With an eye on becoming Virginia’s next lieutenant governor, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney says he’ll be spending a lot of time in and around Alexandria before next year’s election day.
With just five months left in office, the 43-year-old two-term mayor of Virginia’s capital city says that his statewide strategy to “dominate the landscape” with his presence has worked in the past, and will work again.
After a series of meetings in Northern Virginia, Stoney sat down with ALXnow at a Del Ray coffee shop for a brief interview.
“We’re going to do our best to dominate the landscape, and that means meeting as many people as we can where they are, and that means continual travel to Northern Virginia, continual travel to places like here in Alexandria,” Stoney said.
In March, Stoney’s wife gave birth to their daughter, Sunday. The following month, after speaking with his family, he sidelined his race for governor and said that Virginia needed to be spared of a contentious primary and come together around a single candidate — U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-7).
Stoney is openly critical of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“Do I think he’s accomplished? No,” Stoney said. “I have not seen any meaningful policy accomplishment come out of the governor’s office during Youngkin’s administration. I am beyond hopeful and excited about what an Abigail Spanberger administration can do for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She understands policy, she understands how to get things done, and she’s working with both sides.”
That decision put him in a race against three opponents for the Democratic nomination — State Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-22), Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef and State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-15). He currently leads in fundraising with $792,000, with Rouse in second place with $451,000.
Stoney is known for the removal of Confederate monuments from Richmond, but said he hopes to be remembered for his city’s AAA bond rating, investments in public education and housing, as well as Richmond’s recent designation by CNN as the top town to visit in the country.
Stoney considers former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to be his best friend, brother and political mentor. It was Stoney who, as McAuliffe’s political director, worked for years to lay the groundwork for a gubernatorial win by organizing hundreds of campaign stops throughout Virginia.
Now the tables have turned, so to speak, with McAuliffe’s daughter, Sally McAuliffe, working as Stoney’s political director.
Stoney’s top issues in the race are fully funding school systems, increasing access to affordable housing, protecting abortion rights and economic expansion.
A native of Long Island, New York, Stoney and his younger brother were raised by their father, Luther, and grandmother, Mary, in Hampton Roads. A graduate of James Madison University, his career includes working as the executive director of the Democratic Party of Virginia, as well as for State Sen. Creigh Deeds’ (D-25) unsuccessful 2009 campaign for governor. After McAuliffe’s election in 2014, Stoney was appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Stoney is also an advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. He’s also made a few appearances in the city this year, most notably at the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s straw poll before the June 18 primary.
So far he’s gained the endorsement of a few prominent Alexandrians, including Mayor Justin Wilson, as well as from presumptive Mayor-elect Alyia Gaskins and City Council Member John Taylor Chapman.
ALXnow: Is it true that you were the president of the student body of your elementary school, middle school, high school and college?
Stoney: I will put one edit there. I was student body vice president in elementary school… I was the last fifth grade class that did not stay for sixth grade, but if we would have stayed for sixth grade, I would have been president.
ALXnow: What attracted you to politics?
Stoney: Leadership has always appealed to me, because I’m an older brother, and at a very young age, my grandmother and my father, they laid a lot of responsibility on my plate, and they expected me to be a leader. They expected me to be responsible. I thought, “You know what, if I have to do this at home, why not do it at school as well?
ALXnow: Can you talk about the challenges of being raised by your father and grandmother?
Stoney: My father was 18 and my mother was 16 when I was born… My dad was a former convicted felon. He made some mistakes growing up. We were living in Nassau County in Long Island, New York. I can remember my father, who had a job, but had a little side job as well, and that was selling drugs. When I would help clean his room up, I would see the capsules in the crack of the chair or the sofa. I can remember vividly him going to a place to make a transaction, and the guy he’s making the transaction with asked for me to turn my head so I didn’t see what was happening.
My uncle, who was in the military in Hampton, said, ‘Hey, you guys should move to Hampton Roads.’… My grandmother asked my mother for permission to take us to Virginia. My mother begrudgingly said yes, and it was when I announced that I was running for statewide office that my mother texted me and said, “I made the right decision to let you guys go.”
ALXnow: How long did you share a bedroom with your brother?
Stoney: I shared a bedroom my brother up until I went to college.
ALXnow: What was the reaction of your family when you turned to politics?
Stoney: They always knew that I was going to be a leader. My father, before he passed away, and I was working with Democratic Party running campaigns, he asked me a question, “Are you going to run for office one day?” I said, “I don’t know, Dad. I’m feeling a little bit jaded now. I get to see politics from a different perspective, since I’m working behind the scenes and hoping candidates get elected. I don’t know if ever want to do that.” But when my father passed away, I think his dream for me was to pursue my dreams, and I found my voice when I spoke at his funeral.
ALXnow: Tell me about how you helped McAuliffe win that election.
Stoney: I remember a phrase that I applies to everything that I do. The phrase is DTL, dominate the landscape, and that was my theme for ensuring Terry would get the nomination, to dominate the landscape.
It was something we cooked up together. I said, “If you give me your time, I’m gonna put you in the right places.” Then he said, “You have my time. You have my calendar. I’ll tell you what I can and can’t do, where I will be. But otherwise, you control everything in my political life.”
ALXnow: How important was the social unrest and pandemic to your education as a leader?
Stoney: Education and maturation. I had enjoyed a lot of success during my first three years of my first term, but then covid 19, bam, right? And it was, I think it caught every leader off guard, and it was a real mayors and local elected officials were on the front line.
I remember introducing a budget where it’s like, Oh, I love this budget. This budget is going to take Richmond to the next level, having to come back a few months and say, We’re not gonna be able to do that this year.
ALXnow: Is getting rid of the Confederate monuments your proudest achievement?
Stoney: I know that the history books will say that was my greatest achievement. Although I’ll be remembered for that, I like to think that I’ll be remembered more for more than just removing some bronzes of the past. I want to be remembered for what we did after we removed those monuments and how Richmond now, I believe, is the best city to live in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We made historic investments in public education, historic investments in housing, historic investment in parks. We not only made Richmond the best place to live in the Commonwealth, but also the best place to visit the United States of America.
ALXnow: What should replace the monuments?
Stoney: My approach has been intentional. I think number-one that we need to take a breather after the many years of discussion about what happens in one of Richmond’s wealthiest neighborhoods, and shift that discussion to memorializing the enslaved those who built Richmond, those whose blood is in the soil of Richmond. I shifted my focus to investing in the Shockoe Bottom neighborhood, where we’re going to we’re going to build a future museum to the enslaved. We started a Shockoe Institute in the train shed of the Main Street Station. We’re gonna memorialize the Lumpkin’s Jail area, known as the devil’s half acre, which was a former slave jail. That’s the hard work we have left that’s left unfinished, and I want to be known for the person who helped make that happen post the removal of those monuments.
ALXnow: Is blanketing the landscape your strategy to win the lieutenant governorship?
Stoney: I think that we’re going to take a page out of my past campaigns, either the ones that I’ve been an actual candidate, or the ones that I’ve worked on and made successful. We’re going to do our best to dominate the landscape, and that means meeting as many people as we can where they are, and that means continual travel to Northern Virginia, continual travel to places like here in Alexandria.
ALXnow: You were a proponent of the failed casino project in Richmond. Since you come from such a diverse background, how you can justify legalized gambling, and what is your opinion on skill games?
Stoney: First, let’s talk about my support for casino gaming in Richmond, which you know, the voters rejected twice, and I respect the voice of the voters… I know about the people who live in Richmond who are struggling, living paycheck to paycheck. They’re struggling to put food on the table and keep a roof with their family’s head. Making $40 to $50 an hour is a game changer for them. Right? That to me, that sounds like the ability to take themselves from living in a critical stage in their life to self-sufficiency and beyond that, generational wealth.
ALXnow: But that’s not the same as skill games in convenience stores.
Stoney: Show me a robust regulatory framework with also a robust taxation framework as well. And then I can tell you whether or not I support skill games or not. And right now, there is no framework for that, for skill games,
ALXnow: Your opponent, Sen. Rouse, wrote the bill that reverses the state ban and regulates skill games. What’s it need?
Stoney: We have to ensure that for those who are how do we protect those individuals who may have a gambling problem. How do we ensure that 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds aren’t walking into corner stores and and playing? I still don’t see a lot of that,
I think that the difference between the skill games and with casino gaming is that localities had a say in the matter. My city had a say… I think the problem for the skill games in certain localities is people feel like they don’t have a say on whether or not this will move forward.
ALXnow: What do you think about regulated marijuana sales in Virginia?
Stoney: I support the commercial marketplace for cannabis. We have to do it the right way. We should research what’s occurred in Illinois, in Colorado, Oregon, and to ensure that folks who were penalized for use or possession of marijuana in the past have a stake in what the future marketplace looks like as well. I think it can be done. I know the public is for it as well. This governor said he will not sign a bill and I think that he is being derelict in his duty to the people who you know are all for this.
ALXnow: In terms of gaining support, how are you thinking about Alexandria’s and Northern Virginia’s unique needs?
Stoney: I don’t want to use the word crisis, but the major issue facing Northern Virginia at the moment is how do we ensure affordability for all? Right now you’re seeing millennials, Gen Zers, even boomers who are fleeing Northern Virginia for more affordable locales… How do you make life more affordable in Northern Virginia?
ALXnow: What’s the difference in leading a city with a Republican administration in the White House versus a Democratic administration?
Stoney: Governing a dynamic city with Richmond’s history under President Trump’s administration felt as if chaos was always around the corner because of what he the words that came out of his mouth. I think every leader should recognize, particularly President United States, that your words matter. Compare that to my recent four years under the leadership of Joe Biden. Yeah, we’re back to normal, normalcy, even under Republican governorship, normalcy and stability. It’s a difference between chaos and this.
Your people, your constituents, react to what’s going on in the national frame. These days, everything is unfortunately nationalized. And so there were some people who thought, well, well, Trump said it, and since Trump said it, I have permission to go out and do things that we all know are racist or sexist
ALXnow: Trump gave people the green light?
Stoney: Yes, gave the the green light for people to just outwardly exhibit and demonstrate their hatred to others. That’s not the leadership I think that we need in this country. We need leadership that will willingness people put their necks out there to unite us, and President Biden, in a very difficult and polarized environment has done his damndest to try and bring us together. Sometimes, I know folks fear that there’s no going back to where things were pre-Donald Trump, but I’m the eternal optimist. I believe that the fever will break one day.
ALXnow: To get to the point to where we can agree to disagree?
Stoney: I always thought in my role as mayor, it was I did my damndest to sort of deescalate. And sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did it, but it’s really hard when you have someone at the top who has the loudest microphone, saying things that divide us instead of bringing us together.
