by
Hannah Jane Costilow
| 09/26/2025
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: In this Issue: 1. From the Macro to the Micro 2. Congress Approaches Funding Deadline 3. Trump hikes tariffs on heavy trucks, pharma and kitchen cabinets 4. Braddock District special election planned for December 5. Loudoun transmission line debate tees up SCC response to data center needs, resident concerns
From the Macro to the Micro
By CHARLIE COOK, The Cook Political Report
Republicans have good reason to be frantically trying to change existing congressional-district boundaries. The September Gallup Poll released Monday showed President Trump’s approval rating both low and unchanged from August: 40 percent approve and 56 percent disapprove, just 1 point higher than his three-month average of 39 percent approval.
Congress Approaches Funding Deadline
By ERIN STACKLEY, Washington Report
Government funding is set to expire on September 30th, and Congress has yet to agree on any funding measures to keep the government open.
Trump hikes tariffs on heavy trucks, pharma and kitchen cabinets
By ARI HAWKINS, Politico
President Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. will hike tariffs on heavy trucks, kitchen cabinets and pharmaceuticals starting Oct 1., the latest in a steady series of trade actions aimed at protecting domestic industry from lower-priced imports.
Braddock District special election planned for December
By JARED WENSELBURGER, Fairfax County Times
A new supervisor will be selected for Fairfax County’s Braddock District this year, following a petition from the county board to schedule a special election. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Sept. 16 to ask the Fairfax Circuit Court to set a special election for Dec. 9 to fill the vacancy left by James Walkinshaw, who resigned after winning Virginia’s 11th Congressional District seat.
Loudoun transmission line debate tees up SCC response to data center needs, resident concerns
By SHANNON HECKT, Virginia Mercury
“Property values are going to go down, utility bills are going to go up as a result. And I think there’s a huge issue when it comes to, one, putting these lines through communities,” U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun, told the State Corporation Commissioners and a packed school auditorium of local residents Thursday night at the first SCC public hearing about Dominion Energy’s proposed high-powered transmission lines, which slated to cut through Northern Virginia neighborhoods. Hundreds of community members in the three Loudoun Valley Estates neighborhoods showed up to the hearing to push back against plans for the 500kv lines to be built in their backyards.