Hello and welcome back to Goodskews.

I'm your host, Matt Hildreth.

This year, all eyes are on Virginia in 2025.

Virginia is just one of two states in the country holding major elections.

And the results here in Virginia

will set the tone going into the 2026 midterms. And even the 28 presidential race, voters will decide

who controls the governor's office, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and also all 100 seats

in the House of Delegates. That makes Virginia a testing ground for both parties this year,

a place where strategies, messages, and grassroots energy

will be measured before the rest of the country heads to the polls next year.

Joining me today, to break this all down for us,

is Lindley Thorn of Rural Ground Game, an organization that's recruiting candidates in building local infrastructure while supporting Democrats in the communities that are too often ignored.

We talk about why it matters to compete in every district and what's moving new candidates to step up and how organizing in rural areas can make the difference

in statewide races. It's a lot of good news you're going to want to stick around for it.

So, Lindley, do you want to just give us a little bit of a context about where we're talking from?

Yeah, I am chatting with you from my poll barn here in the

Shenandoah Valley. I'm just north of Harrisonburg in Rockingham County. And yeah, a big, big year in

Virginia, high stakes for us here, but also a lot of pressure. We remember what it felt like on election night of 2017 right after Trump was first elected,

and it felt really good to show up in a way where Virginians made the case that we were going to reject

what we were seeing at the national level and fight back for our state.

And we're hoping to bring a good news story to everyone again this year.

That's great.

...