The mayor has also advocated for, and sometimes financially supported, same-sex marriage, gun control, and several new public health proposals.

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One Republican state senator, Drew Nixon, is currently representing his constituents from behind bars after being arrested for soliciting sex and for gun offences.

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But there was "a major shift below the radar" as a result of issues including gun control, same-sex marriage, minimum wage and women's rights initiatives, Mr. Miringoff said.

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The committee's questions once again touched on a range of hot-button issues, including gun control, abortion, same-sex marriage, the death penalty, and the role of international law in American jurisprudence.

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As law-enforcement agents, we are trained to handle highly sensitive, confidential information every day in nearly all of our cases sex crimes and other special-victims cases, drug and gun trafficking, white collar crime, cybercrime, and, of course, other types of identity theft.

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He has tried to soften his tone, but he has not been helped by the Republican nominee for lieutenant-governor, Jay Katzen, who wants a straight ban on abortions, a prohibition of same-sex marriage and a roll-back of Virginia's restrictions on hand-gun purchases (which Mr Earley supported).

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