology bred a corrupt political class, a runaway electricity company, a university that reflected the values of donors and a school system that suffered from cronyism. This Virginia Way prevented rather than promoted the success of its stated democratic ideals. Readers from the right, left and middle will learn much about how their government operates and understand Virginia in a whole new way. Author Jeff Thomas explodes the myth of the Virginia Way with an insightful portrait of the people, politics and power that run the Commonwealth.

Ap>The Commonwealth: A History of the Government and Politics of Virginia offers a broad historical examination of the history, government, and politics of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Intended as the primary text for a course in Virginia government and politics, it provides a broad picture of the state and local system of government in Virginia in the context of the dual federalism that has been the model for American democracy since its founding. Author Catherine Banks, a professor at Virginia's Old Dominion University, has created a text intended to stimulate in students a desire to understand, explore, and apply contemporary world and national politics to their local political environments. It is well-suited to students majoring in political science, international studies, and history, but business majors and instructors may also find it useful as a study of the economic side of the Commonwealth's political structure. The book discusses the history of Virginia's government and politics in a chronological and methodical format. The text is divided into four parts: Part One, "Virginia: Leader of the New World," discusses early American history with an emphasis on the role of the Virginia colonies. Part Two, "Institutions of Government,"introduces the history, composition, and function of the General Assembly, the governorship, and the judiciary. Part Three, "Local Governments, Inter- and Intra-Governmental Relations, and Budgeting," discusses the structure of the various local governments; the relationships between (a) the state and federal governments and (b) state and local governments; and budgets and funds transfers at the state-local level and the federal-state level. Part Four, "The Commonwealth and the American Experience," looks at the political machine in the Commonwealth, ending with the challenges and opportunities facing Virginia in the 21st century. The Commonwealth chronicles the gradual progress and evolution of Virginia, challenging the reader along the way to consider how the state's past is shaping current and future debates over policy and governance. Features chapter plates and appendices of collected data, including: political figures of the Commonwealth maps displaying Virginia's population density and its cities and counties government documents such as the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the federal and state constitutions, and charters from all levels of local government "Important Dates" list in each chapter key terms highlighted and defined in context or as a special note charts, documents, and tables incorporated throughout the text

From the formation of the first institutions of representative government and the use of slavery in the seventeenth century through the American Revolution, the Civil War, the civil rights movement, and into the twenty-first century, Virginia’s history has been marked by obstacles to democratic change. In The Grandees of Government, Brent Tarter offers an extended commentary based in primary sources on how these undemocratic institutions and ideas arose, and how they were both perpetuated and challenged. Although much literature on American republicanism focuses on the writings of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, among others, Tarter reveals how their writings were in reality an expression of federalism, not of republican government. Within Virginia, Jefferson, Madison, and others such as John Taylor of Caroline and their contemporaries governed in ways that directly contradicted their statements about representative—and limited— government. Even the democratic rhetoric of the American Revolution worked surprisingly little immediate change in the political practices, institutions, and culture of Virginia. The counterrevolution of the 1880s culminated in the Constitution of 1902 that disfranchised the remainder of African Americans. Virginians who could vote reversed the democratic reforms embodied in the constitutions of 1851, 1864, and 1869, so that the antidemocratic Byrd organization could dominate Virginia’s public life for the first two-thirds of the twentieth century. Offering a thorough reevaluation of the interrelationship between the words and actions of Virginia’s political leaders, The Grandees of Government provides an entirely new interpretation of Virginia’s political history.

The New Dominion analyzes six key statewide elections to explore the demographic, cultural, and economic changes that drove the transformation of the state's politics and shaped the political Virginia of today. Countering the common narrative that the shifting politics of Virginia is a recent phenomenon driven by population growth in the urban corridor, the contributors to this volume consider the antecedents to the rise of Virginia as a two-party competitive state in the critical elections of the twentieth century that they profile.

Go behind the scenes with never before reported stories of intrigue from some of the most colorful characters in Virginia politics over the last half century. Read about the changes that political figures have brought to the Old Dominion, from Henry Howell's legendary gubernatorial run in the 1970s through 2020's successful battle for Richmond Public Schools against the Dominion Coliseum. Along the way, see how visionaries challenged Virginia to overcome her legacy of segregation and how that history still affects our destiny today. Hailed by the New York Times as part of "a major revolution in racial politics in America" for running the groundbreaking campaigns of Governor Doug Wilder, author Paul Goldman has spent decades on the leading edge of Virginia politics.