At VMI, John Reid Traces Family Legacy and Takes Questions from The Cadet

This past summer, The Cadet Newspaper Editorial Staff reached out to all candidates running for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia. While many didn't respond, a few declined despite our sincere efforts, and one person graciously accepted an invitation to meet with us in person. That man was Richmond native John Reid, a former award-winning political broadcaster who jokingly calls himself an "out of work news anchor," and he is currently the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Mr. Reid has a proud family connection to Virginia, being the grandson of a Virginia Military Institute (VMI) alumnus from the class of 1925, George McGregor Goodridge Jr. Mr. Reid showed a genuine interest in visiting Post, seeing the Institute as a meaningful part of Virginia's history, and believing its graduates are vital to our nation's future. He viewed it as an essential stop on his campaign trail and aimed to make the most of it—spending quality time with cadets, dining in the famous "Club Crozet", and exploring the VMI Archives below Preston Library. The Cadet's Editorial staff was delighted to host Mr. Reid and did everything possible to ensure his visit was warm, welcoming, and memorable. Preparation for Mr. Reid's visit involved weeks of planning: a wide range of readings, setting up the interview site, extensive research in archives, and making restaurant reservations to ensure a warm welcome. Physical setup occurred the night before on the lower floor of Preston Library, where co-Editors-in-Chief Richie O'Connell III '22 and Cody Bartmann '25, along with editor Gracie Harlow '27, arranged chairs, cameras, three separate audio setups (better safe than sorry), and two 4k cameras. Although we are student journalists, donations and funding from The Cadet Foundation enable us to conduct interviews as professionally as possible, even with high-profile interviewees such as political candidates. After setting up, the staff reviewed the potential interview questions to ask John Reid and determined which ones would be the most relevant to ask when the time of the interview came. The visit officially started at 0900 outside Memorial Hall (formerly known as "Jackson Hall" or "JM"), where we greeted John Reid and his campaign assistant, thanked them for their time, and formally welcomed them to VMI, the alma mater of his grandfather. We showed him the interior of Memorial Hall. We pointed out the mural of the New Market Cadets, explaining how the painting and their story symbolize the "Brother Rat Spirit" and what it means to VMI, as well as how their story is taught to the Corps of Cadets today. We then headed downstairs to the VMI Museum. There, we gave John Reid a tour, showing him the exhibits and explaining them. As someone with a personal fascination with history across all eras of VMI, I made sure to share as much as I could that excited me for the hour we had in the museum. We discussed Stonewall Jackson and the bullet hole you can see in his uniform where he was shot in Chancellorsville in 1863, which led to his eventual death. I also showed him the overcoat of civil rights hero, an Episcopalian seminarian, and VMI alumnus (a valedictorian, at that), Jonathan Daniels '61, who sacrificed his life to save a young African American woman named Ruby Sales (still alive today) who lived on to become a prominent civil rights activist and writer. I shared some of the niche stories I know about both of these men, such as how Stonewall Jackson's students once tried to drop a boulder on him from the second stop of barracks since they could not stand him as a professor, and how Jonathan Daniels would often get in trouble (or as we know it, boned) for hanging religious items in his room. To get around inspections, he taped a glow-in-the-dark cross to the ceiling above his rack, allowing him to see it as he fell asleep. I also mentioned the recent history of women attending VMI, and with the help of Ms. Harlow '27, The Cadet provided a more detailed account. Mr. Reid asked many questions and took numerous photos, appearing very impressed with the wealth of history that VMI's modest museum under Memorial Hall had to offer. With John Reid as busy as he is during his campaign, he occasionally steps away to take phone calls, check emails, and handle other tasks. After finishing his business, Mr. Reid joined us in Preston Library, where he was greeted by various members of the Board of Visitors (BOV), who were holding their meeting there on Tuesday, September 23rd, the same day The Cadet conducted our interview. We went downstairs, got ourselves settled, quadruple-checked our microphones, and our co-Editors-in-Chief conducted an unscripted interview that lasted just about an hour. Our questions, published in this issue of The Cadet, covered many topics, including workers' rights, veterans, health care, and a potential debate between him and his opponent, Ghazala Hashmi. Mrs. Hashmi had rejected Mr. Reid's previous invitations to debate, and when The Cadet reached out multiple times for an interview, her representatives responded with a message stating that any questions could be answered from Mrs. Hashmi's website. On September 29, The Cadet sent a final message to Senator Hashmi's campaign, asking whether she would agree to an interview, accept the debate and Town Hall challenge Mr. Reid issued to her during his visit to VMI, and respond to Mr. Reid's statements. As of this edition, her campaign has not replied. Following the interview, cadet Richie O'Connell '22 and cadet Cody Bartmann '25 met with John Reid and his campaign assistant outside Old Barracks' Washington Arch to stroll down to the well-known Club Crozet to enjoy a delicious, flavorful lunch before continuing with the rest of the day. Fortunately, we beat the lunch rush and were able to get our food quickly, giving us plenty of time to sit and discuss our personal lives, Mr. Reid's life on the campaign trail, Cody and my various run-ins with our beloved COL Faust, among many other topics. Mr. Reid also took the time to stroll around the mess hall, meet other cadets, shake hands, and chat. He has been quoted as saying he enjoyed his plate at Club Crozet (despite us telling him there's no need to flatter us) and appreciated the chance to meet other cadets and hear about their plans, as he strongly believes in the value of a VMI experience. After lunch, we headed to Preston Library's VMI archives to surprise John Reid. Mr. Reid's grandfather, George McGregor Goodridge Jr., was a cadet who graduated from the Class of 1925. To prepare for his visit, The Cadet staff collaborated with the Archives to gather as much information as possible about his grandfather during and after his cadetship, compiling a carefully curated file and many artifacts. We showed Mr. Reid his grandfather's signature in his Matriculation Book, his Cadet file, an authentic copy of his Bullet (or "Rat Bible") printed in 1921, and his picture in The Bomb yearbook from 1925. Mr. Reid looked extremely impressed and thankful as he turned each page and read every word in his grandfather's file. He even learned about his grandfather's involvement in athletics at VMI as a polo player, and his membership in the now-defunct "Richmond Club," made up entirely of cadets from the Richmond area (calm yourselves, "804 Mafia"). We all discovered his grandfather's shared fondness for his time at VMI. Additionally, we presented Mr. Reid with gifts to thank him for his time at VMI, including his own 1st Class Private belt, a challenge coin from The Cadet, The Cadet Foundation, and their Preston Society, and a glass print of his grandfather's personal page in The Bomb. It was a pleasure to see how touched he was by our gesture, and we at The Cadet cannot thank the Archives staff enough for their help in making Mr. Reid's visit to VMI more personal and unforgettable. Following the archives visit, John Reid and The Cadet Staff headed to the barracks to show him the luxurious life cadets experience. We demonstrated what is typical inside these walls, which many are unaware of: large groups of cadets crowded into small rooms, racks and hay, services like the mailroom and barbershop, and how nifty holes behind mirrors and air vents can be for extra storage (RAH '27). We also discussed with Mr. Reid the typical day of a VMI cadet, then showed him a real-life Rat we captured in the wild to represent their Rat Mass of 26+3. That particular Rat spoke to Mr. Reid (when spoken to, of course) and demonstrated his strain. After an impromptu tour of the barracks, Cody and I left the remainder of the tour to a professional, specifically S5 Sergeant Hayden Barrett '27, who gave Mr. Reid a proper tour of the entire VMI Post, where he paid his respects to the graves of VMI's New Market Cadets before his eventual meet-and-greet event at the Republican Headquarters in Lexington. During this time, The Cadet Editors-in-Chief held some meetings and caught up on both academic work and articles for this upcoming edition. At the end of the day, the The Cadet staff finished their hosting duties by making reservations at Harden's in Lexington, owned by a VMI Family, inviting John Reid and his campaign assistant to dinner, ending the night on a lighter note over drinks, steaks, and burgers. We then shook hands with John Reid, took some more pictures, and thanked him sincerely for his time. The following day, Mr. Reid addressed the VMI BOV during one of its three-minute public comment segments, emphasizing the importance of VMI, his experiences with The Cadet, and his commitment to preserving the VMI experience. Considering how busy Mr. Reid was managing his campaign throughout the day, we were genuinely impressed that he could even fit in a quick trip to Lexington, especially since we hadn't even expected him, let alone had gifts prepared for him. It was a busy day for us as well, as we worked around Mr. Reid's schedule and our own academic and athletic commitments. We cannot thank John Reid, Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, enough for his time, and we want to emphasize that this experience was truly a pleasure. The full interview with Mr. Reid is published in this week's edition of The Cadet with separate video segments for each topic, and the full interview video is posted to both the online version of this article at www.cadetnewspaper.com and our website at https://cadetnewspaper.org/home/va-general-election-2025/