ROANOKE, Va. – Lt. Gov. and Democratic candidate for governor Ralph Northam visited Roanoke Monday.
Northam first stopped by the Roanoke Fire and EMS station five to meet with first responders. After that, he made his way to the Virginia Veterans Care Center for a tour of the facility. While there, Northam, who served in the Army, spoke with veterans about his plans for veteran-related policy if elected.
"We have veterans, for example medics and corpsman, that are very highly trained and skilled, so we want to do everything that we can to help them enter the private sector," said Northam.
Northam's Republican challenger Ed Gillespie has spoken out about his veteran policies as well. This past summer, he released a veterans initiative. One of his ideas is to double the number of Virginia Values Veterans - or V-3 - companies. V-3 is a program run by the Department of Veterans Services meant to help companies recruit, hire and retain veteran employees.