JAHD KHALIL: So can you tell us where we are and how this place has changed?

LEVAR STONEY: So we are at the Southside Community Center and Southside Community Center was a recipient of the American Rescue Plan Act dollars that the city had to utilize during my tenure.

And so, our vision was to make this a real true multi-use venue for children, for adults, for seniors.

And so this is probably the finest community center, probably in central Virginia.

JAHD KHALIL: Why are you the best person to be the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor?

LEVAR STONEY: Well, first, I think it's important to highlight lived experience.

Im a child born to a couple teenagers.

Mother was 16 and father was 18.

Had the blessing to be raised by my grandmother, and became the first in my family to graduate from high school, go to college and graduate from college.

And I think having that lived experience is very important, because right now there are a number of Virginians who are struggling.

I have that experience seeing that as a young man, but also, I have a body of work as the former mayor of Richmond and also secretary of the Commonwealth.

I'm the only person running for lieutenant governor who has executive experience.

JAHD KHALIL: I'm glad you brought up your time as secretary of the Commonwealth because a lot of the focus, I think, in a lot of the media is about your time as mayor.

How do you think your time as secretary of the Commonwealth will lend itself towards being lieutenant governor?

LEVAR STONEY: The way that Gov.

McAuliffe allocated roles in his cabinet, I was essentially the right hand to the governor.

And so for roughly two and a half years, I had a chance to see state government up close and personal.

At the executive branch level, and exactly the where the lieutenant governor sits, in the hierarchy here in state government.

And so I've got a chance to work with Republicans and Democrats to ensure that our boards and commissions were diversified, whether demographically or geographically as well.

And so it was a great foundation for my experience in public service.

And it allowed me to be, I think, a pretty decent, mayor as well.

And so I think having that experience at the state level, it matters.

I won't need on the job training, let's just say that.

JAHD KHALIL: So you wanted to run for governor initially, and the lieutenant governor position is kind of often seen in Virginia politics as a stepping stone to that office.

What do you want to tell voters who might think of your run in that light?

LEVAR STONEY: Well, you know, I decided in April of 2024 to defer the nomination to my friend, Abigail Spanberger, and pivot to the lieutenant governor's race.

A couple things happened in my life that I think needs to be highlighted.

That's number one.

Me and my wife had a child.

We have a 15 month old at home.

our child was born in March of 2024.

I took my month of paternity leave and me and my wife were able to discuss how we wanted to approach the race moving forward.

I decided, that what was- will be best for me and my family, but also best for the party as well, [was] for me to step aside and Abigail Spanberger become the nominee.

But when I joined the race for lieutenant governor, I knew from day one that this was not going to be a gimme.

It wasn't going to be a layup.

This was going to be something that one would have to earn.

And from that day on, from April of 2024 till today, I've been out there earning it.

JAHD KHALIL So there are some official duties of the lieutenant governor, breaking ties in the Senate, serving next in the line of succession if the governor is unable to serve.

How do you see your role, or what you would bring to the role, as lieutenant governor?

LEVAR STONEY: Well, you know, it's a little bit different than the role I had as the mayor of Richmond, where I was the chief executive of a municipality.

This one will be more of about public advocacy, right?

There are some statutory responsibilities.

Breaking ties in the Senate, presiding over the Senate, assuming the role of governor if there anything were to happen to the governor, but- serving on some boards.

You know, Jamestown, Yorktown board, the Rural Virginia Board, Virginia Economic Development Partnership driving business to the state, but also Virginia Tourism as well.

But I think beyond the statutory duties, it's very important that the lieutenant governor be a public advocate.

So I see this role being, the foundation of this role, being in public advocacy.

Governor- Senator- Lt. Gov.

Tim Kaine is my model for this, right?

When he was lieutenant governor, a former mayor who became lieutenant governor, he traveled to every school division and was an advocate for more funding, more investment in public education, and also in the early years as well.

I plan to follow that same playbook as the next lieutenant governor and also talk about housing as well.

If there's one thing I'm going to ask Gov.

Spanberger for in terms of a line of work, portfolio of work, it would be to be the leader on all things housing in Virginia.

We need to build more housing and particularly give- incentivize localities to do more in terms of more pro-housing reforms at the local level.

JAHD KHALIL: I know you're very proud of your record as mayor, I think that also kind of gives, critics things that they can, you know, criticize about you.

What do you want to tell, you know, Richmond voters specifically or people that look at your time in Richmond with some criticism of that?

LEVAR STONEY: First, I would say, first look at where Richmond is today, here in 2025, compared to where it was a decade ago.

Right?

And I can tell you this by every measure, Richmond is a better place to live for Richmonders.

It's a better place to visit for Virginians.

And that just didn't happen by happenstance.

It took a lot of people moving in the same direction to make that happen.

I'd like to think- Well, I know that local government, under my leadership, had a role to play there.

There are more homes here.

There are more people here.

There are more jobs here.

There's more cranes in the sky.

There's less poverty and less crime after my tenure.

I'm proud of that.

Were there setbacks?

Have there been setbacks?

Yes.

When you are the chief executive of a municipality in an urban environment, you are certainly going to face your fair share of setbacks.

But I've never run away from the problems of the city.

I invested in fixing the problems, that's why we saw an increase in school funding by nearly 60%, that's why you saw more affordable homes built under my tenure.

That's why you saw poverty fall by 33% and also when the major issue of whether or not we should continue to embrace Confederate monuments in Richmond, I stood up and did the right thing.

And we removed every single damn Confederate monument in the former capital of the Confederacy.

So we covered a lot of things, what else do you think is important for Virginia voters to know about your run for lieutenant governor?

I think it's important that the voters know that I'm the most experienced person in the race.

I've had ten years of public service experience, a couple of years serving as the secretary of the Commonwealth in the Gov.

McAuliffe's cabinet, where I was the youngest member of the cabinet and the first African American to serve in my role as secretary of the Commonwealth.

I think it's important that folks know that I'm the only chief executive in the race.

Eight years as mayor of Richmond, the only person to lead a locality.

I had to make consequential decisions, bold decisions in the daily lives of people.

I think that's very important right now, that folks understand that I'm an experienced hand.

I don't have- I don't need on the job training I'll be ready to go on day one.

I think that's what we need right now.

People who are willing to roll up their sleeves, and even though it may seem dark and gloomy because of what's going on in Washington D.C., we can bring some optimism, and hope back to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and be a competitor at all levels.