FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Del. David Bulova (D-Fairfax) shared his legislative priorities Tuesday during a candidates forum at George Mason University’s Dewberry Hall in Fairfax.
Republican Almira Mohammed, who is running against Bulova for the open 11th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, was unable to participate in the forum. This gave Bulova a chance to discuss what issues he has been focusing on, one of which was campaign finance reform.
“Virginia is one of the very few states left where there are no limits with respect to how much somebody can donate to a campaign,” he said. “In fact, you do see people writing $100 million checks, and it frankly undermines the integrity of our electoral system that somebody could go ahead and pour that much into a campaign.”
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If re-elected in November, Bulova planned to introduce a bill in the next general assembly session to limit campaign finance contributions.
When asked if the legislature had the stomach to support and pass such a bill, Bulova said he hoped so, but there hasn’t been much support in the last couple of years. Three years ago, Bulova was chief patron of a joint study on campaign finance.
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“It was great because we actually had members of the House and the Senate that spent the entire summer looking at how other states have done this, and came up with recommendations for how Virginia might want to change our campaign finance laws,” he said. “Unfortunately, none of that legislation passed, the only one that passed was one that I put in, that actually put in audit requirements for campaigns for the first time ever.”
When not in Richmond, Bulova works as a senior environmental planner for an engineering and environmental consulting firm. He specializes in stormwater management and Chesapeake Bay restoration.
“I can think of no higher moral obligation to our children than to be able to protect our environment,” he said. “I’m very, very passionate about doing that in Virginia, passing on to future generations a cleaner, more sustainable planet.”
During the 2022 legislative session, Bulova was the chief patron of HB 1309: Resilient Virginia Revolving Loan Fund, which put $100 million toward helping to combat climate change.
Economic development and ensuring that the economy works for everybody are also areas of focus for Bulova. He supports increasing the minimum wage to $15-per-hour and tying it to the Consumer Price Index.
“One of the things we learned from COVID is that we needed to really work on making our economy more resilient,” he said. “Part of that is ensuring that we develop a workforce that’s flexible and is going to be able to withstand the huge impacts that we have in artificial intelligence and automation.”
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Education is another priority. During the 2022 legislative session, Bulova worked with the Northam administration on HB 389: Early Childhood Care and Education Act, which helped expand the accessibility and affordability of early childhood education.
“I also am a strong believer in public education, especially public higher education, and I’ve had a chance to work in George Mason University on a number of pieces of legislation over the years,” he said.
Bulova told the audience that he first ran for office for two reasons.
“Number one, I had a great quality of life growing up here in Fairfax County and I wanted to make sure that more people could experience what I did,” he said.
Bulova’s second reason for entering politics was that he enjoyed problem solving and bringing people together and developing a consensus
“Sometimes it’s not possible to be able to come to a consensus, and you have to make very hard decisions, but I’ve always felt appreciative that even though you didn’t get the outcome that you wanted that their voices were heard and they ultimately come back to the table and participate in future conversations.”
This will be the first general election under the recently redrawn General Assembly districts. During the 2023 legislative session, Bulova was the delegate representing the old 37th District.
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The first absentee ballots for the General Election were mailed on Friday, Sept. 22, which is also when early voting started. Early voting will continue through Nov. 4, which is three days before Election Day.
More information about about how to register to vote, vote early, request an absentee ballot and find your polling place in Fairfax County is available online.
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