During an interview on WRVA 1140, Governor McAuliffe discussed the success of the CoStar Group’s investment in Virginia, and the impact of the discriminatory North Carolina law known as “HB2,” influencing the company to choose to Virginia instead:

KEY QUOTE: “A bill similar to HB2 came to my desk for my signature. That bill passed the House of Delegates, think about this, with 59 votes. We also had a bill to defund parts of Planned Parenthood. Jimmy, that came to my desk, that passed with 64 members out of 100. If I had signed either one of those bills, we would be just like North Carolina. This is why elections matter, and I do know that we have a big Governor’s race next year. If you do not have a Democrat sitting in my chair to veto this stuff ... so I would like you and everyone else to ask every Republican: would you have signed those two bills? Yes or no? Because this is anti-business.”      

###

FULL EXCHANGE:

Governor McAuliffe: And we should also mention Richmond, big win the other day. CoStar, 732 high-paying jobs, this was a big win for us.

Jimmy Barrett: (Host): You had to love the story on that, by the way, because the story, it's what you’ve been preaching for months. The story came out today. That the reason why CoStar picked Virginia is because they were originally going to move to North Carolina, but because the bathroom bill discouraged them from doing so, they decided to come here instead.

Governor McAuliffe: And let’s be clear, I didn’t say that. That was said by the commercial real estate in charge of all of their real estate, who said that’s why they didn’t go to North Carolina.

Barrett: By the way, it’s got nothing to do with whether or the executives their support or don’t support the law itself. It has everything to do with big companies avoiding controversy. Nobody wants to get in the middle of a controversy.

Governor McAuliffe: Let me say something. This is why, when I ran for Governor, I said open and welcoming for everybody. Leave LGBT members alone, leave women alone. Two nights ago that horrible anti-women women's health clinic legislation, we finally ended with a new board of health vote.      

…

But let me clear Jimmy and this is why elections matter. A bill similar to HB2 came to my desk for my signature. That bill passed the House of Delegates, think about this, with 59 votes. We also had a bill to defund parts of Planned Parenthood. Jimmy that came to my desk, that passed with 64 members out of 100. If I had signed either one of those bills, we would be just like North Carolina. This why elections matter and I do know that we have a big Governor’s race next year. If you do not have a democrat sitting in my chair to veto this stuff ... so I would like you and everyone else to ask every Republican: would you have signed those two bills? Yes or no, because this is anti-business.