In a sharp rebuke of President Trump’s brand of divisive, hate-promoting, anti-immigrant, white identity politics, Virginia voters backed Democrats for all three of the hotly contested statewide offices.
Democrat Lt. Governor Ralph Northam bested GOP challenger Ed Gillespie for Governor. The nearly 9-point margin of victory exceeded most polls which showed Gillespie running closer to Northam. Northam’s victory was also a further put-down of racist provocateur Corey Stewart who ran a reprehensible campaign against Gillespie in the GOP primary and boasted that he had forced Gillespie to move closer to his his White Nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic agenda.
Democrat Justin Fairfax defeated State Senator Jill Vogel to succeed Northam as Lt. Governor, thus becoming the second African-American to hold statewide office in the Commonwealth.
Incumbent Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring beat John Adams to retain his position.
The low point of Gillespie’s campaign was undoubtedly his bogus attempt to link Northam to the MS-13 criminal gang — a “Trump type tactic” that obviously failed.
Then, in an amazingly inappropriate and totally boorish move, Trump proceeded to blame Gillespie for losing the election by not being “Trump-like enough” — ignoring the “drag effect” of Trump’s own unpopular Presidency and the backfiring of the White Nationalist pitch promoted by Trump, Bannon, and others. Really, is there even a smidgen of grace or self-reflection in this Dude?
In other good news, the embarrassing, reactionary, hate-mongering, homophobic GOP State Delegate Robert “Bathroom Bob” Marshall was sent into a long overdue retirement by Democrat Danica Roem, who smashed him by 9 percentage points.
Roem, who will become the first transgender legislator in Virginia history, and reportedly the first openly transgender elected legislator in the US, impressed voters in her district by sticking to local issues like traffic congestion rather than engaging BB in his never-ending culture wars (for example, Marshall refused to debate Roem and dissed her by publicly referring to her as “he” — what a total slimeball).
”Bathroom Bob” gained national notoriety earlier this year by introducing a bill intended to humiliate transgender individuals — particularly vulnerable students — by denying them the use of bathrooms corresponding to their current sex. Some of the ludicrous comments by BB’s supporters trying to put Roem down — and having nothing to do with real issues facing the district — show just what a “sicko” this guy is and how he “brings out the worst” in some others. Good riddance!
All in all, Virginia voters did the right thing by striking a note of decency and commitment to our Constitutional form of government — moving forward to better things rather than trying to turn back the clock to a troubled (and in the case of Bathroom Bob downright ugly) past.
PWS
11-08-17
YES VIRGINIA. THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS. RCP Sean Trende explains: “good night for Democrats in Virginia. Northam won by largest margin of any Democrat since 1985. Republicans lose control of the Virginia House, an outcome few people thought possible… the final undecideds breaking heavily toward Democrats, much like 2014 with Republicans. …
Gillespie ran 2% behind Trump…the map moved out from underneath Republicans … toward Democrats, especially in suburban districts…take Clinton’s vote share and add 2%, explaining the Virginia outcomes” (Trende explained last November how targeted ads flipped or suppressed Hillary’s vote by 1%, enough for Trump to carry Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin by 70,000 votes total). Virginia’s highly educated White voters (47% college grads) don’t just buy fake news from social media. Virginians read real news.
I agree. Far from the “fake news” promoted by Trump & Bannon that Gillespie lost because he wasn’t “Trumplike” enough, his campaign “tanked” when he adopted the Trump-Corey Stewart tactic of trying to falsely connect Northam and the entire minority community to MS-13 and an increase in crime.
Anybody who actually reads or listens to the Northern Virginia news knows that almost all of MS-13’s victims are members of the Latino community. Therefore, Latinos are as anxious as anyone to curb MS-13. But, the “White Nationalist” blame, shame, arrest, deport, and spread fear in the community pitch is demonstrably a failure. It actually assists gang recruitment and gives them a basic “home free” to attack members of the Hispanic community. We aren’t going to address this problem in any meaningful way without relying on members of the very community that the White Nationalists seek to vilify. Most successful anti-gang initiatives are led by smart, committed Latinos who understand what is happening and how to relate to kids who, not surprisingly, feel rejected and disrespected by society. I’ve said over an over that a bunch of clueless, older, racist White guys like Sessions, Bannon, Miller, Gillespie, Stewart, Racist Joe, Trump, and their like have no chance whatsoever of improving the problem; they can only make it worse. I might also add that we are unlikely to solve this problem without also getting the assistance of some women — particularly “women of color” who understand its dynamics and how to solve community problems — something else that the chauvinistic leadership of the White Nationalist wing of the GOP seems to have forgotten.
Like Gus, I’m pleased that the voters of Virginia were able to separate truth from fiction. And, minority communities got the message of hate and disrespect emanating from the GOP. They turned out for Northam despite his lacking the kind of dynamic appeal of someone like Barak Obama.
The “New GOP” relies heavily on folks not showing up or voting against their real interests. That’s why they are so scared of true democracy and consistently seek to rig the system in favor of a minority of White voters who find their race-baiting approach either attractive or at least acceptable. Most of those folks out in rural Virginia who voted for Gillespie and Trump actually have more in common with middle and lower middle class urban dwellers than they do with the Trump White Nationalist elites. That’s why the GOP Congressional leaders think they can rip off their own voters with a tax handout to the rich and corporations that in the end will jack up the deficit and leave rural Americans holding the bag (and with fewer of the government services and subsidies that keep rural areas afloat) along with the rest of us.
PWS
11-10-17
From 538.com:
“Democrats are leading Republicans by 11 % on the generic ballot. That’s a big lead — the type of lead that results in wave elections like Tuesday’s….But the really bad news for Republicans: There’s a good chance they won’t be able to eat too much into that lead by the 2018 midterms…. past elections suggest that any big movement on the generic ballot from this point to the midterm tends to go against the president’s party.” See https://fivethirtyeight.com/…/theres-no-reason-to…/
or google
There’s No Reason To Think Republicans Will Be In Better Shape A Year From Now
FIVETHIRTYEIGHT.COM