25 places in Virginia that readers say statewide candidates should visit

This began with a simple question: What’s the westernmost point in Virginia our statewide candidates have been to?

When Cardinal’s political reporter, Elizabeth Beyer, put that question to candidates before the June 17 primary, we found that only two of the 12 candidates at the time had been to Lee County — our westernmost county — in the course of campaigning. A third had been there in his youth.

That prompted me to write a column on why candidates should take time to visit Lee County, even though it has few votes available — just 0.2 % of the total votes cast in last year’s presidential election in Virginia — and even fewer available for Democrats. Lee County voted 85.69% for Donald Trump, meaning Kamala Harris took just 1,391 votes in Lee — meaning she won more votes in some single precincts in Fairfax County than she did in all of Lee County. 

I followed that up with a column on 25 places in Southwest Virginia — mostly the part of Southwest west of Interstate 81 — that statewide candidates should visit because they offer opportunities to learn lessons about policy decisions that officeholders may face. That proved popular, so I wrote a third column: 25 places across the rest of Southwest and Southside that statewide candidates should visit for policy-education purposes. (I’m hung up on the number 25 because it’s 2025.)

I also asked readers for their suggestions and got another 25 places (or more!), not all of them in Southwest and Southside. Here’s what some of our readers had to say. I had previously made candidates an offer: If any of them visited Lee County and sent a picture, I’d use that in our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital. Attorney General Jason Miyares was already scheduled to be in Lee County, so the photo of him at a law enforcement roundtable in Pennington Gap has already run. Today, I’ll broaden that offer: If any statewide candidate visits any of these places readers suggest, and send a photo, I’ll also use that in West of the Capital. 

Some readers suggested places that didn’t have a clear policy point involved, but would simply be good places to learn about a community. Jay Poole of Richmond, who grew up in Wytheville, suggested Skeeter’s, a Wytheville restaurant that brags it has sold more than nine million hot dogs in its 100 years of operation. Taylor Snow of Henrico County pitched the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention. I can’t disagree with any of those, but for our purposes here, I erred on the side of including suggestions that could be tied to some policy lesson. 

Some readers had a clear political point to make with their suggestions, but even a candidate who holds an opposite view could learn from these places. I’ve also added some commentary to provide some context to go with the reader suggestions: 

1. Calfee Park, Pulaski

Powerful local public and private investments have created a community hub through minor league baseball. The importance of “third places” has been reported by media and researchers alike. Calfee is the essence of a third place! 
Taylor Snow, Henrico County

Calfee Park in Pulaski is the oldest continuous minor league baseball park and is a great community resource. [This addresses] the importance of sports tourism to a small, rural economy. 
Jay Poole, Richmond

The baseball stadium in Pulaski was so popular that it was mentioned by multiple readers. Calfee turns 90 years old this year and offers several policy lessons. The first is the importance of public investment: It was built in 1935 as a Works Progress Administration project. It’s now owned by Pulaski County, and, as a baseball fan, I can testify it’s a great venue. This is the Virginia equivalent of visiting a historic Major League Baseball park such as Boston’s Fenway Park or Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Calfee also speaks to how outside forces can impact a community. Pulaski used to have a minor league team, the Pulaski Yankees, who were formally affiliated with their New York namesake. Then Major League Baseball’s soulless number crunchers decided they needed fewer minor league teams. The entire Appalachian League — in which teams from Pulaski, Danville, Bristol and Bluefield played — was left out of the new minor league order and evolved into a summer league for college players. Today, Calfee hosts the Pulaski River Turtles.

There’s not much a governor can do about a professional sports league making decisions that hurt small communities, but there is a legitimate policy question here: How much should the state encourage sports tourism? This year, the General Assembly passed a bill — sponsored by Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico County, and Sen. Chris Head, R-Botetourt County — to establish a Virginia Sports Tourism Grant Program. A report on how it should work is due by Oct. 31. How much money does our next governor think should be allocated to this program?

2. Water and sewer systems in small communities

I will try to make this as succinct as possible: Visiting and understanding the policy and cost of operating small rural water and sewer infrastructure, especially in topography like Southwest Virginia and mountainous areas. I think people have a better understanding of their importance due to the damaging effect of Helene in western North Carolina and far southwest Virginia but also the water issue in Richmond this past January.

These systems are expensive to operate, maintain and expand. But my real worry and focus is the workforce to operate it. Being a Chamber of Commerce representative, every economic meeting I have been to, I have tried to advocate for better workforce training and exposure to those positions. I have always said “they will not be the sexy splashy headlines of Company XX plans to bring 500 new jobs. But if we don’t have those handful of people at the water and sewer plants, those 500 jobs are never going to happen.” 

Example: I also serve on Stuart Town Council. We operate the only public water and sewer system in the county. Our annual total operating budget is $2.1 million. We recently completed a long overdue sewer plant upgrade totaling about $1 million. Thankful to have COVID money and USDA Rural Development to assist. But we are also still paying off a 40-year loan for upgrades at our water project. 

If we had a company come to Patrick Springs and we needed to run bigger water lines to that area, not sure how the Town could afford it and how is a county supposed to afford to go ahead and run those lines in the “hopes” of having a company decide to come? Yes, Rural development is great (and our projects would not have happened without them) and so are other grants. Many of those grants require a match or USDA Rural Development will do a loan/grant project finance. That still leaves a locality on the hook for a match or “saddled” with a loan. Even low interest loans can be a burden to many small counties and municipalities. 

We have the area of Meadows of Dan which is right along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Growth in tourism for that area is difficult for a variety of reasons, but one is there is no public water/sewer access. The next thing is the workforce at these plants. Our plant is class 2. If someone walked in today, it would take them three years to earn a Class 2 operating license. Having these positions are vital for the current vitality of the communities they serve as well as for any future economic development. But we need more exposure and easier/quicker means for certification. Many in this profession are retiring. I have always encouraged kids who wish to stay local to investigate these positions because they cannot be outsourced out of the area. However, again for many of the more rural and small localities it is difficult to find budgeting funds to bring interns, entry level positions to help begin the training so they can learn all they can from current employees. 
Rebecca Adcock, Stuart

I’ve never met Adcock, but based on this suggestion, our next governor should be appointing her to some economic development board because every word she speaks here is absolute truth. It’s easy for people to say a community should “go out and get such-and-such” economic development project, as if these things were on the shelf at Walmart, but the details are often far more important and far less glamorous. The availability of water and sewer is one of them.

3. Southside Virginia 

Any large flat-ish cornfield in rural Southside VA where land and electricity are “cheap,” my home county of Nottoway comes to mind. Pressure to sell off land to data center developers is coming … probably sooner than later. Candidates could benefit from rural Town Hall style meetings in these areas of Virginia. Land owners and residents in these areas need knowledge, help, regulations, etc. on how to deal with the changes that are on the horizon. Candidates need to absorb voters’ concerns, then develop platforms that would help landowners who would rather keep farming or establish land trusts, and/or help residents whose property value/quality of life are adversely affected by land owners who wish to sell. For example, the data center tax windfall could cover real estate tax breaks for property owners adjacent to data centers, property improvements to reduce the effects of noise and improve views, in addition to fast tracked funding for better schools and recreation (make property values/desirability/demand go up, not down).
Joseph Lyn Wilkinson, Newport

The geography here is broad, but the reader seems very on target. Much of rural Virginia, particularly in Southside, is grappling with the arrival of solar developers. Virginia’s Clean Economy Act mandates that the state’s two biggest utilities — Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power — convert to a carbon-free renewable grid by 2050. In practical terms, that means lots of solar. Dominion has an offshore wind farm under construction off the coast of Virginia Beach, but so far, there’s not a single onshore wind project in the state (although there is one under construction in Botetourt County). Solar has not always been popular in rural areas. Some property owners love it — this means previously unproductive land is now generating revenue. Other rural residents despise it — they see solar as turning their rural landscape into an industrial hellscape. (Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.)

Now, data centers are on their way, as Northern Virginia starts to feel the same way about them as some rural areas do about solar. We could all stand more education on these things, and the candidate would profit from hearing from people in rural areas who might wind up living next to a solar farm or data center. 

4. Ashburn and Leesburg in Loudoun County

Ashburn and Leesburg to see the enormous challenges that an unconstrained data center industry has imposed on this portion of Northern Virginia, caused in large part by data center proponents and developers having enormous power in offering short term economic gains while dodging the longer term economic costs and lowered quality of life for the affected communities to bear later. Candidates should learn that representative government in Richmond should represent the residents of the at risk communities rather than the special interest data center developers and their utility buddies. 
Lowell Smith, Berryville

I didn’t ask readers to limit themselves to our coverage area in Southwest and Southside, and we do have readers from across the state, some of whom offered suggestions. Smith obviously has certain views about data centers, but that doesn’t negate his point: If future officeholders are going to make policy about data centers, they ought to see them up close. 

5-6. Veterinary schools in Blacksburg and Ewing

The VT Veterinarian School and the LMU campus that is in Virginia to really find out why there is such a shortage of large animal veterinarians.
Rebecca Adcock, Stuart

The General Assembly this year passed, and Youngkin signed into law, a measure to address the shortage of large animal veterinarians. Adcock suggests that wasn’t enough. What we popularly know as “the Virginia Tech vet school” is more formally the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. Less well-known is the other veterinary school in Virginia, an offshoot of Lincoln Memorial University. LMU is in Tennessee, but the vet program is in Lee County — yet another reason for candidates to go so far west. 

7. Private colleges in Southwest Virginia 

Emory and Henry, Appalachian School of Pharmacy and Appalachian School of Law. Nonprofit private higher education is a critical part of the Southwest Virginia economy. 
Chris Peace, Richmond

Peace, a former Republican legislator, now heads the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia, which represents private colleges. Peace is right: If we look more broadly at Virginia, we see that more than half of the state’s private colleges are on the western side of the state — the three Peace cites are simply the westernmost ones. Even private schools factor into state policies, most notably through the Tuition Assistance Grants that Virginia offers. Whether private or public, all colleges fit into the state’s overall policy goals of producing a talented workforce, with the Appalachian School of Pharmacy in Buchanan County speaking to a specific niche in the health care sector. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate for governor, has already visited Emory & Henry University to learn more about its health care programs, so she can check off this box. 

8. Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton

VA school for the Deaf & Blind (facing budgetary challenges)
Brian Dettelbach, Staunton

The reader didn’t go into details about those budgetary challenges, but all schools face budgetary challenges; this state-run school obviously has a specialized mission that a future governor ought to know about.

9. Flood-stricken areas in Southwest Virginia

Abingdon-Damascus areas affected by flooding last year.
Lynn Yates, Salem

I’d suggest expanding this to include other parts of Southwest Virginia that have been hit hard by flooding, notably Buchanan and Tazewell counties.

When we elect a president, we often ask how ready that potential chief executive will be to handle the proverbial 3 a.m. phone call about some crisis. We don’t routinely ask that of potential governors, but maybe we should. Gov. Glenn Youngkin gets high marks in Southwest for his handling of floods there — when they were forecast in advance, he did a good job of getting responders in place, then showed up soon after the event and kept coming back. 

State policy doesn’t end there, though. The state has now started to do something it hasn’t done before: pony up money for relief and reconstruction. How much can the state afford to do? And we all need to remember that the aftereffects of floods linger long after the water goes down and the politicians go away. The Voice, a weekly newspaper serving Buchanan and Tazewell, recently reported that the only bank in the community of Hurley has closed. February’s floods damaged the building too much to make it worth repairing. A place that’s been flooded is now a banking desert. Our next governor needs to understand all this. Earle-Sears was part of some of Youngkin’s inspection tours after Helene and separately toured Claytor Lake, which was filled with debris after Helene, so she gets credit for that.

10. Proposed landfill site in Russell County

Candidates should visit the old mine site that was proposed as a landfill in Russell County, near Wise County border. Local opposition shut this idea down. Question: What is a good new industrial opportunity for this site, where there is drainage and damaged soil, etc.? Also, where should Russell County take its waste now, since it opposed the landfill? One reason for the landfill was because trucking offsite was “very expensive.” This issue remains unresolved.
Nancy Wolf, Cedar Bluff

While this might seem a local issue, it directly connects to state issues: What can the state do to encourage economic development on former mine sites in Southwest Virginia? 

11. Industrial parks in Russell County

Visit Russell County and see the empty shell buildings that once housed factories employing several people from Russell and surrounding counties. Russell County was the mainstay of the Pittston/UMWA coal strike in 1989, which ultimately led to the closure of coal mines, resulting in the unemployment of hundreds of miners. Since then, the county has strived for employers to locate in the Industrial Park, with some success.

Visiting more rural areas, throughout the state, as these communities are more receptive to power plants, data centers, and possibly a small nuclear plant that the Governor has mentioned. These facilities would produce a lot of job opportunities that the municipalities don’t want in their community, such as prisons, which were constructed all over Southwest Virginia. 

I would like candidates to visit this area that struggles to draw employers to the area. The work ethic is here, but not the jobs! 
Doug Howard, Lebanon

The point Howard wants to make applies to other communities as well. The details may vary, but the larger message is the same. There are communities in rural Virginia that are begging for jobs. We don’t live in a state-directed economy (that’s a good thing), so the government can’t order companies to locate in certain places, but a governor does have certain persuasive powers. What can the next governor do to make some of these places more attractive to employers? That’s a simple question with a complicated answer, but Howard is right: A visit to either the Cumberland Plateau Regional Industrial Park and/or the Russell Regional/Business Technology Park, both of which are in Russell County, would give our next governor a better feel for the situation.

As for data centers and nuclear power, they’re addressed in another reader suggestion to come.

12. The Cumberland Forest Project in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Wise counties 

The VA Nature Conservancy work on the 100,000 plus acres of mine land they purchased. 
Mike Quillen, Bristol

In 2019, the Nature Conservancy acquired 253,000 acres in two parts of Appalachia, one site in Southwest Virginia, the other along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The land in each site is not necessarily connected, but they are clustered together. The goal was to both preserve what’s called a “biologically rich” habitat and also use the land to help build a new economy in Appalachia, through “sustainable” logging, developing renewable energy sites and promoting outdoor tourism. Coal and gas companies still own the mineral rights on much of the property; their royalties are going into a community fund. The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism recently published a lengthy update on the project that quoted supporters who were excited by the project’s potential and critics who felt the project is misguided. 

13. Roanoke River greenway and Roanoke Mountain campground

Closed Roanoke Mountain campground. Tremendous asset that needs to be utilized. 

Both unfinished ends of the Roanoke River Greenway. These final connections will make all the difference. 
William Fralin, Roanoke

These are two separate things, but they both fit under the general heading of outdoor amenities in the Roanoke Valley, and the valley’s outdoor quality of life has become a big economic development selling point. Fralin is a former Republican legislator from Roanoke who is now involved with VOICe, the Valley Outdoor Infrastructure Committee, that wants to see more attention paid to some of the valley’s outdoor assets.

14-17. Outdoor recreation in Southwest Virginia 

High Knob, Devils Bathtub Conservation. Local beauty plus challenge to find. 
Mike Quillen, Bristol

Candidates need to visit the Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve in which, hopefully, with state funding, will draw in tourists & outdoorsmen in addition to access to the new Clinch River State Park for kayaking, fishing, and outdoor camping with nearby trails for 4 wheeling/ATVs with rentals available.
Doug Howard, Lebanon

I’m counting High Knob, Devils Bathtub, Pinnacle Natural Area Preserve and Clinch River State Park as four separate entries. The trails with four-wheelers/ATVs that Howard mentions are part of the Spearhead Trails system, so that’s a fifth one. This is all part of the new economy in Southwest Virginia. How can the next governor help promote that rising economic sector?

18. Oak Hill, Loudoun County

Oak Hill, to learn why this historical environmental gem so compellingly needs to be accepted by the GA into the Commonwealth’s state park system. 
Lowell Smith, Berryville

This Loudoun County estate was one of the homes of President James Monroe. It’s currently in private hands and the owners would like to sell it to the state at a discount. The General Assembly has been reluctant to do so, on the grounds that managing a historic estate isn’t something the state park system is accustomed to doing, and it’s wary of future upkeep costs. The danger is the property gets sold off and turned into, well, um, data centers.

19. Communities along the Mountain Valley Pipeline

Giles County. Any other county affected by the Mountain Valley Pipeline. 
Matthew Wagle, Pembroke

I’m guessing that Wagle isn’t a supporter of the natural gas pipeline, which runs from northwestern West Virginia to Chatham in Pittsylvania County. While the pipeline is a done deal, it still helps illustrate some policy questions that remain very much with us: Everybody agrees we need more energy, but few people want an energy site near them. Democrats, who prefer solar power, have to contend with restive rural areas that are pushing back against the proliferation of solar farms. Republicans, who advocate an “all of the above” approach that includes (and encourages) natural gas, have to contend with some tech companies that insist on renewables. How, exactly, are we going to build more energy sources when each form of energy generates many megawatts of local opposition? A reader above spoke warmly about a possible nuclear energy site in Southwest Virginia; there are many others in Southwest who are adamantly against nuclear — yet we all want the lights to come on. 

20. Farms

Candidates need to know about issues with agriculture. Farmers will vote for someone who is knowledgeable and cares about their issues. 
Jack Wall, Floyd

We spend a lot of time talking about data centers and energy, but agriculture remains Virginia’s top private industry, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “The industries of agriculture and forestry together have a total economic impact of over $105 billion and provide more than 490,000 jobs in the Commonwealth,” the department says. “Every job in agriculture and forestry supports 1.6 jobs elsewhere in Virginia’s economy.” That data is also four years old, so it’s likely those figures are higher now, given the rate of inflation. 

21. Any convenience store

Any convenience store/gas station in rural Virginia, particularly west and south of Richmond, at the end of a work day or midday on a weekend. Candidates would learn that these “check-to-check” voters want their allegiance valued, and not forgotten. 
Joseph Lyn Wilkinson, Newport

I am reminded of the story I heard once about a former state legislator from rural Virginia who every Saturday would drive around his district, stopping at convenience stores. He’d buy a little bit of gas at each one, just to have a reason to stop and chat. By day’s end, he had a full tank of gas, and lots of good will from people who regarded him as a “man of the people.” He wasn’t just seen out talking to people, he really was out talking to people. I realize that kind of approach is impractical for a statewide candidate, but the point is a good one. Wilkinson adds some specific advice for Spanberger: “The Super Valu convenience store parking lot in Newport, 430-530pm on a weekday, noonish on a weekend. Break the ice by giving the folks you meet in the lot the opportunity to vent why they don’t trust your political affiliation, and then sell how your actions could positively affect their lives if they are willing to give you that opportunity.”

22. Bristol

The failed Bristol VA Landfill which continues to heat and offgas, the failed The Falls retail & site … and the destroyed Virginia Intermont College … host to trespasses and subsequent fires, and the acres of toxic remains from the December 20, 2024 devastating fires. All of these failures add up into the 10’s of millions of dollars, which makes Bristol extraordinarily unappealing to substantial economic development. Three massive failures, surrounded by blight, vacant properties and decaying infrastructure.
Mike McGirr, Bristol 

I had mentioned the Bristol landfill too, but this reader reframes that suggestion in the context of other problems in the city. The big picture: It’s well-documented that Bristol is financially stressed. Those finances are improving, but any candidate for statewide office would do well to understand the situation, especially since some of these problems — such as the landfill — have wound up costing the state money, too.

23. Clifton Forge

Home to three major economy-driving arts institutions — the 41-years-standing Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center, the Clifton Forge School of the Arts, and the Historic Masonic Theatre — Clifton Forge is now overseeing the re-opening of the historic Green Pastures recreation area. During the Jim Crow era, Green Pastures was the only outdoor recreation site where Blacks could safely congregate in a wide swath of Appalachia … and it drew thousands of visitors from many states. Then it fell into disrepair, and its story went quiet. A week ago, on June 15th, Green Pastures drew more than 300 people of all ages and backgrounds for a celebration of renewal on its 85th anniversary. The recipient of a Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia grant, Clifton Forge is overseeing the rebirth of this historic site. … If you want to find a place where people of all backgrounds and beliefs are working together cooperatively to tell their story with grace and beauty and truth … come to Clifton Forge, where the arts and the outdoors come together to tell important stories in new ways. In this time of division and discord, Clifton Forge stands as an example of strong cooperative effort. Candidates, come and see and learn! 
Joan Vannorsdall, Clifton Forge

State funding played a part in the renovation of the Historic Masonic Theatre and the restoration of Green Pastures. The former fits into the pattern of small communities using arts venues as tourist draws — think of what the American Shakespeare Center has meant for Staunton or the Harvester Performance Center has meant for Rocky Mount. The latter fits into the pattern of communities in the western part of the state using the outdoors as an economic draw.

24. Berryville

Berryville, county seat of Clarke County. Here, in this semi-rural area, a candidate could learn how local government has had the foresight over many decades to manage for the good of its residents the explosive development forces surrounding it, and how successful it has been in fostering a vibrant local economy while at the same time preserving the historic patrimony of its farms and natural resources. The candidate could learn that wisdom can be found in allowing enlightened local governments to manage their challenging land use issues, and to keep the heavy hand of Richmond off their necks as they do so. 
Lowell Smith, Berryville

Here’s a reader who clearly loves their community and wants candidates to learn from it. There’s also a policy question here: How much power should state government have and how much should local governments have? 

25. Anywhere in Southwest Virginia

Anywhere west of New River. 
Mike Quillen, Bristol

The headline raises a philosophical question: Where does Southwest Virginia begin? For the benefit of statewide candidates who aren’t familiar with the region, don’t make the common mistake of saying you’ve been to Southwest Virginia because you’ve been to Roanoke. Some in Roanoke may think they’re in Southwest Virginia, but those who are really in Southwest Virginia would just laugh at that. Quillen has the right idea: To truly be in Southwest Virginia, you need to at least be west of the New River. Even then, it’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive before you get to the Cumberland Gap. Put another way, if you’re in Radford, on the northern banks of the New River, you can get to Richmond faster than you can get to the Cumberland Gap. At least that’s what Google Maps says, but Google Maps doesn’t have to deal with traffic delays on Interstate 81.

That’s why I’m so insistent that statewide candidates really need to set foot in Lee County, to appreciate the vast distances in Virginia — and to truly say they intend to represent the whole state. (The same logic also applies to Accomack County on the Eastern Shore.) 

Of the six candidates on the statewide ballot, only Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, Republican Attorney General Miyares and his Democratic challenger, Jay Jones, have been to Lee County — and Jones says he was there when he was younger and accompanying his late father on business when Jerrauld Jones ran the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger has been as far west as Norton and Wise County; lieutenant governor hopefuls Ghazala Hashmi (the Democrat) and John Reid (the Republican) have been as far west as Scott County. Some of these candidates need to do a little more travelling to get to know the state they want to govern.

Dianna Mullins of Wise County shared some advice that no political consultant can fully appreciate: “People here remember candidates that SHOW UP.”

Want to see where the candidates stand? Both candidates for governor have now answered our questionnaire. See our Voter Guide. We’ve also sent questionnaires to every House of Delegates candidate across the state and every local candidate in our coverage area. We’ll post those responses in August.

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