Democrats still aren’t serious about fighting crime. Democrats in Virginia, a swing state long seen as a bellwether of national politics, are proving it.
On Monday, former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares lamented the General Assembly’s decision to stop funding Operation Ceasefire, which he said had been “one of the most successful anti-crime initiatives in the history of the Attorney General’s Office.”
Miyares is right. The initiative was working well until Democrats gutted it.
In October 2022, Miyares and then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) announced Operation Ceasefire. During a 2022 special session, the Virginia General Assembly created a grant to fund the program.
The program focused on cities with high crime rates. The pilot program began in 13 cities and relied on a three-pillar strategy.
First, officials emphasized prevention and working with at-risk youth. Second, they relied heavily on community leaders to expand outreach. Third, and most important, was the enforcement of the law.
Police and prosecutors took a no-nonsense approach. They were encouraged to be proactive and target repeat offenders.
This was a commonsense approach, strengthened by new technology, including the strategic use of automated license plate readers in select cities. It was also remarkably transparent. Virginia maintained a website to track the operation in real time.
Ceasefire “helped cut Virginia’s murder rate by 30% and drove a 66% reduction in violent crime” in targeted cities, Miyares noted.
Others agreed. An October 2025 study by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for Public Policy recorded a 64% reduction in the murder rate in targeted cities and a 40% drop in the overall violent crime rate from 2023 to 2024.
Some districts recorded a 95% conviction rate. Prosecutors and law enforcement officials weren’t just taking criminals off the street to build statistics; they were building solid cases to ensure offenders stayed behind bars.
All this was made possible by grant money from the General Assembly. At $1.3 million a year, it was money well spent.
In 2024, the cost of all crimes reported to police was estimated at nearly $8.9 billion, with violent crimes accounting for 69% of that total. The Center for Public Policy estimated that the reduction in homicides brought about by Ceasefire saved the state more than $1.2 billion.
In the 2025 elections, Virginia Democrats, led by their gubernatorial nominee, Abigail Spanberger, campaigned on reducing the cost of living and improving the quality of life for Virginians.
Spanberger, a former federal law enforcement officer, promised “credible leadership” to tackle crime. But she and her fellow Democrats have done the opposite.
In February, Democrats in the General Assembly pulled Operation Ceasefire’s funding. Now, with Virginia’s July 1 budget deadline approaching, the decision to end the program will be finalized.
Doing so will be a disaster, and a revealing one.
Spanberger and her Democrats were never serious about fighting crime, just as they were never serious about confronting the affordability crisis facing their constituents.
Since taking office, Spanberger has failed to condemn Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano, who has refused to enforce the law when it clashes with far-left ideology.
In May, the Justice Department announced that it was investigating Descano for “offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes.”
Spanberger declined to weigh in against him and remained silent when asked whether she endorsed her party’s candidate for state attorney general, Jay Jones, who infamously talked about murdering the children of a political opponent.
Jones is now the state’s chief law enforcement officer, and Democrats are ending successful anti-crime initiatives.
DEMOCRATS ARE THE PARTY OF SOCIALISM NOW
Ceasefire was everything moderate Democrats claim to support: tough on crime, fiscally responsible, transparent, and community-oriented.
But once elected, Spanberger and her party showed Virginians who they really are. There is nothing moderate about them.