Tom Perriello, a gubernatorial candidate campaigning for the Democratic Party’s nomination, sat down with The Cavalier Daily Thursday to discuss his goals for college affordability, President Donald Trump’s executive order and campaigning.
Perriello previously served as the U.S. Representative for Virginia’s fifth district from 2009 to 2011. He has also worked as the U.S. Special Representative for the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review from 2014 to 2015 and U.S.Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2015 to 2016.
Perriello said his priorities on higher education include creating more opportunities for students to access schooling options like community college as well as career and technical training, in addition to four-year universities. He said creating more pathways to education and employment would also help with the student debt crisis.
“One of the best ways to cut student debt dramatically is to have people follow some of these other pathways in,” Perriello said. “So for me I benefitted from a great four-year university and we want to make that an affordable and accessible option for more Virginians, but also for those who may want to move more quickly into well-paying jobs, apprenticeships or technical programs, that’s important as well.”
Perriello said his time in and after Congress are demonstrations of his dedication to college affordability. Perriello said he co-authored a tax credit for four-year universities and community colleges while in Congress and continued working towards reducing student debt at a non-profit afterwards.
“I didn’t take the big lobbying job after Congress,” Perriello said. “I ran a nonprofit advocacy group and college affordability and reducing student debt was one of the main things that we worked on the at the Center for American Progress.”
In light of President Trump’s executive order — “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry to the United States” — Perriello said he has met with DREAMers to let them know people in power support them and want to keep communities safe for everybody.
“We are a proud, diverse and progressive state that wants to be a welcoming place for everybody and when we have students feeling like they need to hide in the shadows that’s not good for anyone,” he said.
If elected Governor, Perriello would have the power to appoint members to the University’s Board of Visitors. He said he would conduct the appointment process with students, faculty and the community and consider the value potential members could bring to the University.
“Money has way too much influence in all of our politics, and Virginia has the unique challenge of unlimited financial contributions, which is unusual,” Perriello said. “That has certainly meant we’ve had a less than meritocratic process of points, and we would want to make sure the people who are nominated are the people who maximize value to the University of Virginia.”
According to a recent poll from Roanoke College, Perriello and opponent Lt. Governor Ralph Northam both have 12 percent of support from likely democratic primary voters while 74 percent remain undecided. Although Northam has the support of prominent Virginia Democrats, Perriello said he believes the success his campaign has seen so far is impressive considering he announced his candidacy three weeks ago.
“We know when we get in front of voters they come our way, so the issue is whether we can work hard enough to get in front of enough people to hear our message,” Perriello said. “I think people are excited for someone who’s spent a lifetime fighting for basic fairness, that has passed up higher-paying gigs to keep working on making the commonwealth and our country a stronger place, and we’ve seen that hunger.”
Perriello, who had an event planned with the Minority Rights Coalition and the Black Student Alliance Wednesday, said he planned to use the event as a chance to listen to young voters.
“I think the younger generation is always at the cutting edge of the next generation of ideas and so it’s a good opportunity to [listen], and perhaps share some lessons from my last twenty years of trying to fight for these issues,” he said.
The Republican and Democratic primaries will take place June 13. Ed Gillespie, former chair of the Republican National Committee, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, and State Sen. Frank Wagner (Virginia Beach) are competing for the Republican nomination.
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