Jeff Schapiro (Photo by Ash Daniel)
With merely a note affixed to the end of his final column, the legendary Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Jeff Schapiro announced his retirement from the city’s newspaper of record in May.
He delivered his final bulletin in classic Schapiro fashion, reviving tales from Virginia’s vaunted history as the birthplace of America and connecting the past to the present. With a looming high-stakes election this fall in which Virginians will elect the commonwealth’s first female governor and potentially presage the outcome of congressional midterm elections next year, Schapiro plans to remain plugged in as a part-time political analyst with Radio IQ.
Richmond magazine: Why did you bury the lede about your retirement in your last column?
Jeff Schapiro: What we do in the news business is tell stories. The story is important. The storyteller is not important. And I wanted to leave as quietly as I arrived.
RM: It’s only been three weeks as of the time of this interview, but how’s retirement going so far?
Schapiro: I have been remarkably busy. I’m desperately embarrassed by this, but I’ve received an overwhelming number of emails, texts and phone calls from readers, colleagues and competitors, former and present. I affix an asterisk to that because I still am keeping an eye on things through this part-time side hustle with Radio IQ, which has been going on for some years now.
I’m responding incrementally to these emails. I have no intention of just simply typing a “thank you” and hitting send. So much of the correspondence I’ve received has been very personal, and I’m moved by that. My attitude has always been that if people go to the trouble of preparing something thoughtful, I am duty bound to return that compliment. I’ve really just been stunned by that, and some of these readers are recalling things that I had written some years ago.
RM: You’ve been one of the most recognizable columnists at the RTD with your signature eyeglasses and penchant for bow ties. What inspires your sense of fashion?
Schapiro: I guess I would confess to a certain measure of vanity. My maternal grandfather, and my father on occasion, would quote Arnold Gingrich, a co-founder of Esquire magazine who, in counseling men on how to turn themselves out, said: “Dress British, think Yiddish.” So, to some degree, I would say the spirit of that flourish drives what you see.
Now, I do think this is important, and I recognize that times have changed, but as a reporter who covered state government and politics at their intersection of the corporate and professional world, my feeling is you should dress like the people you cover.
RM: What’s your take on the governor’s race this year?
Schapiro: Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, is clearly anticipating that hostility for President Donald Trump is going to drive a large number of votes her way. Winsome Earle-Sears, as the Republican nominee, will have something of a balancing act in that. On one hand, she needs all of the Republican votes she can get. A good number of those votes will be determined by not just a Republican reflex, but to some degree, loyalty to Trump. And note that she has distinguished herself, as Trump might see it, as disloyal. But in a state like Virginia, where independent voters tend to decide elections, she’s going to have to come up with some way to appeal to that slice of the electorate.
RM: How would you describe the evolution of Virginia politics over the past half-century?
Schapiro: Virginia is a state with about a dozen jurisdictions with populations of roughly 200,000 to north of a million. If a candidate carries those places, then there aren’t enough votes in the rest of the state for the other side to catch up.
The majority of people who live here are non-natives, present company included. They bring with them certain attitudes, habits and tendencies. When I moved to Richmond in 1979, Virginians for the most part were white or Black, with only a narrow band of Native Americans. Fast forward to the last census in 2021: The Black population is largely unchanged at 19%, while the Asian and Hispanic populations are roughly 11% and 12%, respectively.
Even with all this money and newcomers pouring in, Virginia was still a rural state for most of the 20th century. Two-thirds of the people who lived in Virginia were in the countryside. So, in a lifetime, it’s completely flipped. It’s a very different place.
Our demographic diversity is also contributing to the nationalization of our politics. What the nation is grappling with will have a profound effect on the decisions made regarding representation at the state level.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Chris Suarez and Jeff Schapiro were previously co-workers at the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
