Virginia's November 2019 Elections May Finally Cement Its Status As A Blue State

Virginia, a red state for decades, has begun to turn blue. From 2008 on, Virginians have consistently voted for Democratic presidential candidates while slowly electing more Dems at the federal, state and local levels.

The state’s legislative elections in just a few months, however, are of particular importance: With the census coming in 2020, whoever wins control of the Virginia legislature in November will have power over redistricting, the process by which legislative and congressional districts are drawn. Republicans hold extremely narrow majorities in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate. If Democrats can win control of those chambers, they’ll be able to redraw the GOP-gerrymandered maps — and maintain power through the 2020s.

It looks like the Dems have every reason to be optimistic. Despite a string of scandals for Virginia Democrats, with Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s use of blackface and the allegations of sexual assault against Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax, it’s Virginia Republicans who seem to be losing their grasp on constituents. Democratic candidates are raking in far more donations at the grassroots level, and a recent string of sexist and homophobic comments by Republican incumbents certainly hasn’t helped.

“It looks like the pressure is starting to get to the Virginia GOP,” said Jessica Post, executive director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, earlier this month. “Republicans are trying to distract from their abysmal record, but then make comments like these that show just how extreme and out of touch they are. When Virginia Republicans reveal their true selves, we should listen.”

Democratic campaign groups are the first to admit that for years, Republicans had them beat in state legislature campaign fundraising. But after the 2016 election, Democrats have started catching up.

“We started turning things around in 2016,” said Matt Harringer, the press secretary for the DLCC. “So far, looking at our second-quarter numbers, this is shaping up to be the best start to a cycle we’ve ever had.”

The DLCC reported on July 12 that it had raised $5 million in the second quarter of 2019. The Republican Legislative Campaign Committee did not publish its second-quarter earnings or respond to HuffPost’s requests for them.

The DLCC has had its eyes set specifically on Virginia, and invested $1 million into the state’s elections earlier this year. The group says the state’s GOP is in “full meltdown mode,” while Democrats continue raking in donations at the grassroots level.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/virginia-november-elections-blue_n_5d30ac0ee4b0419fd329dd29