Local
Poll shows McAuliffe maintains slight lead over Cuccinelli
Virginia gubernatorial candidates to debate in McLean on Sept. 25
Terry McAuliffe (center) at an Equality Virginia fundraiser in Arlington, Va. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
A new poll shows former Democratic National Committee Chair Terry McAuliffe continues to maintain a slight lead over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in the commonwealth’s gubernatorial race.
The survey of 1,005 likely Virginia voters that Quinnipiac University conducted between Sept. 9-15 found McAuliffe ahead of Cuccinelli by a 44-41 percent margin. Seven percent of respondents said they support Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Robert Sarvis.
The Quinnipiac University survey comes on the heels of a Rasmussen Reports survey that found McAuliffe ahead of Cuccinelli by a 45-38 percent margin.
A poll that Public Policy Polling conducted on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters between Aug. 27-28 found McAuliffe ahead of Cuccinelli by a 44-37 percent margin. Nine percent of respondents said they support Sarvis.
“We never put much stock in a single poll, but with more than half of Virginians finding Cuccinelli and his extreme social agenda unfavorable everyone should expect to see the Cuccinelli campaign become more and more desperate in the final weeks of the campaign,” McAuliffe campaign spokesperson Josh Schwerin told the Washington Blade.
Cuccinelli campaign spokesperson Anna Nix noted the race remains close.
“As voters learn more about Ken Cuccinelli’s record of fighting for Virginia and Terry McAuliffe’s record of putting himself first at the expense of workers, they are going side with the attorney general,” she told the Blade. “With each passing day, the energy and enthusiasm on the ground in support of Cuccinelli grows and with less than 50 days, our campaign is working to deliver victory on Nov. 5.”
Quinnipiac University released its survey two days after Cuccinelli and McAuliffe filed their latest campaign finance reports.
Cuccinelli reported he raised $5,687,527.04 between July 1 and Aug. 31 and spent $6,106,440.89 over the same period. His campaign finance report also indicates the Republican Governors Association made $3,740,132.44 in in-kind contributions to his campaign during the same period.
McAuliffe reported his campaign raised $7,355,246.09 between July 1 and Aug. 31, and spent $8,357,719.66 during the same period. His campaign finance report notes the DNC’s Political Party Committee made $15,618.84 in in-kind contributions to his effort to defeat Cuccinelli between July 1 and Aug. 31.
McAuliffe’s campaign finance report also indicates Planned Parenthood Virginia, the NextGen Climate Action Committee, the Service Employees International Union and the Sierra Club are among the groups that have also contributed to his campaign.
Gay advocates continue to criticize Cuccinelli
Virginia Democrats and LGBT rights advocates have repeatedly criticized Cuccinelli; Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate E.W. Jackson and state Sen. Mark Obenshein (R-Harrisonburg,) who is running for attorney general, over their opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples and other gay-specific issues.
Chief Justice John Roberts last month denied Cuccinelli’s request to place a stay on a three-judge panel’s March ruling that struck down Virginia’s anti-sodomy statute while the U.S. Supreme Court considers his appeal of it. Cuccinelli said during a debate against McAuliffe in July that Judy Woodruff of PBS NewsHour moderated that his “personal beliefs about the personal challenge of homosexuality haven’t changed.”
Cuccinelli last October also spoke at an anti-gay marriage rally at a Manassas church to which the Blade was denied access.
“When I knock on doors in Northern Virginia, it is clear to me that voters are starting to pay attention,” state Del. Rob Krupicka (D-Alexandria) told the Blade on Wednesday. “I regularly hear about women’s rights and equality from voters concerned about how our state is perceived in the rest of the country.”
State Del. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax,) who in January introduced a bill that would have repealed Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, echoed Krupicka.
“Ken Cuccinelli has worn his crusades against women, the LGBT community, immigrants, the environment, and the federal government on his sleeve for the last decade and especially for the last four years,” Surovell told the Blade in response to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. “His ticketmates have stood by recent comments that gays are ‘ikky,’ ‘wrong and unacceptable,’ and ‘very sick people.’ It is obvious to anyone in Virginia that this is the most ideologically extreme ticket we have ever seen in Virginia and it is showing in the polls.”
Gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) agreed.
“The general electorate is just starting to tune in, as is typical after Labor Day,” he said. “While lots of people know that Ken Cuccinelli is against equality, we have to make sure everyone knows.”
MSNBC’s Chuck Todd on Sept. 25 will moderate a Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce-sponsored debate between McAuliffe and Cuccinelli in McLean.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. will be moderating a panel at Dupont Underground on Sunday. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride wins anti-stalking order against local activist
Darren Pasha claims action is linked to his criticism of Pride organizers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb. 6 partially approved an anti-stalking order against a local LGBTQ activist requested last October by the Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based LGBTQ group that organizes the city’s annual Pride events.
The ruling by Judge Robert D. Okun requires former Capital Pride volunteer Darren Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, board members, and volunteers until the time of a follow up court hearing he scheduled for April 17.
In his ruling at the Feb. 6 hearing, which was virtual rather than held in-person at the courthouse, Okun said he had changed the distance that Capital Pride had requested for the stay-away, anti-stalking order from 200 yards to 100 feet. The court records show that the judge also denied a motion filed earlier by Pasha, who did not attend the hearing, to “quash” the Capital Pride civil case against him.
Pasha told the Washington Blade he suffered an injury and damaged his mobile phone by falling off his scooter on the city’s snow-covered streets that prevented him from calling in to join the Feb. 6 court hearing.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him by Capital Pride, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
The Capital Pride complaint initially filed in court on Oct. 27, 2025, includes an 18-page legal brief outlining its allegations against Pasha and an additional 167-page addendum of “supporting exhibits” that includes multiple statements by witnesses whose names are blacked out.
“Over the past year, Defendant Darren Pasha (“DSP”) has engaged in a sustained, and escalating course of conduct directed at CPA, including repeated and unwanted contact, harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior targeting CPA staff, board members, volunteers, and affiliates,” the Capital Pride complaint states.
In his initial 16-page response to the complaint, Pasha says the Capital Pride complaint appears to be a form of retaliation against him for a dispute he has had with the organization and its then president, Ashley Smith, last year.
“It is evident that the document is replete with false, misleading, and unsubstantiated assertions,” he said of the complaint.
Smith, who has since resigned from his role as board president, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment at the time the Capital Pride court complaint was filed against Pasha.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos and the attorney representing the group in its legal action against Pasha, Nick Harrison, did not immediately respond to a Blade request for comment on the judge’s Feb. 6 ruling.
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