Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello is taking his talking tour to Virginia's colleges this week, courting a youth vote that helped propel Bernie Sanders in last year's presidential race.
Perriello's Q&A sessions with students range in discussion about economic trends, disparate treatment of races, ways to create clean energy jobs, free higher education and the chance for Virginia to be the first state in the country to lead a progressive revolt against President Donald Trump, who ran what the 42-year-old calls "the most overtly racist campaign of my lifetime."
Perriello on Thursday met with groups of about 30 people, first at Virginia Commonwealth University and then at the University of Richmond with a fundraising meeting in between. His schedule then took him to Longwood University and on Friday he'll visit Hampton University, Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk State University and the College of William and Mary.
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The former one-term congressman from Virginia's 5th district, a self-described "Charlottesville liberal" who now lives in Northern Virginia, is in a tight race with Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam in the June 13 primary for the Democratic nomination. The winner will face one of three Republicans: Political strategist Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee; state Sen. Frank W. Wagner, R-Va. Beach; or Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
Backs free higher education
"I believe all higher education should be free," Perriello told the group at VCU. "I've worked around the world. The countries we're competing against make it free."
He proposes two years of debt-free community college, trade school or career and technical training program for any Virginian.
How would it be paid for?
"It's actually a pro-growth strategy," Perriello said during a brief interview between campus stops. "When we bring people off of public assistance and into a taxpaying job, it actually makes money for the state.
"What we can't afford is not to get people the skills they need to move into the working- and middle class."
Several students who attended Perriello's talk at VCU said they were Sanders followers.
Armando Vega, 19, a junior from Chesapeake studying political science and psychology, volunteered for the Sanders campaign and began researching Perriello a few months ago after hearing about his campaign. Perriello's vote for the Affordable Care Act as a member of Congress in 2010 told Vega he was "someone that was willing to do something that was very unpopular in his own district because he knew it was the right thing to do."
Vega said he'll vote in the primary in Chesapeake.
Bradley Heath, a senior at Open High School in Richmond's Oregon Hill, turned 18 in January and says he will vote in the primary. He likes Perriello.
Death penalty
He asked Perriello at VCU if he would intervene in the pending execution of murder-for-hire killer Ivan Teleguz later this month. Some church leaders and some conservative activists have asked Gov. Terry McAuliffe to halt the execution, saying there's doubt about Teleguz' guilt.
"There's no more difficult decision that a governor's going to have to make," Perriello said. "And I know Governor McAuliffe will look at that and take it very seriously. I don't want to put myself in his shoes."
Perriello said that Virginia's previously high rate of execution dropped after defendants began getting better legal counsel. He said that raises questions about how to handle death-row inmates who got bad representation - and for that matter, the many people incarcerated for lesser crimes in an era with shoddy defense attorneys. And the large number of people incarcerated without being convicted because of the state's strict bail laws.
"I would say that this is a smaller-scale version of the Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders race," said Austin Center, 19, of Henrico, a sophomore at VCU.
"I see more of a vision for the future with Perriello," said Center's girlfriend, Megan Weeks, a senior at Freeman High School in Henrico. "I'm looking for more of a change."
Dominion donations
Perriello drew applause once during his talk at VCU, when he said he won't take campaign donations from Dominion Virginia Power or any regulated utility.
"It's important to remember these utilities are not just the biggest contributors to the Republican Party in Virginia. They're also the biggest contributors to the Democratic Party in Virginia," he said. "And we rank last or next to last on clean energy, renewable energy and energy efficiency."
Perriello said his campaign focus is town hall meetings and Facebook Live events. He asked for questions and feedback.
At VCU and the University of Richmond he pitched his ideas on state refinancing of student loan debt to help lower costs and debt forgiveness for people who take jobs in professions like mental health or addiction services. Students at UR asked him about his past conservative positions on gun rights and abortion.
Perriello said he would - like McAuliffe - veto any bills that make gun laws more permissive. And he said he was wrong in Congress when he voted for the Stupak-Pitts amendment to the Affordable Care Act, which would have restricted federal funding of abortions.
Melisa Quiroga-Herrera, a University of Richmond junior from Fairfax County studying health care leadership, asked Perriello about his position on children of immigrants who consider Virginia their home, and about educational disparities in school districts in different parts of the state.
She later said in an interview that she learned English as a second language in kindergarten in Fairfax County. She works with an organization that helps tutor students in Richmond, and the city's ESL programs lag, she said.
"The students I work with in the high schools in the city of Richmond - they're extremely capable of learning it, but they don't have a good system," she said.
She said she wanted a better answer from Perriello on what he would do as governor to protect the rights of immigrants.
"I definitely don't want an establishment Democrat," she said. "I kind of want somebody who goes against the typical narrative."