(Commentary) Doolittle, who played college ball at the University of Virginia, was openly critical of President Trump's response to the racist violence in Charlottesville. He has a brother-in-law with autism, and decries Trump's mocking of a reporter's physical challenge. Turning down what may be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go to the White House: that takes guts.
Despite the scandals, the party has a good chance of winning the state Senate and a shakier but still "better than even money" shot at the state House, says J. Miles Coleman, the associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball, which provides nonpartisan analysis on elections through University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
Trump is hardly popular in the commonwealth, a state he lost to Hilary Clinton by over five points in the 2016 election. He’s not popular among most Americans, either; a 2019 University of Virginia/Ipsos poll found that Americans rank Trump among the worst presidents since World War II.
Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said the Army Ranger's joining the race is a good development for the GOP: "I think this makes the district more competitive than it was prior to Parnell entering the race."
Notably, Trump has avoided Virginia, where Democrats found success in suburban swing districts in last year’s congressional elections. Tuesday’s election could offer a test of whether the anti-Trump surge that tipped those districts remains potent. “You’re seeing this nationalization happen,” said Kyle Kondik, an elections analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “These states are good tests for that.”
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, won’t find out his fate this week. A candidate with Edwards’ approval rating and track record would have been easily re-elected 20 years ago, said Kyle Kondik, who analyzes elections at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “But in this era, where party label is so much more meaningful and politics are so nationalized, even at the state level, it gets harder,” he said.
"There are a couple of electoral backstops for [Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate] Reeves, at least one of which is legally solid," wrote Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. "If neither candidate satisfies both of those conditions, the state House will pick the next governor -- almost certainly Reeves, given that the GOP has a healthy majority in the chamber."
A University of Virginia secret society has committed $1 million to the new Student Health & Wellness Center and to the renovation of Alderman Library.
Once again, thousands of people attended the Virginia Film Festival, which screened more than 150 films this year. According to a release, 27,022 people attended paid and attended free events at the 2019 festival.
Three kids who received care at UVA Children's hospital were surprised with a free weeklong trip to Disney World, Universal Studios and Seaworld in Florida on Monday.
After rising eight places last year, UVA’s Darden School of Business jumped another four spots this year to claim a fifth-place finish, it’s best Businessweek standing ever.
(Commentary by Siva Vaidhyanathan, professor of media studies) When Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, announced on Wednesday that Twitter would no longer host political advertisements, he scored points with those who lament the ways social media platforms have polluted political culture. At Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg responded by reaffirming that his company would continue to distribute political ads without fact-checking them.
Psychologists Daniel Gilbert from Harvard and Timothy Wilson from the University of Virginia have found that humans generally are bad at predicting how we will be affected by future events. Their research shows that people tend to overestimate the emotional effect of bad events and underestimate their ability to cope with those events.
Instead of requiring students to submit their applications by midnight on Friday, colleges, such as the University of Virginia and Columbia University, changed the deadline for students affected by the fires. Due dates varied based on the school, but they generally ranged from midnight on Nov. 8 to midnight on Nov. 15.
For 24 hours, dozens of University of Virginia Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets will keep vigil for the missing and captive as part of the corps’ annual Veterans Day ceremonies. The vigil at the McIntire Amphitheater is a tradition among UVA cadets, but this year it will exclude the traditional 21-gun salute usually performed by the color guard from local American Legion Post 74.
Samuel Lengen, a research associate at UVA’s School of Data Science, has noted effects of big data and social networks on less powerful groups: "The truth is that datafication, with all its privacy implications, does not affect everyone equally.”
The Accelerated Master’s Program in Systems Engineering is helping veterans make their transition into civilian life smoother. The program allows students to maintain and grown in their careers while furthering their education.
Voters in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia will elect either a whole slew of state lawmakers or a governor and other statewide executives. "The conventional wisdom – often repeated in legislative circles – is that Virginia does not want to moor its ship to the federal man-of-war," said UVA law professor Dick Howard, who helped write Virginia's current constitution.
After retiring as a partner at the Richmond law firm of Hunton & Williams, he returned to his law school alma mater, the University of Virginia, in 2006 to direct the Miller Center of Public Affairs.
“Luiz is extremely well qualified to take on the role of executive director of CCI and brings a wealth of experience through his recent role in managing a similar center,” said Melur “Ram” Ramasubramanian, vice president for research at the University of Virginia and CCI executive director search committee member. “He will be very effective in positioning Virginia as a world leader in cybersecurity, data analytics, machine learning, and autonomous systems.”