Marsden Predicts Tysons Casino Success in 2026, Puts Spanberger in Hot Seat
State Senator Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax) expects the Tysons casino bill to pass in the 2026 General Assembly session.
State Senator Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax), previous chief patron of a failed bill to authorize a referendum on a casino in Fairfax County, joined Kojo Nnamdi and Tom Sherwood on The Politics Hour last week to discuss various topics.
After a listener called in to ask about the continued push for a casino in Tysons, Marsden continued his advocacy and made a prediction that the bill will pass next session (starting at [25:30]).
For example, he made the argument that the youth support the casino project:
Fairfax County has become a place where it’s not particularly appealing to young people — 20s, 30s — they’re very much behind the casino concept.
He also made the claim, which isn’t particularly new, that nobody has given him any ideas about how to deal with Fairfax County revenue issues, essentially that a casino is the only solution on the table:
I have asked literally close to 100 to 150 people, somewhere in that range, to tell me, give me another idea, because just bringing in a national headquarters doesn’t mean we get their taxes for their manufacturing someplace else. It just doesn’t work that way.
He predicted legislation will succeed next session:
It’s the most democratic process you can imagine. I think it will get through this year, I think the House [of Delegates] will be in a position to do it in ‘26…
And he proclaimed his opposition to gambling while again suggesting a casino is literally the only revenue solution that exists:
Look, I don’t like casinos. I don’t like the idea of gambling either. But you either compete or you die in this environment. You can’t just take the stubborn approach, “Well, we don’t do that here, that’s not who we are.” You have to play the hand of cards that you’re dealt.
Tom Sherwood then brought up 2025 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger. Here’s that exchange at [00:29:40]:
Tom Sherwood: Is your Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, on record about the casino?
Marsden: As far as I know, she is not.
Tom Sherwood: That’s a big issue for northern Virginia.
Marsden: It’s going to be, and that will be heavily debated in this General Assembly session…
Setting aside Marsden’s dodge at the end of that exchange — and his performative ignorance about actual solutions to funding problems (e.g. structural reforms to the corporate and individual state income taxes) — he is correct that the casino issue matters to voters in Fairfax County this year.
And as I reported a few months back, in response to Tom Sherwood, U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) gave his view on the proposed Tysons casino:
“If I was still governor, I would have to answer this question straight out.”
Warner Refuses to Back Fairfax Casino, Puts Spanberger and Earle-Sears in Hot Seat
This afternoon, U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) called into The Politics Hour with Kojo Nnamdi on WAMU. After discussing Wednesday’s tragic plane crash, Kojo’s resident analyst Tom Sherwood asked Warner about the proposed Fairfax casino project.
But Mark Warner is not the governor, and he’s not running for governor, so he apparently doesn’t believe he owes anyone a position on the issue.
Spanberger and GOP Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, however — as the gubernatorial nominees of their respective parties this year — should answer the question “straight out,” as Warner put it, and stop forcing voters to guess their positions.
In the 9/30/24 webinar on problem gambling and suicide hosted by the Suicide Prevention Alliance of No.Va, Dr. Carolyn Hawley Dir. of the Va. Partnership on Gaming and Health said that since 2019, problem gambling has increased 125% in the Commonwealth. These problem gamblers, who trend younger and male, become addicted faster than before 2019.
It’s disgusting that Senator Marsden sees young people in Fairfax County as merely revenue generators for pro-casino interests who have generously rewarded his campaign account. The man is morally bankrupt.
Marsden's position is laughable & indefensible. There was a speaker this spring on the NAACP community panel about the casino proposal, who wisely pointed out there's nothing remotely democratic about this referendum. By the time it gets on the ballot, the volume of sheer $$$ developers will have spent on ads & voter commucations will drown out any chance of effective opposition voices. We will keep following the $. GMU got caught out for its unethical weighing in. Keep up the good work!