INTERVIEW – JOHN WHITBECK – chairman of Republican Party of Virginia

• TOPIC: latest on the VA governor’s race (on the Democratic side):
• CANDIDATES:

–  Ralph Northam is an American physician and politician, currently serving as the 40th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

– Tom Perriello – former congressman

• Northam and Perriello hold their fire in first Democratic gubernatorial debate in Va.
• When Northam was up, he lobbed something harder. He asked Perriello why he took campaign contributions from the NRA while in Congress, noting that it was after the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech. Perriello, who got an “A” rating from the NRA when he ran for Congress, noted he is no longer in the group’s good graces. “I called them a ‘nut-job, extremist organization’ and compared them to the John Birch Society,” he said. “I don’t imagine those checks are in the mail.”
• Tom Perriello pledges to raise income tax on Va.’s wealthiest. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Democrat seeking to be Virginia’s next governor is pledging to raise income tax rates on the wealthy while providing a childcare credit he said would help lower- and middle-class families. Tom Perriello unveiled his tax plan Friday, saying the state’s current system is outdated and favors the rich. He said as governor he would pursue increased tax rates for those making more than $500,000 a year and $1 million a year. Virginia’s current state income tax rate is 5.75 percent for any income more than $17,000 a year. Such increases would have to be approved by the General Assembly, which has generally been averse to tax increases.
• Last week: Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorses Perriello in Democratic primary for Va. gov. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma), a leader of the Democratic party’s progressive wing, endorsed Tom Perriello in the Democratic primary race for Virginia governor on Monday. Perriello is in a tight contest for the party’s nomination against Democrat Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who is backed by nearly every Democrat in the state legislature, congressional delegation and statewide office. The primary is June 13. Warren gave the nod to Perriello during an interview with The Huffington Post in which she called Perriello, a former one-term congressman from Charlottesville, “an exciting guy.”