The Politics Hour: Virginia’s newly elected U.S. Rep. James Walkinshaw and D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen

Fairfax voters this week overwhelmingly elected Democrat James Walkinshaw to succeed the late Gerry Connolly in Congress in Virginia's 11th district. Walkinshaw, who was sworn in on Wednesday, takes over for his mentor during a particularly tumultuous time for Northern Virginia. Congressman Walkinshaw joined the show to discuss the 51,000 civilian federal workers who live in the district, a potential regional recession, and the possibility of a federal shutdown. Plus, we asked him to weigh in on Virginia's upcoming statewide elections.The House Oversight Committee advanced a series of bills this week that threaten to further undermine D.C.'s autonomy, including legislation replacing the locally elected D.C. attorney general with a presidential appointee, allowing youth 14 years or older to be tried for certain offenses, and ending cashless bail in the District. Introduced amendments also called for revoking the city's ban on right turns on red and prohibiting automatic traffic enforcement cameras. Also, this week, the federal takeover of D.C. police expired. Ward 6 D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen took the mic to discuss what comes next and why he believes the legislation would make the District less safe. We'll also asked about the upcoming second RFK stadium vote.Send us questions and comments for guests: [email protected] us on Instagram: instagram.com/wamu885Follow us on Bluesky: bsky.app/wamu.org