(RCNS) – Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, spoke with the Richmond Capital News Service about her first nine months in office and early voting in Virginia while also sharing her thoughts about the presidential election Nov. 5 and the support she’s seen for the Harris-Walz campaign.

CNS: You’ve held the role of Virginia state senator for over nine months now. Can you speak a little bit about how your first year in the position has gone and any significant differences from your previous role in the Virginia House of Delegates?

SEN. LASHRECSE AIRD: I have been honored to be elected to the state senate, and I think that I actually joined the Senate at a very unique moment in Virginia’s history. As you know, my election came right off of the heels of redistricting, which ultimately you saw more than five decades of service from members in the Virginia Senate transition out as a result of retirement, as well as district changes. And so I would say, not only did I see this difference in the Virginia Senate, but also the Virginia House. And ultimately that was a new sea change of leadership, both from the speaker in the House, the leadership in the Senate and then the makeup of both bodies seeing a significant number of younger leaders, diverse, racial, ethnicity and gender balance of those leaders, which ultimately has resulted in different types of policies being proposed and that we can debate. I would like to say that has also meant more legislation passing with bipartisan support, which oftentimes you hear about the federal gridlock so much and you hear how little the federal government is getting done in Virginia and at the state level, and this has even changed since my time from moving to the House to the Senate. We saw such significant collaboration between the members in the Democratic Party and the Republican Party and the Senate that I think resulted in sending more bipartisan bills to the governor. And I just think that’s a significant change, and I think that has a lot to do with the different makeup that you’re now seeing in the Senate, but generally in both bodies overall.

RCNS: And you’re a native of Buffalo, New York, but have educational ties to Virginia State University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University, and have now served in different capacities in Virginia legislature. What does the state of Virginia mean to you, and what’s it like to serve as a senator for the state that’s been a home base for your higher education?

AIRD: I would say that even more than higher education, I consider Virginia to be home now more than anything because I’ve raised my family here. I’m the mom of a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old, and they have received all their education here. Their experiences, my experiences alongside them in Virginia communities, that has really stretched my representation, so as a mom, as a leader and someone who cares deeply about people, seeing their experiences in our schools, the challenges that their peers and individuals who are looking for Virginia to be their future homes and as they grow into age, that has been a significant influence. And so I consider Virginia to be ground zero for quite frankly a lot of what we see happening around our entire country. And so for me to live here, it means even more because I feel like Virginia has a responsibility and owns the role of making things better. And I think right now that has shown up in us being a state of many firsts from a policy perspective. I had the great honor of passing a consequential piece of legislation. Virginia was the first to do so – Breonna’s law. And a number of other bills that have made Virginia first in the South, and so not only is Virginia home because it’s where I’ve raised my own children, but it means so much to be because I think Virginia has an outside responsibility in rectifying a lot of what we see in terms of challenges and barriers, both up and down the east coast, but throughout our country.

RCNS: You’ve been outspoken on social media about early voting in Virginia and even partnered with Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, D-VA, for an early voting event in Petersburg back in September. What would you say to Virginia voters who still have a chance to vote early in their respective counties?

AIRD: I think that this message around early voting is more important than ever before because we have recently learned that there were a number of voters removed from their voting roles. I personally had someone reach out to me saying that they had been removed by the local registrar’s office from being able to vote even though they were not supposed to be. They had to go and show paperwork and prove that they were registered and should not have been removed. And so my message to Virginia voters is not only do I want to continue to say, ‘yes, please go and vote early,’ but more importantly, ‘in Virginia, there is no reason that you cannot vote. We have done such tremendous work in making voting accessible to all to include same-day voter registration that literally I want you to vote early, but even if you don’t, you can vote not not only up until Election Day, but you can even register up until Election Day.’ And so early voting was the first message, but now I feel like the message is, ‘there’s no reason that anyone who has a desire and is eligible to vote should not be voting. We want your vote every day up until Election Day.’”

RCNS: Can you speak a little bit more about the buzz in Virginia in particular with regard to early voting, and in your opinion, has this momentum differed at all from the 2020 presidential election?

AIRD: Oh my goodness, I think significantly. I think there is such excitement in Virginia and I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I know in the past week, I have recently looked at polling that shows not only is there significant support for particular candidates – and I’m a bleed blue Democrat in that in Virginia right now, Vice President Harris is leading that polling – but furthermore, we have seen high early voting numbers…but people recognize what’s at stake. We have seen the pendulum swing here in Virginia from Democrat to Republican and vice versa, and people know that we have had races that have come down to as little as 10 or 20 ⁸ And so they know that this is the time to make sure their vote is counted because these elections are increasingly closer than they’ve ever been before. I’m going into churches, I am continuing to get on the phone and phone bank, I am knocking on doors, and people understand the assignment right now. And it is more like, now we wait. We need to continue to use the rest of these days to vote, and then we wait for that outcome.

RCNS: You have also been outspoken in your support, as you mentioned, of the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and her running mate, Tim Walz. From your seat as a state senator, what would you say to Virginia residents and first-time voters as we approach Election Night?

AIRD: I was proud to have been one of the original chairs for Vice President Harris’ campaign the first time she ran for president, and so I’m certainly biased this time around in my support for her again, and also Gov. Walz. And for first time voters and Virginia voters generally, I would just tell them there’s only one candidate in this race that aligns with the issues that they care about. I know those issues because I have been elected by these same voters, and I have talked with them for years upon years, having run many elections in Virginia now. And I feel like when it comes to caring about the families that reside here in Virginia, Vice President Harris, and Gov. Walz, they are intrinsically aligned with wanting to make a better quality of life. And more important than anything, they have the record to prove it. Gov. Walz has the record of having done this work and proving an ability to improve the quality of life of individuals, and Vice President Harris, who has served for Vice President, but more importantly has had a lifetime of public service to this point, her record proves that she has the ability to not only do the job, but she has been doing the job.

RCNS: Finally, since Harris’ acceptance of the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, organizations like Virginia Women For Harris, Virginia for Harris and the Virginia Democrats have sprung into action, fundraising and spreading the word in support of the Vice President’s campaign. What has it been like to see these efforts in your state as a legislator, especially in the counties that you represent?

AIRD: It has been, I have to be honest and say an emotional experience. I never thought that after what we saw occur with Secretary Clinton, after she became the presidential nominee for the Democratic Party and was unsuccessful, we would have this opportunity again. And to now see the level of grassroots enthusiasm, which quite frankly, as someone who was a fellow for President Obama when he was running back in 2008, I have not seen excitement since that time. Not only is this excitement mirroring that, but quite frankly, it’s outpacing that. And it’s heartwarming to know that not only can a woman receive that kind of support, but not just any woman, a woman who has really poured her life into caring for others, and during this consequential period in our country’s history, is fighting a fight that will have just a tremendous effect now in what we will see in the history books for years to come. So I’m very excited and emotional about it.