With less than 50 days left until Election Day and the start of early voting today in Virginia, Democratic nominees for Virginia Lt. Governor, Ghazala Hashmi, and New Jersey Lt. Governor, Dr. Dale Caldwell, are continuing to slam their Republican opponents’ far-right agendas and shared their stories on the campaign trail this month.

Dogwood: Ghazala Hashmi speaks out: ‘I’m so thankful my doctor could save my life’

When Virginia Democratic state senator Ghazala Hashmi pledges to support Virginia’s constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom, she knows very personally how critical that amendment is to every pregnant woman and their loved ones in the Commonwealth.

“In my second pregnancy I was carrying twins,” she explains in an interview with Dogwood. “They passed away in utero but my body didn’t expel the fetuses and in those (types) of cases, we’ve already seen horrific situations where individuals whose bodies don’t complete the miscarriage in some states go into septic shock before the physicians can actually perform the necessary care.

[…]

“My opponent, John Reid, has already stressed that he does not support the constitutional amendment,” says Hashmi. “We absolutely need individuals in place that are going to fight for reproductive health care and in doing so, we’re actually fighting for lives.”

See more below about how Democratic lieutenant governors are leading across the country:


VIRGINIA

Dogwood: Public school defender Ghazala Hashmi takes on right-wing radio’s Reid for lieutenant governor

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, a mom of two daughters, is clear about the choice Virginians face when they go to the polls this November.

Do they want to destroy their public schools—ranked the fourth-best in the country—or make them better

Hashmi, chair of the Senate Education and Health Committee and a candidate for lieutenant governor, told Dogwood she is “fully committed to protecting public education for all Virginia schools.”

12 On Your Side: Democrat running for lieutenant governor talks about the race, issues facing Virginia

Hashmi says a new administration will also have to tackle federal cuts coming from the White House and SNAP benefits.

Hashmi says 800,000 Virginians stand to be impacted by the rollback.

“But it’s also going to impact our grocery stores. It’s going to impact our local farmers. These SNAP dollars go directly into the local economy. They shore up our grocery stores and our farming communities that serve these families,” said Hashmi.


NEW JERSEY

PIX11: NJ Lt. Gov. candidate wants to bring experience and education to Trenton

After graduating from Princeton, becoming President of the State Educational Services Commission, earning a Ph.D., and volunteering on a local school board for 26 years, Dr. Dale Caldwell is New Jersey’s Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor.

“You can either stand on the sidelines and complain, or you can jump right in,” said Caldwell. “I always wanted to get experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, and I was able to do that at senior levels.”
 

CALIFORNIA

SF Gate: SF: Elected Officials Rally At City Hall For Proposition To Redraw Congressional District Maps


Elected officials including California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, and San Francisco Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who introduced the resolution, framed Proposition 50 as an appropriate and important response to attacks on democracy by President Donald Trump’s administration.

“We are the American people. We are rebels. We fight back,” Kounalakis said. “We are going to pass Proposition 50 in order to reach fairness in Washington, for the country, as the right wing seeks to take that away from us.”


CONNECTICUT

Westfair Business Journal: Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz ‘optimistic’ about CT Sun future in state

“It’s something completely different,” Lt. Gov . Susan Bysiewicz told the Fairfield County Business Journal Sept. 5. “There have been a whole number of proposals that have been floated to bring the Connecticut Sun outside of Connecticut, Boston, for example.

“The State of CT really wants to keep the team in our state. We are also partnering with the Mohegan Tribal Nation, who have been great partners with us all along.”

CT News Junkie: Connecticut’s Minimum Wage Workers To Get 3.6% Pay Raise in 2026

Bysiewicz said it was a myth that minimum wage workers are mainly teenagers looking for extra money and said the increase would make a difference for families.

“While some states are still debating whether to raise the minimum wage at all, Connecticut is proving that smart policy and strong values go hand in hand,” she said. “We’ve raised the minimum wage, and more jobs have been created in our economy as a result. Because when wages rise, local businesses thrive. More paychecks means more spending in our shops, our restaurants, and our Main Streets. When families do better, our whole state does better.”
 

MASSACHUSETTS

Item Live: Driscoll sets stage for Marblehead Democrats
 

Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll said that grassroots groups, such as the Marblehead Democratic Town Committee, “really help inform how we set policy, how people are impacted on the ground.”

She added that it is also a great way for her to hear issues that “people really care about.” Adding, it is also important to be able to share what the state is working on and how “our vision for Massachusetts is aligned with the views here and ways that we can work together to strengthen communities, build a strong economy, and support infrastructure needs within individual communities or collectives.”

ILLINOIS

USA Today: Officials bristle at Trump’s Chicago immigration enforcement plan

Officials and community leaders are bristling at plans from the Trump administration to conduct a major immigration enforcement initiative in Chicago, an apparent expansion of the president’s previously announced plans to bring in the National Guard.

“Let me be clear: there is no emergency here − he wants to bait us,” Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Democrat, wrote on social media after the news broke on Aug. 28. “Trump’s plan to attack Chicago has nothing to do with immigration. This con of his has nothing to do with safety.”

CNN: Interview with Juliana Stratton
 



“Let me just say that Donald Trump is not focused on public safety. Look, anytime that there’s crime anywhere. In our state or around the country we want to continue to see progress being made, and we are making progress here in Illinois and in the city of Chicago. But this is not about public safety. And this is not about making our residents safer. What Donald Trump wants to happen is he wants to manufacture a crisis. [.. T]here’s going to be a surge of ice enforcement efforts. He knows that people will see those efforts and then want to speak out. Good, decent people will be heartbroken to see their neighbors being snatched off the streets and stuffed into unmarked cars. He wants to inflame tensions. And he wants to make sure that that he can cause some sort of crisis, that he can say that he’s coming to the rescue. And what we know is that we are going to follow the law here in Illinois. We are going to do everything we can to protect our residents, and we’re not going to allow this president who wants to manufacture a crisis, who wants to, quite frankly, make the military presence on American soil something that people normalize. We are going to speak out. We are going to be prepared to do everything we can to protect the residents of our state.”

KENTUCKY

WYMT: Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman dedicates high ground homes in Perry County

“Today’s a special day and this is a special place, because Hazard and Perry County is full of special people,” Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman said.

[…]

“The looks on the faces of these families when they walk in and they’re showing off their new house to people, and it’s just amazing,” Lt. Gov. Coleman said. “And I’m so happy for the families here. They deserve it. It’s been a long time coming.”

Kentucky Health News: Recovery Rally held at Capitol 

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman told the crowd that the Freedom Center in Maryland ranks Kentucky as the seventh best state in the nation for drug rehabilitation. 

“So to each of you who are working in this recovery space, that honor belongs to you,” she said. “And from the very bottom of my heart, thank you.”  

NORTH CAROLINA

Wake Tech News: Apprentices Ready to Embark on New Careers


Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt was the guest speaker and commended the graduates and new apprentices for launching their careers through the apprenticeship learn-and-earn model. She also praised employers for developing new talent by investing in apprenticeships.

“As lieutenant governor, one of my top priorities is making sure North Carolina is future-ready,” Hunt said. “That means making sure our state has the jobs of the future and the workers ready to build it. Apprenticeships are a big part of that. They let students earn while they learn. They help businesses find and train the talent they need, and they keep that talent right here in North Carolina. This is how we stay competitive in a changing world by preparing our people for what’s next.”


PENNSYLVANIA

Bucks County Beacon: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis Warns Trump and the GOP’s Forthcoming Medicaid and Food Assistance Cuts Are a Disaster in the Making


“I want to be clear: Even if you don’t use Medicaid or SNAP, these cuts will impact you and your family. This Republican tax plan will wreck our health care system and hurt vulnerable Pennsylvanians. It will blow up the federal deficit…and they’re putting it on a credit card for future generations to pay,” said Davis.

TribLive: Austin Davis: Making Pa. workplaces safer

This year we’re recognizing Labor Day with heavy hearts, in remembrance of the two steelworkers who didn’t make it home from their shift at the Clairton Coke Works a few weeks ago, Timothy Quinn and Steven Menefee.

It’s not enough to simply eulogize the workers who lost their lives. We must take action to make workplaces in Pennsylvania safer. That’s what the Shapiro-Davis administration is doing, by reforming our workers’ compensation law to ensure emergency responders with post-traumatic stress receive the coverage they deserve and the treatment they need. We’re also pushing to cover annual cancer screenings for firefighters, we’ve stepped up enforcement of child labor law violations and we’re cracking down on worker misclassification.

Pike County Courier: Gun Violence committee gathers for advisory group meeting

“Today’s convening marks a key step in our fight against gun violence and highlights the critical work that we’ve done over the past year to better understand and address the trends,” said Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). “By bringing together committed individuals from every corner of the Commonwealth, we are turning research and stakeholder input into real strategies that will save lives and make our communities safer.”


OREGON

NBC News: Trump reignites his push to ban mail-in voting after meeting with Putin


Oregon conducts its elections entirely by mail, and it was the first state to hold a presidential election by mail. Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read emphasized that voter fraud is “extremely rare.”

He said he believes Trump “is actively working to corrupt our elections. If he had any inclination to actually understand or care about the American people, he’d know that mail-in voting is really the best way to protect everybody’s right to vote, and that’s especially true for rural folks, for elderly people and for people who work for an hourly wage.”

Read also pointed to the states’ constitutional role in deciding how to conduct elections, adding, “I’m going to protect the rights of Oregonians and the rights of the state to choose how we elect our representatives. This is a real threat.”

KATU: Interview with Tobias Read
 

“Despite what Putin apparently whispered in the President’s ear, we have secure and accurate elections in Oregon. Our mail-in system is just that. It’s secure. It’s accurate. It’s honest. And Oregonians should be confident about that. If the president cared about the American people, if he were familiar with us, he would know that mail-in elections are the best way to protect American’s right to vote, because it meets people where they are. Think about people who live in rural areas, people who are elderly, someone who’s working for an hourly wage. Mail-in ballots work for them because it meets people right where they are, whether that’s in their living room or at their kitchen table. And we’re proud of the fact that we were the first state to take this approach, and we’re going to defend that.”

RHODE ISLAND

Providence Journal: ‘Political violence is unacceptable’: RI politicians condemn killing of Charlie Kirk


“Political violence is unacceptable. The attack on Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University underscores that all voices deserve safety. Our thoughts are with him, his family and everyone affected,” said Gov. Dan McKee in a statement posted on social media platform X.

Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos echoed his sentiment: “Nations all over the world look to America as a beacon of free speech. Political violence like the attack on Charlie Kirk diminishes us all. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones.”


MARYLAND

WBAL: Family of boy killed in flash flood calls for drainpipe regulations statewide with Mason’s Law


On Friday, the family announced their work to propose Mason’s Law. Eggleston said the idea has garnered the support of Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller.

“We cannot take away your pain, but we can surround you with our love and a promise that Mason’s life will never fade,” Miller said.

Mason’s Law would require marking or grading storm drains found to be dangerous across the state.

WBAL: Second annual Unity Dinner held at Towson University focusing on Black, Jewish student relations

“The students are the ones that are going to be the change-makers, who are going to set forward what our future is going to be like, so tonight it’s about being here at Towson University, bringing together Jewish and Black students and really building a friendship — and, more importantly, building coalitions,” said Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who shared words with the crowd at Towson on Wednesday. “Again, it’s about building coalitions, and that’s how we combat hate.”


HAWAI’I

Maui Now: Lt. Gov. Luke proclaims September as Digital Aloha Month in Hawaiʻi


“Together, we can create a digital environment that reflects our values – safe, inclusive and uplifting,” said Luke. “I encourage students, families, businesses, and community groups to join us in practicing Digital Aloha: treating others online with the same care and kindness we show in person.”

Hawaii News Now: Ceremony held for families moving into new Dept. of Hawaiian Homelands subdivision

On Maui Monday, a special ceremony to celebrate families moving in to a new Department of Hawaiian Homelands subdivision in Waikapu.

[…]

Luke said, “For many of you, I see in your faces the pain and joy of being right here, being able to fulfill the mandate placed on us by Prince Kuhio and the mandate that the state has in ensuring that more homesteaders more Native Hawaiians get placed on the land.“


MINNESOTA

Pioneer Press: New Tribal Flag Plaza at Capitol highlights Minnesota’s past, present


At the grand opening on Sept. 5, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said the plaza is more than just a new landscape.

​“The Capitol should tell the full story of the history of Minnesota, one that honors all 11 federally recognized tribal nations, acknowledges complex histories and builds a future rooted in inclusion, beauty and truth,” said Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the country’s highest ranking Native woman.

WDIO: Minnesota leaders speak at annual Duluth Labor Day Picnic

Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan grew up in a middle-class home and made the trip to stand with other working-class families.

“Being shoulder to shoulder knowing that the folks who are part of our labor unions are the reason why Minnesota is such a great place to live,” said Lieutenant Gov. Flanagan.


WISCONSIN

WIZM: Lt. Gov. Rodriguez discusses mental health needs in Wisconsin with La Crosse area leaders


Mental health concerns were the subject when Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor visited Onalaska on Monday. Sara Rodriguez took part in a roundtable talk with health and law enforcement workers, among others. Rodriguez recently chaired a task force looking into health care for workers, and she describes what that group learned.

“We needed more therapists, we needed more counselors, we needed more facilities,” Rodriguez told reporters at the Onalaska United Way office, where the meeting took place. “Within this new coming-up budget, there are millions of dollars to be able to invest in mental health services, but we are going to be able to need to do more moving forward,” said the lieutenant governor. She told the discussion panel that much of the funding for mental health services comes from Washington, so the state’s responsibility is deciding how to spend the money.


MICHIGAN

MLive: In Michigan, Vance joins top Republicans in rebranding Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill


Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, a Democrat and candidate for Michigan’s 2026 gubernatorial race, called [Vance’s] response a “national weaponization tour,” using this tragedy for his own political purposes instead of working to prevent the next one.

“I know about political violence,” he said, referring to a credible bomb threat reported at his home earlier this month.

“Political violence and extremism is not the fault of just the right or just the left,” Gilchrist said. “We all have to reckon with how we arrived at this moment. Our information ecosystem – dominated by social media companies and algorithms that reward outrage and amplify hate – has made it easy to believe that the most extreme voices define the other side.”

Arc West Michigan: Michigan’s lt. governor served free lunches to elementary students on their first day

Highlighting Michigan’s free schools meals, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II served lunch to elementary students with school administrators and staff on their first day of school, according to Gilchrist’s office.


DELAWARE

Coastal Point: Lt. Gov. Evans Gay set to talk to public at Selbyville Public Library


There are a handful of words that Delaware Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay lives by that are succinctly powerful: “Challenge ourselves to not only see what is, but to see what is possible.”

[…]

If she had a megaphone and could broadcast to all Delaware residents, Evans Gay would deliver two messages, she said.

“First, I would say: We are here for you. We work for the people of the state of Delaware, and I want everyone to reach out to us and rely on it. We want to be responsive across the state. We do the best to help and support our residents. Secondly, there are smart policies, so if we collaborate, we can do great things. I am excited to see us taking charge of the future of the state,” she said.


NEW MEXICO

El Defensor Chieftan: Lt. Governor tours city renovation projects

Lt. Governor Howie Morales toured two City of Socorro remodel projects, the Finley Gym and former Zimmerly Elementary School, soon to be the Socorro Police department and judicial complex.

“Coming back brings a lot of memories, especially walking through this building,” Morales said of the Finley gym.

During the tour last Wednesday, he said funding projects like the Finley Gym for community use is about quality of life and giving the youth a safe place to socialize.

KRWG: Lt. Gov. discusses education challenges in New Mexico

HOWIE MORALES: Yeah, when we look as far as the investments made in New Mexico schools, you know, the governor has really made it a priority to make a promise for the moonshot for education. Whether it’s in increasing funds from the stateside to increased compensation for our educators, we’ve been able to do that. I believe we’ve had a 24% increase in compensation since we’ve taken office six and a half years ago, which has made us the highest paid in the region. And that’s something we’re proud of, but when we also see what we’ve done as a state, I mean, let’s be clear, we’re financially doing well in New Mexico, and we want to make sure that we’re investing in all forms of education. So, we have our early childhood education department, which has seen a huge growth of our trust fund there that started with 300 million, now we sit at 10 billion. When you have a higher education trust fund that fully funds the lottery scholarship and holds the promise for the opportunity scholarship in case there’s ever a downturn. And then, of course, in our K-12 system to continually infuse dollars. And what does that mean? It’s more opportunity, more resources that are so important to the overall well-being of education. I know there’s a lot of discussion that, you know, that’s where we’re at, but these things take time. And I believe that the investments have be