Wilder Symposium examines Virginia’s ongoing role in shaping the nation

By VCU News staff

For 250 years - and counting - Virginia has stood at the forefront of the American political landscape. As the nation marks a milestone year, the past, present and future of the commonwealth's role in American democracy came into focus at the 2026 Wilder Symposium, held this week at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Bringing together a panel of political leaders and scholars, the Sept. 1 forum, "Virginia at 250: Leadership, Democracy and the Future of Our Commonwealth," featured a wide-ranging conversation that touched on Virginia's historical and ongoing influence at the state and national levels.

"America is still in search of itself," said L. Douglas Wilder, 66th governor of Virginia, referring to the 1982 political history book written by Theodore H. White. "Which doesn't mean that it should ever stop. It means that when you get where you think you aim for, don't stop. Look around and see what else do we need to do."

He continued: "We need to do that in Richmond, we need to do that in Virginia. We need to do it to the extent of us being able to say we are providing an example."

The 2026 symposium was organized by VCU's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, in partnership with the College of Humanities and Sciences as part of its ongoing America at 250 series.

The two-hour discussion, held at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, covered topics ranging from the state of democracy and the role of higher education to data centers and the proposed merger of Dominion Energy and NextEra Energy. The complete symposium is available to watch online.

In addition to Wilder, the panel featured Ambassador Jim Gilmore, 68th governor of Virginia and former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Larry Sabato, Ph.D., founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics; and Robyn Diehl McDougle, Ph.D., interim dean of the Wilder School. Political analyst Bob Holsworth, Ph.D., moderated the discussion, while Catherine Ingrassia, Ph.D., dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, provided opening remarks.

"Virginia is not simply a chapter in America's first 250 years; it is the ground on which so much of that story was written," Ingrassia said. "From Jamestown and the earliest experiments with self-governance, through the drafting of founding documents by Virginians who shaped the young republic's ideals, to the testing of whether those ideals could survive their own contradictions, to the ongoing conversations about race, justice and belonging that continue to unfold in this commonwealth today, Virginia has never simply witnessed history. It has been the location for much of that history and a testing ground for our country's ideals."

McDougle, director of the Commonwealth Poll, also emphasized Virginia's continued role in leading the way for the nation.

"Our citizens do have thoughts and views about policy issues, and they're quite vocal about them," McDougle said, pointing to findings from polls released in February and July of this year. "The question becomes, how do we tap into them, and how do our elected officials turn that from interest into action?"