Good news - Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin fails! [View all]

[DET]

You may recall that Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin proudly announced some time ago that he had negotiated a deal with billionaire Ted Leonsis to relocate Leonsis’ Capitals and Wizards teams from Washington DC to Alexandria, Virginia. The teams would be housed in a brand new stadium to be built at taxpayer expense. Unfortunately, however, Youngkin negotiated this deal without input from the legislature, the taxpayers, or the community.

When Youngkin finally announced the stadium deal, opposition was fierce. Youngkin proposed locating the stadium in Potomac Yard, a largely undeveloped big parcel of land in Alexandria near National Airport. My husband used to commute to that area every day and traffic is miserable under the best of circumstances. Game days would be hell. Taxpayers were not favorably inclined towards using a billion dollars or so of their money to underwrite an investment opportunity for a billionaire and a vanity project for the Governor. Moreover, there was no guarantee that the stadium would be a financial success, especially since parking was estimated to cost $75 per car and hotel rooms $700 per night. The Democratic legislature did not appreciate being left out of the negotiations. No one was more fierce in their opposition than State Senator and Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas, an outspoken 80 year old Black woman. In the end, Ms. Lucas and other stadium opponents were able to delay the deal long enough for DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to negotiate a 515 million dollar deal with Leonsis to keep his teams in DC.

Meanwhile, a bizarre twist in the negotiations resulted in the proposal of a combined stadium and casino to be located in Tysons Corner in McLean, an upscale office/shopping/living complex. Tysons Corner is the size of a small city. Traffic there is unbearable. I used to commute to Tysons daily - until I couldn’t stand it anymore. It sometimes took half an hour just to get through one particularly awful traffic light in Tysons. Fortunately, this proposal did not get much traction.

The finger pointing has begun in Virginia with the collapse of the Alexandria deal. I’m sure Youngkin was counting on this deal to display his exceptional negotiating and revenue producing skills as a springboard towards the 2028 Presidency - generally assumed to be his ultimate goal.

Louise Lucas summed up this entire kerfuffle in her own inimitable way…

“This is a freakin legendary smackdown so now the incompetent losers behind the effort are out telling lies and conspiracy theories,” she wrote on X, “instead of just admitting they got their asses kicked by an 80 year old (affectionately called) ghansta legislator.”