Capitol Courage

Ryan O'Toole
  • 5.0 (7)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Welcome to Capitol Courage—where politics meets bold ideas and fearless conversations. We’re here to break down the biggest stories in Virginia and across the country with hot takes, real talk, and a little fun along the way. Whether it’s policy fights, political showdowns, or the leaders making waves — we’re diving into the courage it takes to stand up, speak out, and shake things up.

  1. MAR 10

    Season 2, Episode 6: Don't Do AI (But Do Claude If You Do) and Debates on Housing & Gaming

    As we’ve been recording Season 2, our day jobs keep getting in the way of both recording, and in today’s instance, posting an episode we recorded 5 days ago. So apologies to our listeners that some references might be a little old. Join us today though as we break down some recent Virginia General Assembly debates on affordable housing and gaming, discuss the latest in AI, and celebrate Women’s History Month!

    18 min

  2. FEB 26

    Season 2, Episode 5: Gov. Spanberger Crushing the SOTU Response and Louise Lucas Holding Strong Against Data Centers!

    It’s been a huge week in Virginia politics, for many reasons we break down on today’s pod. One is Gov. Abigail Spanberger giving an incredible Democratic response to Donald Trump’s long and awful State of the Union and showing the roadmap for a good and succinct message on affordability impacting real people. Two is Senator Louise Lucas and Senate Democrats staying strong in fighting to hold data centers accountable and not waste taxpayer dollars on giveaways to the world’s biggest companies. And three is the amazing courage shown by a Virginia leader this week in standing up to abhorrent behavior. Thanks for joining us on the pod!

    19 min

  3. FEB 23

    Season 2, Episode 4: Breaking down Budget Sunday

    We’re now less than 3 weeks until the close of the 2026 General Assembly session in Virginia, and the battle lines are being drawn over what they might — and might not — do to address affordability. Of course a major part of what the legislature can do about affordability comes from the state budget. Tax cuts, investments in affordable child care, housing, and health care, the quality of schools, and more are all decided based on how much money we have in our budget, who we tax, and more importantly who we don’t tax. In Virginia we let a lot of super rich folks and big corporations off the hook when it comes to their tax liability, and the best thing in the House and Senate budgets released yesterday is the Senate’s idea to eliminate the data center sales tax exemption. It likely won’t make it entirely across the finish line, but props to Sen. Louise Lucas and others who are showing how serious this issue is. For a little fun on today’s pod, join us as we break down former Delegate Tim Anderson’s possible return to the General Assembly and why politics should be engaging.

    17 min

  4. FEB 19

    Season 2, Episode 3: Data Centers & Why You Should Hate Them More

    We hope you’re enjoying Season 2 as much as we are, and for the third day in a row, we’ve recorded today’s pod in a different location — let us know which audio you like best! On today’s pod, we revisit a topic we explored last year when we interviewed Sen. Russet Perry and Del. Josh Thomas: data centers. Increasingly, data centers are driving up electric bills, taking our water, harming both the environment and the health of people around them — especially those near schools — and sucking up billions of dollars of taxpayer money in Virginia. There have been scores of data center bills in Virginia this session, and we hope this is one issue where legislators and the Governor continue to show courage in holding this industry accountable. Among several bills that have survived post-crossover, some really good ones include Sen. Lucas and Del. LeVere Bolling’s bills to shift more costs of energy capacity and infrastructure onto data centers, and Del. Sullivan’s bill to reform the data center sales tax exemption so that the data centers have to promote better practices for affordability, health, and the environment if they want to qualify. We hope these bills get signed into law!

    14 min

  5. FEB 18

    Season 2, Episode 2: Going for Broke on 10-1 Redistricting

    We’ve been on team “Fight Trump’s Corrupt Plan to Steal House Seats with Fire” since last summer, and we couldn’t be more excited that one of the major accomplishments of the Virginia General Assembly so far is moving forward a constitutional amendment that will go before voters statewide in an April 21 referendum to temporarily give the General Assembly the authority to draw new Congressional lines. The General Assembly has also released the proposed new maps, and under recent election results, the map would result in a 10-1 Democratic House delegation from Virginia. This is what it looks like to flex power and recognize that to pass good policy at a moment when people need it, you need to use every tool available to you. That’s courage!! Props to the General Assembly, its leadership, and Gov. Spanberger for moving this plan forward. See you tomorrow (!) on Capitol Courage Season 2, straight from the 2026 session.

    14 min

  6. FEB 17

    Season 2, Episode 1: We're So Back, Baby!!!

    While our 3 month break was not entirely intentional, we’re rebranding it as a season break, so welcome back loyal listeners to Season 2 of Capitol Courage!! We’re thrilled to be back, and we’re coming to you live today — and nearly every day for the rest of Virginia’s legislative session — from the General Assembly Building. Today we break down our favorite bills from the session so far and discuss what real affordability means vs the use of the term as a buzzword. We’ll be here nearly every day through mid-March, so hit us up if you have suggestions for topics to cover, interviews to host, or tips you want us to share/discuss on the air. See you (tomorrow) on Capitol Courage!

    20 min

  7. 11/06/2025

    Episode 17: It's a Mandate!!!

    Call it what you want to: a Democratic trifecta, a blue wave, a landslide. Whatever it is, Virginia voters spoke clearly this week in the 2025 elections and gave an affordability mandate to the three new statewide officials — Gov-elect Abigail Spanberger, Lt. Governor-elect Ghazala Hashmi, and Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — and the largest Virginia House Democratic majority since 1989 after they flipped 13 seats for a now incredible 64/100 seats. And while we live in Virginia and care the most about our home state, it was incredibly exciting - and dare we say hopeful - to see a national trend of courageous voters opposing and fighting the Trump administration and its weird obsession with fascism over affordability. From New Jersey to New York City to Georgia, voters spoke loudly and clearly and delivered huge wins to folks including NJ Gov-elect Mikie Sherrill and NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. While the elite media might love to debate the path forward for Democrats, over here at the pod we would say it’s simpler than that: voters don’t care how you get there, they just want a relentless and bold focus on making life more affordable now. We’ll be watching all of these newly elected Democrats to make sure they deliver on their promises and prioritize regular people, not corporate elites.

    31 min

  8. 10/31/2025

    Episode 16: Virginia House Candidate John McAuliff and the Courageous Redistricting Push

    After Rhena’s recent trip to Greece (hear more on today’s episode), we’re back!! And it’s a good thing, because we have A LOT to talk about. This whole podcast exists to highlight politicians and other civic leaders who are showing the courage needed to meet the moment, as well as those who are showing the cowardice that reveals their ineptitude. And after talking about the need for Democrats to approach the redistricting fight with the same fire Republicans are using, we couldn’t be more excited to post today’s episode amid Virginia Democratic leaders pushing a bold plan to give Virginia a stronger voice in our nation’s redistricting battle. As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we’re now only 4 days out from the 2025 Virginia elections in which we hope to see a new Democratic trifecta elected and a Democratic sweep of the statewide offices. As part of our recent string of House candidate interviews, we’re excited today to welcome John McAuliff — candidate for Virginia HD-30 — to the pod. Stay tuned here to Capitol Courage for our response to the elections next week and in the coming weeks as we highlight the transition towards a new Governor and the 2026 session.

    51 min
See All (25)

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Welcome to Capitol Courage—where politics meets bold ideas and fearless conversations. We’re here to break down the biggest stories in Virginia and across the country with hot takes, real talk, and a little fun along the way. Whether it’s policy fights, political showdowns, or the leaders making waves — we’re diving into the courage it takes to stand up, speak out, and shake things up.

Information

  • Creator
    Ryan O'Toole
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Ryan O'Toole
  • Show Website
    Capitol Courage

You Might Also Like