2017

In February 2015, just over a year into his term as lieutenant governor, Northam confirmed his interest in running for Governor of Virginia in 2017.^[43][44] He made these intentions official on November 17, 2015, via an email to supporters.^[45]

In the Democratic primary, Northam faced Tom Perriello, who had previously served as a Congressman from Virginia and as a diplomat in the Obama administration.^[46][47] The primary campaign was often described as a proxy battle between the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party, represented by Perriello, and the Hillary Clinton wing, represented by Northam,^[46] although this take was dismissed as little more than a "talking point" by The Washington Post's editorial board, which praised both candidates and wrote, "the policy differences between the two, though real, are not enormous".^[48] The Washington Post endorsed Northam primarily on the basis of his "experience" and "temperament".^[48] In its endorsement, the publication explained that the next governor would likely have to work with a Republican-controlled legislature and wrote,

"If any Democratic governor can nudge GOP majorities in his direction, it's Mr. Northam. That matters in a state where governors, barred from running for consecutive terms, have one brief shot at getting things done."^[48]

On June 13, 2017, Northam won the Democratic nomination with 56% of the vote to Perriello's 44%.^[49] In the general election, Northam faced Ed Gillespie, who had previously served as Counselor to the President under George W. Bush, chair of the Republican National Committee, and chair of the Republican Party of Virginia.^[50][51] Northam's campaign funds were heavily depleted by the end of the primary race. He was left with around $1.75 million, which amounted to roughly half of Gillespie's remaining funds.^[52] Northam quickly gained the advantage however – by the end of the summer, his available funds had grown twice as large as Gillespie's, with two months left in the campaign. Northam led Gillespie among small donors, as well: "5,900 donations under $100 to Gillespie's 2,100."^[53]

In October 2017, the Northam campaign released a small number of flyers omitting Northam's running-mate for lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax. These were released at the request of Laborers' International Union of North America, which had endorsed only part of that year's Democratic ticket. Northam and that year's Democratic nominee for Attorney General, Mark Herring, were both endorsed by LIUNA and were both included on the flyer. LIUNA withheld its endorsement from Fairfax and explained that Fairfax opposes the construction of natural gas pipelines that are favored by the organization. As Fairfax is black, while Northam and Herring are both white, some activists criticized the decision to accommodate LIUNA's request. All houses that received the LIUNA flyers also received standard campaign flyers including Fairfax.^[54][55]

During the campaign, Gillespie and President Donald Trump accused Northam of being responsible for the increased activities of the MS-13 gangs and of being "in favor of sanctuary cities that let dangerous illegal immigrants back on the streets."^[56][57] Gillespie and Trump said that Northam had been the deciding vote to stop a Republican bill in the state Senate which would have banned sanctuary cities and that this contributed to the surge in MS-13 violence; a notion that FactCheck.org found to be "misleading".^[56] The Washington Post and CNN noted that there are no actual sanctuary cities in Virginia.^[57][58] Gillespie himself acknowledged that Virginia did not have sanctuary cities.^[57] The Washington Post furthermore noted that there is no evidence that sanctuary cities increase crime or gang activity,^[59] and that Virginia communities with higher immigrant populations have lower crime rates.^[60]

Later that month, the Latino Victory Fund, which was supporting Northam's campaign, released an ad in which a pickup truck, adorned with a Gillespie bumper sticker, a "Don't tread on me" license plate, and a Confederate flag, chases down minority children and corners them in an alley – one of the children in the ad then wakes up, revealing the scene to have been a nightmare.^[61][62] Although Northam and his campaign were not involved with the ad, Northam initially defended it, saying Gillespie's own ads "have promoted fearmongering, hatred, bigotry, racial divisiveness," and adding, "I mean, it's upset a lot of communities, and they have the right to express their views as well."^[63] The ad was pulled the following day in the hours after the terrorist attack in New York City, in which a man killed several people by running them over with a truck.^[63][64] Northam then distanced himself from the ad, re-emphasizing that it was not released by his campaign and saying that it is not one that he would have chosen to run.^[65] A spokesman for the campaign said that the Latino Victory Fund's decision to pull the ad was "appropriate and the right thing to do."^[63] FOX 5 DC reported that the Northam campaign had accepted $62,000 as an in-kind media contribution from the Latino Victory Fund.^[66]

During the final week of the campaign, Northam stated that he would continue opposing a preemptive ban on sanctuary cities in Virginia, as he had done while serving in the lieutenant governor position, although he also stated that if any sanctuary cities emerged in Virginia, he would support banning them.^[67] In response, the progressive group Democracy for America stated that it stopped direct aid of Northam's campaign.^[68] Howard Dean, who founded Democracy for America, but left the organization in 2016, wrote on Twitter that the organization had discredited itself and called its decision to stop aiding Northam's campaign "incredibly stupid".^[69] Democracy for America had already stopped collecting data for Northam and had ceased mentioning him in get-out-the-vote calls, due to the Northam campaign's decision to release LiUNA's flyers omitting Justin Fairfax.^[70][71]

Northam meeting with volunteers in Blacksburg, Virginia, in 2017

Northam held campaign rallies with former President Barack Obama^[72] and former Vice President Joe Biden during the general election campaign.^[73]

According to The Washington Post, while campaigning for governor, Northam owned stock in several companies "doing extensive work in Virginia". Northam stated during the campaign that if elected governor, he would place his financial investments into a blind trust, so as to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.^[74]

According to a November 3, 2017, report by the Virginia Public Access Project, Northam raised $33.8 million to Gillespie's $24.5 million.^[75]

Northam was elected 73rd Governor of Virginia on November 7, 2017, defeating Ed Gillespie in the general election with a larger-than-expected nine-point margin of victory.^[76]

Inauguration and cabinet appointees

Northam was sworn in as Governor of Virginia at noon on January 13, 2018, at the State Capitol.^[77] He became the second Eastern Shore native to serve as Governor of Virginia, after Henry A. Wise (who was elected in 1855)^[14][77][78] and the second alumnus of Virginia Military Institute to serve as governor, after Westmoreland Davis (who was elected in 1917).^[77] A majority of Northam's cabinet-level officials were female, a first in Virginia history.^[79] Residents from every county in Virginia attended Northam's inauguration (which reportedly marked another first for the state)^[80][81] and twenty-six groups participated in the inaugural parade, which was described as the largest and most diverse in state history.^[81][82]

Leading up to his inauguration, Northam announced that he would establish a new cabinet-level position, Chief Workforce Advisor, which would be responsible for coordinating the state's workforce development programs.^[83] To fill the position, Northam appointed Megan Healy, who had previously served as assistant vice chancellor for academic services and employer partnerships at the Virginia Community College System and as the director of STEM-H during the McAuliffe administration.^[83][84] Healy's husband served on Northam's transition team.^[83]

Response to Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center lawsuit

In June 2018, six months into Northam's governorship, a class action lawsuit was publicly disclosed, which had been filed the previous October, claiming that Latino teenage detainees at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center had been physically abused by staff members there. Most of the plaintiffs were being held at the facility on immigration charges. The abuse described in the lawsuit was alleged to have occurred from 2015 through 2018. The Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center denied all claims in the lawsuit, while Northam called the allegations "disturbing" and directed state agencies to conduct an investigation.^[85][86]

Around two months later, the investigation concluded with no findings of ongoing abuse. Allegations of past abuse were not included within the scope of the investigation, and the lawsuit is still pending. The investigation resulted in the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice presenting the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center with recommendations for new practices, such as improved training for facility staff members. Northam urged the juvenile center to adopt these recommendations, and the center responded with plans to do so.^[87] As youth held in Virginia facilities on immigration charges are there through outside contracts with the federal government, the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice lacked oversight of these youth when the investigation began. In September of that year, the department expanded its authority to include oversight of youth held through any outside contract in Virginia facilities.^[88][89]

Yearbook discoveries and apology for blackface

Photograph from Northam's page in his medical school yearbook

On February 1, 2019, images from Northam's medical school yearbook were published on the far-right website Big League Politics.^[90][91][92] The photos showed an image of an unidentified person in blackface and an unidentified person in a Ku Klux Klan hood on Northam's page in the yearbook.^[93][94][95] A spokesman for Eastern Virginia Medical School confirmed that the image appeared in its 1984 yearbook.^[96] Shortly after the news broke, Northam apologized for appearing in the photo^[96] and issued a statement saying:

Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive. I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment. I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their Governor.^[93][97][98]

Prior to issuing his apology, Northam had privately reacted in confusion to the photo and told several people that he did not believe that he was either of the men depicted in the photo.^[99] Early that evening, he had also told Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax that although he had no recollection of the photo, he considered it a possibility that he was one of the two men depicted.^[100][101] According to The Washington Post, "two people familiar with the events of that evening" said that Northam "decided to take the blame" for the photo due to the pressure on him to issue a statement, even though at the time, Northam was still confused about the photo's origins.^[99]

Two days earlier on January 30, Northam had made controversial comments about abortion during a WTOP interview about the Repeal Act, where he stated that if a severely deformed or otherwise non-viable fetus was born after an unsuccessful abortion attempt, "the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother."^[102] Conservative politicians and media figures characterized Northam's comments as promoting infanticide.^[103] After the yearbook photo was publicized, many conservative media outlets compared the two controversies and described them as a "bad week" for the governor.^[104][105] According to The Washington Post, the photo was sent as a tip to Big League Politics, the website that first published the photo on February 1, by one or more medical school classmates who were concerned about Northam's abortion comments.^[91]

The Virginia Senate's Democratic leader, Dick Saslaw, was among the few politicians who initially defended Northam,^[106] but later joined with the rest of his caucus in calling for Northam's resignation.^[107] Most other prominent Virginia politicians, including former governor Terry McAuliffe, under whom Northam served as lieutenant governor,^[108] the Speaker of the House of Delegates,^[109] the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus,^[110] senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner in a joint statement with Rep. Bobby Scott,^[111] former Governor Douglas Wilder,^[112] and both the Republican Party of Virginia and Democratic Party of Virginia, called on him to resign.^{[113][114][115]} Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP; Planned Parenthood; and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy similarly called for Northam's resignation.^[116] President Donald Trump decried the photo, as well as Northam's earlier comments on abortion, as "unforgivable".^[117] Several prominent national Republicans, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican National Committee chair Ronna Romney McDaniel joined in calling for Northam's resignation.^{[118][119][120]} Major national Democratic officials also called for Northam to step down, including 2020 presidential candidates Tulsi Gabbard, John Delaney, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris,^{[121][112][122]} House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,^[112] the Democratic Governors Association,^[123][124] former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,^[125][116] Senator Bernie Sanders,^[126] Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,^[112] and former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden.^[116][127] Faced with increasing calls for his resignation from fellow Democrats, Northam reportedly considered leaving the Democratic Party and trying to hold on to the governorship as an independent.^[128][129]

Northam's 1981 VMI yearbook photograph included the nicknames "Goose" and "Coonman"

After issuing his apology and as pressure mounted for his resignation, Northam called friends and family to determine whether the photo actually depicts him.^[130] The following morning, Northam told staffers that he was convinced he was not in the photo.^[99] Sleep-deprived and ignoring the protests of some staffers, Northam held a press conference that afternoon,^[99] in which he publicly denied that he was either of the men in the photo, but did admit to having "darkened [his] face" with shoe polish as part of a Michael Jackson costume around the same time.^[131] Reaction to the press conference was intensely negative and calls for Northam's resignation continued.^[99]

CBS News also unearthed Northam's Virginia Military Institute yearbook, which listed "Coonman", a racial slur, as one of Northam's nicknames; Northam told reporters that two people referred to him by that name, and said that he regretted the presence of the nickname in his yearbook.^[132] Northam says that he does not understand why that nickname was bestowed on him.^[133][134]

A months-long investigation into the photo that appeared in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook could not “conclusively” determine who is in the photo or even how the image came to be there. A team hired by EVMS released a 55-page report on May 22, 2019, saying: “We could not conclusively determine the identity of either individual depicted in the photograph.” McGuireWoods contacted over 80 people connected to the school, including five members of their yearbook staff at the time.^[135]

Despite the yearbook scandal, as well as those surrounding Virginia's other two elected statewide officials: Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax and state Attorney General Mark Herring, the Democratic Party of Virginia won control of both the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates in the statewide elections that November, amid some predictions that the scandals could negatively impact Democratic success in the coming elections.^[136] Northam's approval rating fell to 40% in the immediate aftermath of the scandal but recovered significantly by the end of his term.^[137]

Pledge to address Virginia's racial inequities

Facing widespread calls for his resignation, Northam chose to remain in office but made a public commitment to focus the remainder of his gubernatorial term on addressing Virginia's racial inequities.^{[138][139][140]} He and his cabinet then joined with the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to develop strategies for closing the racial disparity in Virginia's maternal mortality rate, increasing affordable housing and funding for public transportation, supporting minority-owned businesses, removing Confederate monuments from public spaces, removing racist remnants of the Jim Crow era from state lawbooks, rethinking the state's approach to how African American history is taught in public schools, and establishing sensitivity training for state agencies.^[138][141]

On March 22, 2019, Northam signed a bill, introduced by the chairman of Virginia's Legislative Black Caucus, Lamont Bagby, establishing the Virginia African American Advisory Board; this board is designed to consist of twenty-one non-legislative citizens appointed by the governor, at least fifteen of whom must be black; additionally, the board includes five members of the governor's cabinet.^{[lower-alpha 1]} The board's purpose is to advise the governor on how to best serve African Americans living in the state. Comparable boards for the state's Latino and Asian communities had already existed, and Bagby called the African American Advisory Board "far overdue". Upon establishing the board, Northam said that it would "ensure the voices of all Virginians are heard, particularly those from underrepresented and historically disenfranchised communities."^[143][144]

In May of that year, Northam announced his intent to establish a new cabinet-level position, Chief Diversity Officer. This position would be responsible for advancing equity and inclusion throughout the state government's operations.^{[145][146][147]} Virginia is considered to be the first state in the country to establish such a position at the cabinet-level.^[146][147] On September 9, Northam named Janice Underwood as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer. Underwood had previously led diversity initiatives at Old Dominion University.^[146][148] Among the issues that Underwood has focused on as Chief Diversity Officer are supporting small businesses owned by women, minorities, and disabled veterans, reducing inequities in health care, and diversifying employment in the state's public and private sectors.^[149]

COVID-19 pandemic response

On March 12, 2020, Northam declared a state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, there were seventeen known cases of the virus in Virginia. On March 13, Northam closed all Virginia schools, and on March 15, he imposed statewide restrictions to allow no more than 100 people at public gatherings. On the seventeenth, he set even stricter limits on public gatherings, allowing no more than ten people together in most areas; grocery and retail stores, pharmacies, medical facilities, manufacturing plants and distribution centers, and transportation hubs were all exempted from the gathering limit.^[150]

Although schools were originally scheduled to reopen in Virginia after two weeks, on March 23, Northam extended their closure for the remainder of the school year. At this time, there were over 250 known cases of COVID-19 in the state. On April 6, Northam began encouraging the use of face masks by those occupying public spaces. On May 26, he announced a statewide policy requiring the use of facemasks in public indoor spaces. On September 25, Northam and his wife Pamela both tested positive for COVID-19 after one of their staff members became infected. The governor was asymptomatic while his wife suffered mild symptoms.^[151] By the end of 2020, over 4,800 Virginians were confirmed dead due to the virus.^[150]

Tenant protections

The pandemic prompted Northam in March 2020 to request that the Supreme Court of Virginia issue a moratorium against evictions. One was subsequently issued but expired in June. Northam then requested that the moratorium be extended and the court agreed to do so in August. In July, after the initial moratorium had lapsed, eviction cases were opened throughout the state, and those cases continued to proceed even after the moratorium was extended in August.^{[152][153][154]}

The extended moratorium expired September 7. The Supreme Court of Virginia denied Northam's request for a second extension of the moratorium but declared that a federal moratorium against evictions had to be recognized in Virginia. The federal moratorium – which was set to expire at the end of the year, but was later extended into 2021 – only applied to tenants earning less than a certain amount, who were struggling financially and at risk of exposure to COVID-19 if evicted.^{[154][155][156]}

According to The Washington Post, thousands of evictions continued to be filed in Virginia under the federal moratorium "because of the state's loose interpretation of the order."^[157] Its limitations led Northam to consider the federal moratorium to be insufficient protection for those facing the possibility of eviction.^[154]

Housing advocates pressed Northam throughout 2020 to issue an executive order banning evictions in Virginia for the duration of the pandemic. Northam demurred, suggesting that such an order would have been susceptible to legal challenges.^{[152][153][154]} On November 18, he instead amended the state budget to implement a temporary statewide ban on evictions in most circumstances; under the ban, which lasted through the end of 2020, tenants could only be evicted for failure to pay rent if they refused to pursue rent relief programs; the ban also required that landlords provide written notice of state and local rent relief programs to any tenants who failed to pay rent. Once the ban expired at the end of 2020, Northam's amended state budget provided for several new tenant protections to take its place at the start of 2021; these protections allow landlords to evict tenants for failure to pay rent only after the landlords have applied for rental assistance on behalf of the tenants, require landlords who own more than four rental units to offer payment plans to tenants who have been impacted by COVID-19, and extend the amount of notice tenants must be given before eviction from five days to fourteen.^{[155][156][158][159][160]}

The tenant protections enacted through the state budget did not prevent evictions from continuing in Virginia for reasons other than failure to pay rent, nor did they prevent landlords in the state from denying lease renewals to tenants eligible for rental assistance.^[161][162] Although many of the protections from the state budget expired at the end of June 2021,^[163][164] they were renewed in August through June 2022.^[165][166]

About one-fifth as many evictions were filed in Virginia throughout the first half of 2021 as had been normal for the state before the pandemic. At the start of Northam's term, Virginia had one of the nation's highest eviction rates, and efforts to reduce that rate had already begun under Northam prior to the pandemic.^[167][168]

The rent relief program that Virginia established in response to the pandemic was among the first in the nation.^[165][168] Initially funded by the state alone, the program received additional funding from the federal government in January 2021.^[168] Since then, Virginia's rent relief program has distributed a higher percentage of its federal funding than has been distributed by any other state for this purpose and is second only to Texas in the total amount of federal funding that it has distributed.^{[167][168][169][170]} The policy that Northam enacted through the state budget requiring that landlords apply for rent relief on behalf of their tenants before they can file evictions for nonpayment was credited by The Virginian-Pilot as a primary reason for Virginia's effective distribution of rent relief and was credited by The Washington Post as a primary reason for the state's achievement of a low eviction rate in 2021.^[167][171] The Christian Science Monitor wrote that during Northam's tenure in office, Virginia became a "national model" for tenant protections.^[168]

Utility assistance

In September 2020, Northam asked the State Corporation Commission to extend its moratorium on utility cutoffs, which had first been implemented in March. The commission agreed to extend the moratorium until October 5.^[172][173] Northam then asked for a further extension in October, which the commission denied.^[174] On November 18, Northam reimplemented the moratorium through an amendment to the state budget. Although when implemented by the commission, the moratorium had applied only to private utility companies, the version implemented through the state budget applied to all utilities, including those operated by local and regional governments. The state government was able to grant exemptions from this moratorium to utilities that were at risk of insolvency. Under reforms introduced through the state budget, customers who are unable to pay their utility bills for more thirty days during the pandemic are ensured access to payment plans.^[158][159]

The moratorium expired in August 2021. That same month, Northam and the Virginia legislature implemented a new moratorium protecting financially vulnerable residential customers of the state's largest utility provider, Dominion Energy. This moratorium will continue until March 2022. For residential customers of the state's other utility providers, funds from the American Rescue Plan Act have been made available to assist those who have been unable to pay their bills for over sixty days.^{[175][176][177]} The requirement that utility customers be offered payment plans has also remained in effect.^[176]

Workplace safety standards

In May 2020, Northam instructed the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry to develop new workforce safety standards in response to the pandemic.^[178] The department's Board of Safety and Health Codes voted on June 24 and July 15 to make those standards mandatory statewide. The federal government under President Trump had previously issued safety standards to guide employers during the pandemic but had not made those guidelines mandatory. Virginia was the first state in the nation to adopt mandatory workforce safety standards in response to the pandemic.^{[179][180][181][182]} These standards were set to expire at the end of January 2021,^[183] but were extended indefinitely that same month.^[184][185]

Protections for inmates

In March 2020, Northam urged localities to reduce their jail populations, so as to lessen the spread of COVID-19 among inmates, and in April, he proposed an amendment to the state budget that would allow the Virginia Department of Corrections to release non-dangerous inmates with remaining sentences of one year or less. This amendment was passed by the Virginia legislature on April 22. It marks the first time that the Virginia Department of Corrections has ever held authority to release inmates early. The policy is set to remain in effect until July 2021. To qualify for the policy, inmates are required to have a place to stay upon release.^{[186][187][188][189]} An algorithm-calculated recidivism rate is also used to determine whether an inmate qualifies for release under the policy.^[190][191]

Some political activists have called the policy overly narrow and have suggested that Northam should further reduce Virginia's prison population through issuing clemency to certain inmates.^{[189][192][193][194]} Northam and the Department of Corrections have faced multiple lawsuits from inmates who claim to be at risk of contracting COVID-19.^[189][195] In May, a settlement was reached in one of those lawsuits.^{[190][196][197][198]} Subsequently, the ACLU argued that the Virginia Department of Corrections had proceeded to violate the terms of that settlement multiple times.^{[190][192][199][200]} In July, the Marshall Project reported that Virginia's prison population had decreased by the smallest amount of any state in the nation during the pandemic.^{[190][192][201]}

Outbreak at the Farmville Detention Center

In July 2020, when an outbreak of COVID-19 occurred at the Farmville Detention Center, Northam's administration responded by twice offering to have the Virginia Department of Health help conduct testing at the facility. Those offers were then declined for undisclosed reasons. Because ICE facilities are not operated by the Virginia government, Northam reasoned that he was unable to unilaterally intervene in the situation – a conclusion that some immigration advocates have disputed. Before the outbreak, Northam had unsuccessfully urged the Trump administration to conduct point prevalence testing at ICE facilities, and soon after the outbreak, Northam joined with Virginia senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in calling on the Trump administration to intervene at the Farmville facility. In a letter to President Trump, Northam requested that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dispatch a team to address the situation.^[202]

That summer, it was reported that over 260 of the Farmville Detention Center's estimated 400 detainees had contracted COVID-19.^{[202][203][204]} According to ICE, most of those infected at the facility were asymptomatic, although the detainees themselves and their lawyers claimed that many detainees at the facility developed symptoms.^[202][205] In August, The Washington Post wrote that the Farmville facility had what was at the time "the nation's largest coronavirus outbreak inside a detention center."^[203] In September, the same publication reported that over 330 detainees at the facility had been infected during the outbreak.^[206]

Shortly before the start of the outbreak, seventy-four undocumented immigrants had been transferred to the Farmville Detention Center from facilities in Arizona and Florida. These detainees were neither tested nor quarantined prior to arriving at the Farmville facility, even though they were transferred from facilities where COVID-19 had already occurred. A lawsuit filed in July on behalf of detainees at the Farmville facility argued that the Farmville Detention Center had violated its own policy when the transferred detainees were not quarantined.^{[lower-alpha 2]} The lawsuit further argued that crowded conditions, poor ventilation, infrequent testing, and insufficient medical treatment had contributed to the outbreak, while detailing the use of pepper spray and solitary confinement on detainees who protested these conditions.^{[202][203][207]}

Per Northam's request, a CDC team conducted a week-long evaluation of the Farmville Detention Center in August.^[208][209] Although the team described failures to observe CDC guidelines at the facility as minimal, it faulted staff members for wearing masks inconsistently and for not always isolating after developing symptoms associated with COVID-19. It also expressed concern that the layout of the facility made physical distancing impractical in certain areas. Citing these findings, a federal judge ordered a new inspection of the facility later that same month.^[209] This new inspection found that the facility had managed to adopt physical distancing procedures but faulted the facility for not always isolating symptomatic detainees. It also faulted some detainees for not wearing masks.^[206] The Washington Post later reported on the conditions at the facility in greater detail, explaining that most infected detainees remained in their regular dorm rooms during the outbreak because there were only nine medical isolation rooms in the facility.^[207] The publication further reported that staffers at the facility continued to work during the outbreak "through nausea, diarrhea and breathlessness" and were allegedly asked to work even after testing positive for COVID-19.^[207] Several detainees at the facility abandoned their asylum cases and asked to be deported so as to escape the outbreak. At least one of them was killed soon after returning to his home country.^[207]

In early August, a Canadian national detained at the Farmville Detention Center died of COVID-19 shortly before he was to be deported.^{[206][207][210]} A few days later, a federal judge ordered the Farmville facility to stop admitting new detainees.^[207][211] Later that month, the outbreak ended.^[207]

In September, an official from the Department of Homeland Security stated that the detainees from Arizona and Florida had been transferred to the Farmville Detention Center as an excuse to transport Special Response Teams on charter flights to Washington D.C., where the teams were then used over the summer to suppress that city's George Floyd protests. A former ICE official has corroborated this claim. Although moving weapons and equipment is easier for ICE employees on charter flights than it is on commercial flights, ICE employees are only allowed to travel on charter flights when accompanied by detainees. The decision to transfer detainees to the Farmville Detention Center so that Special Response Teams could travel on charter flights has been described by multiple officials from the Department of Homeland Security as an abuse of the ICE charter flight policy. Although ICE claimed that the detainees had been transferred from facilities that were near capacity, official records reviewed by The Washington Post show that the Arizona and Florida facilities were not actually near capacity when the transfers occurred. The Farmville facility's own capacity before accepting the transferred detainees was already much higher than the capacities of many other detention centers around the country.^[206]

From September through December 2020, the only other immigration detention center in Virginia, the Caroline Detention Facility, experienced smaller outbreaks of COVID-19.^{[212][213][214][215]} On October 21, in response to the outbreaks at both the Farmville and Caroline facilities, Northam signed a bill granting the Virginia state government permanent authority to conduct both health inspections and wrongful death investigations at detention facilities in the state.^{[214][215][216]}

Alleged kidnapping plot

On October 8, 2020, a federal indictment against six men associated with the Wolverine Watchmen, a Michigan-based militia group, was unsealed. The indictment charges the men with plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and violently overthrow Michigan's government.^[217] During a court hearing on October 13, an FBI agent testified that the suspects had also discussed kidnapping Northam in response to his mitigation measures against COVID-19.^[218][219]

School Masking

In March 2020, as part of the statewide response, Governor Northam shut down schools across the commonwealth for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.^[220] For the 2020-2021 school year, local Virginia districts determined whether schools were shut down for the year. Schools that remained open to in-person attendance were required to have mitigation measures in place that aligned with CDC guidelines. Mitigation measures included face masks for children ages 10 and up.^[221]

In July 2021, after the COVID-19 vaccine had achieved widespread distribution, Northam announced that he would urge but not require continued masking in schools.^[222] However, in August 2021, Northam and State Health Commissioner Norm Oliver issued a new public health order mandating universal masking in all K-12 schools, which included both public and private schools, for children ages 4 and up.^[223]

During the fall 2021 gubernatorial race, Republican Glenn Youngkin made school mask mandates the center of his "Parents Matter" campaign, and he defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Northam's mask mandates was widely cited as one reason for Youngkin's successful race.^[224]

Felony larceny threshold

After Northam was elected governor, The Washington Post identified an opportunity for bipartisan legislation in raising Virginia's felony larceny threshold.^[324] Set at $200, the threshold was then tied with New Jersey for lowest in the nation.^[74][325] The threshold's value had not been raised since 1980, and had it kept pace with inflation, would have been equal to around $600 in 2017.^[326] Outgoing governor Terry McAuliffe attempted during his final year in office to raise the threshold's value to $500 but was unable to advance such a proposal through the legislature.^[327][328] During Virginia's 2017 gubernatorial campaign, Northam's opponent, Ed Gillespie, voiced support for the $500 threshold,^[329] while both Northam and McAuliffe called for the threshold to be raised even further to $1,000,^[325][326] a value more closely aligned with the thresholds used in a majority of other states.^[326]

In February 2018, about a month after his inauguration as governor, Northam struck a deal with the Republican-controlled legislature to raise the felony threshold to $500; in exchange, Northam gave support to Republican-sponsored legislation that would require criminal defendants seeking parole to first pay full restitution to victims.^[326][330] McAuliffe had vetoed a comparable restitution bill the previous year. The Washington Post's editorial board called Northam's compromise "a small step toward fairer justice in Virginia", but voiced concern that the restitution bill would place an onerous burden on poor defendants; the editorial board also noted that the $500 threshold would still be one of the country's lowest and, when adjusted for inflation, under the level that had been set in 1980.^[330]

On March 4, 2020, after Democrats won control of the Virginia state legislature, Northam signed a bill raising the felony larceny threshold to $1000.^{[331][332][333]} The Roanoke Times described this action as fulfilling one of Northam's "criminal justice reform priorities".^[332] Upon signing the bill, Northam said, "While we will continue to hold people accountable for their actions, it's important that the punishment fit the crime. This bill will bring Virginia in line with the majority of states in our country, modernizing our law to ensure that one mistake does not define a person's entire life."^[333]

Virginia's policy of suspending driver's licenses

During their respective gubernatorial campaigns, Northam and his opponent, Ed Gillespie, both criticized Virginia's practice of suspending driver's licenses for unpaid court-ordered fines and fees.^{[329][334][335]} Northam campaigned on an official end to this practice, while Gillespie wanted to "functionally end" the practice through the use of payment plans.^{[329][lower-alpha 8]} In the year Northam was elected governor, the Legal Aid Justice Center estimated that Virginia's policy of suspending driver's licenses for unmade payments had impacted around one million people.^[342][343] At that time, Virginia was facing a class action lawsuit over this issue.^[344]

While advocating for a repeal of the practice, Northam remarked, "Often, people don't pay court costs because they can't afford it. Suspending their license for these unpaid fees makes it that much harder on them."^[345] He argued that a repeal would make it easier for people to pay their debt, noting that people who are prevented from legally driving struggle to earn an income.^[346] Although The Washington Post noted that similar policies were facing scrutiny at that time throughout much of the United States,^[339][345] the publication also wrote that Virginia's policy was among the strictest in the nation, as Virginia was one of the few states where the debt-based suspension of driver's licenses was not limited to cases in which money was owed due to traffic violations.^[347]

In January 2019, the Virginia state Senate passed a bill that would have repealed the penalty of suspending driver's licenses for unpaid debt, but that February, a Republican-controlled subcommittee in the House of Delegates defeated the bill.^[348][349] In March of that year, a repeal of this penalty was included by Northam as an amendment to the state budget.^[350] The penalty could not be fully repealed by the budget. Instead, the budget was able to pause the penalty for one year.^[351][346] Virginia's legislature adopted Northam's proposed budget amendment, which also reinstated driver's licenses that had been suspended solely for unpaid debt.^[352][353]

This occurred in the wake of a commitment from Northam to focus the remainder of his tenure on combating racial inequities in Virginia.^[350] The Washington Post's editorial board found that Virginia's debt-based suspension of driver's licenses disproportionately impacted minorities and described the repeal of this policy as a priority for the state's Legislative Black Caucus.^[354][355] While developing that year's state budget, Northam was embroiled in scandals concerning racist content found in his college and medical school yearbooks. Explaining how the criticism he had faced over these scandals was informing his approach to the state budget, Northam said, "There's a level of awareness regarding race inequities in Virginia that we have never seen - that I have never seen in my lifetime. I am going to do everything...to really bring some good from the events that happened six weeks ago...Actions speak louder than words, and now is our opportunity over the next three years to really take action."^[350]

In April 2020, after Virginia's General Assembly came under Democratic control and before the above-mentioned budget amendment was set to expire, Northam signed a bipartisan bill making the effects of the amendment permanent.^{[356][357][358]} That same month, Northam signed separate legislation ending the suspension of driver's licenses in Virginia both for non-driving related drug offenses and for theft of motor fuel.^{[359][356][360]} He also repealed a mandatory minimum sentence of ten days that Virginia had been imposing on third or subsequent convictions of driving with a suspended license.^{[361][362][363]} Virginia was among the first US states to end the practice of suspending driver's licenses for outstanding debt^[356][361] but was the 45th state to end the practice of suspending driver's licenses for non-driving related drug offenses.^[360]

Limited reinstatement of parole

During Virginia's 2020 legislative session, there was discussion among the General Assembly's newly Democratic majority about the possibility of fully reinstating parole, which had been abolished by the state in 1995 under then-governor George Allen.^{[364][365][366]} Only prisoners sentenced before 1995 or under a youthful offender statute^{[lower-alpha 9]} remained eligible for parole after the enactment of the 1995 ban, unless they qualified for geriatric parole, which was not abolished.^{[367][368][369]}

Northam's administration argued that Virginia's parole ban had exacerbated the state's racial inequities, led to an increase in elderly inmates receiving costly medical care at the state's expense, and strained the state's prison capacities.^[365] A full repeal of the ban was not approved in 2020, although legislation signed by Northam that year reinstated parole in limited circumstances.^[370][371]

One of these circumstances addressed certain prisoners sentenced during the first five years of the parole ban.^[365][372] Before the 2000 state Supreme Court case Fishback v. Commonwealth ruled that juries in Virginia must be informed of the state's parole ban, many juries in Virginia had been unaware of the ban.^{[lower-alpha 10]} Prisoners sentenced by these uninformed juries came to be known as the "Fishback inmates".^{[374][375][376]} Virginia remained at the time one of the few states where juries could determine sentencing, and in some cases, an uncorrected misconception among juries that parole still existed in Virginia increased the length of sentences imposed on these inmates.^{[371][373][374]} As the court's ruling in Fishback v. Commonwealth had no effect on already imposed sentences, it granted no relief to the Fishback inmates.^{[371][373][376]} After Northam took office, it was estimated that around 300 of these inmates remained imprisoned, a small portion of them for non-violent felonies.^{[374][375][377]}

An effort to extend parole eligibility to the Fishback inmates was undertaken by Northam's gubernatorial predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, but McAuliffe was unable to earn support for such a measure in the state's legislature.^{[373][374][378]} Northam continued that effort unsuccessfully for the first two years of his own governorship^[374] before achieving results in 2020.^{[371][376][379]} Under reform signed by Northam that year, all Fishback inmates still incarcerated became eligible for parole, except for those who had been convicted of a Class 1 felony or the sexual abuse of a minor.^{[375][379][380]} By the time Northam signed this bill, the cause of the Fishback inmates had largely won favor among prosecutors in Virginia, according to the Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys.^[375] In April of that year, responding to the COVID-19 health pandemic, the Virginia General Assembly adopted an "emergency clause" amendment proposed by Northam to grant parole eligibility to Fishback inmates immediately; new bills are usually enacted on July 1 of each year.^{[381][382][383]}

Another piece of parole reform enacted by Northam in 2020 concentrates on juvenile offenders.^{[365][376][384]} At the start of Northam's governorship, Virginia law denied parole eligibility to nearly all juvenile offenders sentenced as adults after 1995.^{[367][384][385]} Only those sentenced under a youthful offender statute still qualified.^[367] This put Virginia in conflict with the 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miller v. Alabama, which ruled that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole are an unconstitutional penalty for juvenile offenders. By 2020, several other states had already adjusted their laws to be compliant with Miller.^{[367][384][385]} Virginia's refusal to do so before 2020 led The Washington Post's editorial board to write that Virginia had failed during the preceding years to respect the decision.^[384] On February 24, 2020, Northam signed bipartisan legislation making all Virginia inmates convicted as juveniles eligible for parole after serving twenty years of their sentences.^[376][384] This made Virginia the 23rd state to prohibit life sentences without the possibility of parole for juvenile offenders.^[384][385]

A plan to expand geriatric release was also included in Northam's 2020 agenda for criminal justice reform.^{[369][386][387][388]} Under Virginia law, only prisoners older than sixty who have served at least ten years of their sentences or those older than sixty-five who have served at least five years of their sentences qualify for geriatric release.^{[365][379][389]} In 2020, Virginia's legislature considered, but did not pass, a bill backed by Northam that would have created two additional categories of inmates eligible for geriatric release: those older than fifty-five who have served at least fifteen years of their sentences and those older than fifty who have served at least twenty years of their sentences.^{[365][379][386][388]}

Before 2020, the Virginia Parole Board could not use terminal illness as a reason to release inmates, although it could advise the governor on offering Executive Medical Clemency to certain inmates estimated to have less than three months to live.^{[388][389][390]} This compassionate release policy for terminally ill inmates was the second most restrictive in the country,^{[lower-alpha 11]} and Virginia remains the only state that does not tailor any form of early release to inmates with complex, nonterminal illnesses or permanent disabilities.^{[370][388][390]} A bill to establish parole for inmates who are terminally ill or permanently incapacitated was supported by Northam during Virginia's regular legislative session for 2020^{[369][386][387]} and passed in the state Senate^[365] but was not passed in the House of Delegates.^[370] Later in the year, Northam called a special legislative session partially devoted to criminal justice reform, and during this session, on October 28, he signed a bill allowing the parole board to grant conditional release to terminally ill inmates estimated to have less than twelve months to live; the bill largely excludes inmates convicted of violent crimes.^{[391][392][319][393]}

Sentencing and prison reform

Although early in his governorship, Northam signed a bill imposing a new mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison for those convicted of murdering a police officer, in May 2019, he vowed not to sign any further legislation imposing mandatory minimum sentences. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, he argued that such legislation is racially discriminatory and leads to over-incarceration.^{[262][263][264]}

A year later, Northam signed a law exempting juveniles tried as adults in Virginia from mandatory minimum sentences.^{[394][395][396]} That same year, he enacted further reform for juveniles in the Virginia justice system by signing a bill that requires judicial approval for anyone under the age of sixteen to be tried as an adult; Virginia law had previously given prosecutors the discretion to charge anyone fourteen years or older as an adult.^{[356][359][372][397]}

In December 2019, Northam directed the Virginia Department of Corrections to suspend a policy that had allowed strip-searches to be performed on minors during prison visitations.^[398][399] In April 2020, he signed legislation making the suspension of that policy permanent and barring prisons from threatening permanent bans on visitors who refuse to be strip searched.^{[400][401][402][403]} Although it had already been against the policy of the Virginia Department of Corrections to permanently ban visitors who refuse to be strip searched, there had been several instances of prisons threatening such bans.^[400][401]

Another reform signed into law by Northam in 2020 allows judges to dismiss misdemeanor or non-violent felony charges against defendants with autism or an intellectual disability when the court determines that the defendant's criminal conduct was linked to such a disorder or disability and after the defendant has completed a period of probation.^{[404][405][406][407]} That same year, Northam signed a bill tasking the Virginia Department of Corrections with developing accommodations for people with developmental disabilities.^[404][408]

Two bills expanding credit programs for Virginia inmates were signed by Northam in 2020. The first of these allows Virginia inmates to pay fines and court costs with community service credits earned during incarceration. Virginia law had previously allowed these credits to be earned only before or after incarceration.^{[372][409][410]} Northam signed the bill in March, saying that it would further prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration into society.^{[411][412][413]}

The second of these bills increases the amount of sentence credits that inmates can earn toward early release.^{[414][415][416][417]} When Virginia abolished parole in 1995, it did so as part of a larger "truth in sentencing" initiative that also capped at fifteen percent the amount of time inmates could earn off their sentences through good behavior.^{[365][418][419]} The bill signed by Northam raises that cap, although only for certain inmates.^{[415][417][419][420]} Those who qualify can have their sentences reduced by up to a third.^[319][420] Deferred during Virginia's regular legislative session for 2020, the bill was passed and signed later that year, when Northam called a special session partially devoted to revisiting criminal justice reform.^{[415][418][421]}

During that same special session, Northam signed a bill allowing defendants convicted by juries in Virginia of non-capital offenses to have their sentences determined by judges. Prior to this bill, juries in Virginia were responsible for determining the sentences of anyone they convicted, and judges rarely exercised their ability to revise jury sentences. The bill signed by Northam gives anyone convicted by a jury in Virginia of a non-capital offense the option to choose between having their sentence determined by a jury or by a judge.^{[417][422][423][424][425][426]}

At the time of this reform, Virginia had been the only state in the country, aside from Kentucky, where juries were required^{[lower-alpha 12]} to sentence anyone they convicted.^[423][425] This requirement had been part of Virginia law for over two hundred years.^{[423][424][426]} Most Virginia prosecutors opposed lifting the requirement,^[417][423] and the effort to do so failed during Virginia's regular legislative session for 2020,^[422] before nearly failing again during the special session. Lifting this requirement was one of the highest priorities during Northam's tenure in office for Virginia's criminal justice reform advocates, who noted that jury sentences are usually much longer than sentences determined by judges and that consequently, before jury sentencing was made optional in Virginia, defendants in the state often took plea deals to avoid jury sentences.^{[417][422][423][424][425][426]}

Another bill signed by Northam during the 2020 special legislative session clarifies that prosecutors in Virginia are allowed to dismiss charges against defendants. This had previously been ambiguous under state law.^{[319][lower-alpha 13]}

Death penalty

Ralph Northam opposes the death penalty.^[428] On March 24, 2021, he signed a law abolishing the death penalty in Virginia.^[429]

Writs of actual innocence

Another reform enacted by Northam in 2020 eases the petition process for writs of actual innocence.^{[372][430][431]} Through this process, which Virginia established in 2004, newly available evidence is examined, and if found exonerating by a court, the petitioner's criminal record is expunged. In its original form, this process was available almost exclusively to petitioners who had pleaded not guilty at trial; among those who had pleaded guilty, the process could be used only by a petitioner who had received a death sentence or whose conviction permitted a life sentence. Prior to the reform enacted under Northam, any failed petition that had been based on nonbiological evidence could not be followed by a new petition also based on nonbiological evidence, and any successful petition had to be found by a court to contain "clear and convincing evidence" that the petitioner had been wrongfully convicted.^{[432][433][434]} Under legislation signed by Northam, anyone is allowed to petition for a writ of actual innocence, regardless of how the petitioner pleaded at trial, petitioners are allowed to pursue writs of actual innocence any number of times through the presentation of new evidence that is either biological or nonbiological, and for any petition to succeed, it need only to be supported by "a preponderance of the evidence".^{[432][433][434]} By changing "clear and convincing evidence" to "a preponderance of the evidence", Virginia's standard for granting writs of actual innocence was lowered to conform with the standards employed by a majority of other states.^[432][433] An additional bill reforming the writs of actual innocence unanimously passed the state legislature in 2020 and was signed by Northam: it allows private laboratories to test DNA evidence when the Virginia Department of Forensic Science is unable to do so.^[435][436]

Police reform

In 2020, Northam signed the Virginia Community Policing Act, which bans the practice of bias-based profiling by Virginia police officers and requires those officers to collect demographic information during all traffic stops or investigatory stops that occur in the state. This same law requires all law enforcement agencies in Virginia to collect the number of excessive force complaints that they receive and to report all of this information into a statewide database. Findings from the database are to be shared annually with the Governor, the Attorney General, and the General Assembly.^{[437][438][439][440][441][442]}

Later that year, Northam responded to the murder of George Floyd by convening a special legislative session largely devoted to criminal justice reform. During that session, Northam signed several bills enacting police reform in Virginia.^[319] These bills banned the use of chokeholds by officers in all situations except for when it is "immediately necessary to protect the law-enforcement officer or another person",^{[391][319][443]} introduced a requirement that officers must intervene when witnessing other officers engaged in excessive force,^{[391][319][443]} made Virginia the third state–and the first since the killing of Breonna Taylor–to ban no-knock search warrants,^{[391][444][445][446]} introduced requirements that officers be in uniform when serving search warrants and that most search warrants served at night receive authorization from a judge or magistrate,^[447][448] banned officers from making traffic stops for various minor infractions or from conducting searches solely on the basis of smelling marijuana,^[319][449] limited the forms of military equipment attainable by police departments, banned officers from having sexual relations with anyone in their custody,^[319] established Virginia's first statewide code of conduct for officers and a statewide, standardized training curriculum for officers,^[319] provided for the state-level decertification of officers who engage in misconduct,^[319][450] granted the state Attorney General the power to conduct investigations of local police departments, granted localities the right to establish civilian review boards with subpoena and disciplinary powers, and created what is known as the MARCUS Alert system, which provides for mental health professionals to accompany police officers who are responding to mental health crises.^[319]

The restrictions placed on warrants apply only to search warrants and not to arrest warrants.^[448] The restrictions on traffic stops were enacted to reduce pretextual stops.^[449] The state's standardized training curriculum includes a focus on racial bias, mental illness, de-escalation, and crisis intervention. The civilian review boards are optional for localities and have oversight of police departments but do not have oversight of sheriff's departments.^[319][391]

Repeal of unconstitutional prohibitions

On March 4, 2020, Northam signed legislation repealing three Virginia laws that courts had already ruled to be unconstitutional: a law prohibiting the possession, consumption, or purchase of alcohol by anyone that a court rules to be a "habitual drunkard";^[451][452] a law prohibiting premarital sex;^{[451][453][454]} and a law prohibiting the public use of profanity.^{[451][455][456]} Although none of these laws were enforced with regularity by 2020, each of them continued to be enforced to some extent either until or nearly until they were repealed.^{[454][456][457][458]} In the same year that Northam repealed these laws, he also repealed Virginia's unconstitutional Jim Crow laws, which by that time, had already been long unenforced.^{[297][305][459][460]}

Virginia's law regulating "habitual drunkards", first introduced in the 1870s, was enforced until 2019, when it was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.^{[452][457][461]} Prior to that ruling, Virginia had been the only state aside from Utah suspending the drinking rights of people designated "habitual drunkards".^{[458][457][462]} Virginia law still allows courts to suspend the drinking rights of individuals convicted of drunk driving.^[463][464] The "habitual drunkard" designation had often been used to jail homeless people in Virginia.^{[457][461][462]} Those who received this designation in Virginia and subsequently violated the associated restrictions placed upon them could face up to a year in jail and a maximum fine of $2,500.^{[457][461][463]} These same penalties applied to anyone with the aforementioned designation who appeared publicly intoxicated.^{[451][452][462][lower-alpha 14]} In the final years before this law was overturned, it had been enforced primarily in Virginia Beach. The only other Virginia city that made significant use of the law in its final years had been Roanoke.^{[457][462][458]}

Virginia's law banning fornication was ruled unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court in 2005.^{[453][467][468]} At that time, CNN reported that the law "had not been enforced criminally against a consenting adult since the middle of the 19th century",^[467] although in 2014, The Virginian-Pilot reported that small numbers of people continued to be convicted of fornication in Virginia even after the aforementioned 2005 ruling.^[469] In 2020, Mark Levine, who introduced the bill to repeal the law, explained that 21st-century fornication charges generally resulted from plea deals or from instances in which the defendants were already charged with other crimes.^{[453][454][468]}

According to The Washington Post, Virginia's law banning public profanity dates back to at least 1860.^[470] CNN dates the law even earlier, to the late eighteenth century.^[456] Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled such laws unconstitutional in 1971,^[456] Virginia's ban on public profanity continued to be enforced in rare instances up until the law was repealed in 2020.^{[455][456][470]} Before this law was repealed, public profanity had been a misdemeanor in Virginia and carried a maximum fine of $250.^{[465][471][472][473]} The same classification and penalty had applied to Virginia's ban on fornication.^{[451][453][474]}

G3 initiative for state-funded tertiary education

While campaigning for governor, Northam proposed a plan for Virginia to offer free community college and workforce training to students in high-demand fields who commit to a period of public service.^{[486][487][335]} Northam has called this plan "Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back", or "G3" for short, and as governor, he has included G3 as part of his two-year budget proposal, which will be considered in the 2020 legislative session.^[488]

For students participating in G3, the state of Virginia would cover educational expenses that remain after other forms of financial aid have been used; as such, G3 has been described as a "last-dollar" program.^[486][488] It would only be available to students from low-income and middle-income households; the estimated cut-off would be about 400% of the federal poverty level, although this could vary depending upon a household's overall ability to afford costs. While participating in G3, students would have to maintain at least a 2.0 GPA and would be required to have a three-year graduation plan. Only students eligible for in-state tuition would qualify for the program.^[488][489] According to Inside Higher Ed and The Free Lance-Star, G3 is one of the few free tuition programs in the United States available to students of all ages.^[490][491] Returning students, part-time students, and dual enrollment students are all allowed to participate in the program.^{[490][491][492]}

Under G3, the cost of tuition, fees, and books would all be covered, and students receiving Pell Grants would qualify for additional aid.^{[488][489][490]} Community colleges would earn a $500 financial incentive for each of their G3-participating students receiving a full Pell Grant who completes 30 credits, and an additional $400 financial incentive would be earned by the community college once each of those same students completes an associate degree.^[489][490]

There are no fixed fields of study that would be included within the G3 program; rather, different fields of study could be included on a changing basis, as determined by economic projections and employer needs.^[490] Cybersecurity, coding, clean energy, early childhood education, health care, public safety, and skilled trades are some of the fields of study identified for inclusion.^{[13][486][489]}

Students participating in G3 would be required to fulfill two hours^{[lower-alpha 16]} of public service, community service, or work experience for each of their academic credit hours.^[488][489] This requirement could be fulfilled through taking a position with local or state government, joining a nonprofit organization, or working in one of Virginia's economically depressed regions.^[486][488]

Medicaid expansion

On June 7, 2018, Northam signed a bipartisan bill expanding Medicaid in Virginia.^[523] This fulfilled one of his central campaign promises.^[524][525] Northam's predecessor, Terry McAuliffe, had tried to implement Medicaid expansion throughout his term, but was blocked by Republicans, who controlled the state legislature at the time and opposed the expansion.^[526][527] Following the 2017 election, which brought significant gains for Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates, Republicans still held a narrow legislative majority, but opposition to Medicaid expansion had diminished among Republicans, and several crossed over in support of the bill.^[523] Once the bill was enacted on January 1, 2019,^[528] Virginia became the 33rd state to expand Medicaid^[525][528] and the first to do so since Louisiana in 2016.^[529][530] Enrollment in the expanded program began on November 1, 2018.^[531] By the beginning of 2019, more than 200,000 Virginians had enrolled in Medicaid as part of the expansion.^[532]

As part of a compromise with Republican legislators, Northam agreed to a Medicaid expansion plan that would include a work requirement for most able-bodied, childless adults. The work requirement has not taken effect, as it cannot be implemented without a waiver from the federal government.^[533][534] Northam's administration initially sought such a waiver, but following Virginia's 2019 midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of the state legislature, Northam paused Virginia's request for the waiver, which at the time was still pending.^[534][535]