Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Democrats Prevail in Virginia and New Jersey



New York Times editorial:






Seen in a headline:

VIRGINIA IS FOR LOVERS AND DEMOCRATS!




From PM Carpenter:


"The GOP wipeout was so fierce, a 'Democratic transgender candidate unseated a conservative in Prince William County,' and 'the Republican whip in the House of Delegates lost to a self-identified democratic socialist.' "




Is this a preview of what will happen in the 2018 Congressional elections?

The top issue in Virginia was healthcare. 

People want the ACA not Trumpdon'tcare.



Dear Pundit Friends, please stop attributing this D landslide in VA to "changing demographics". VA hasn't changed that much since last Nov. 8 (Hillary by 5%). The bigger explanation is a backlash to Trump and Trumpism, pure and simple. #VAGov
— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) 





“We now know what a lot of us in the party already knew: The Trump message is a big loser in swing states and he hurts the G.O.P. far more than helps in those states,” Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and critic of the president, said in an email. 

“Suburban voters don’t like Trump and his antics energize Democrats. The myth of Trump electoral power will now start to melt. A wildly unpopular president is a big political problem for the G.O.P. in swing states.”

10 comments:

Dave Miller said...

A purple state continuing to turn bluer and bluer.

This was a must win for the Dems and they did it by over 200,000 votes.

Winners, before they can move up, must win the easy gets. Although Northam, did everything possible to lose, he still got the win. This is great news for the Dems and has got to have the GOP, the party of quitters this year, worried.

Sweet. I lift my gin and tonic...

Lee Arnold said...

It only took ten months for landslide sized majorities to tell the world tonight, AMERICANS HATE TRUMP AND HIS TRUMP CRIME FAMILY.
Today was a referendum on the Big Mistake.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Danica Roem defeated a 13-term REPUBLICAN incumbent who described himself as Virginia's "Chief homophobe!"

Infidel753 said...

Danica Roem defeated a 13-term REPUBLICAN incumbent who described himself as Virginia's "Chief homophobe!"

The most gloat-worthy win of the day. Also, Northam beat Gillespie by nine points, a much bigger margin than the most recent polls had predicted. We even have a shot at getting a majority in the state legislature. This is very encouraging for next year.

I'm not so sure, though, about Carpenter's conclusion that being anti-Trump is an adequate substitute for a clear message. I think we over-emphasized Trump's unacceptability in 2016, and look what happened. We'll need to fight hard next year -- remember that the state governments elected in 2018 will draw the Congressional districts after the 2020 census -- and it would be a mistake to get complacent and count on Trump to do our work for us. besides, it's very possible Pence will be President a year from now.

But for now, yes, I'm going to enjoy the prospect of Roem and Carter taking their legislative seats in what was once the capital of the Confederacy.

Clearwater, Florida said...

Democrats wiped out a 32 seat GOP majority in Virginia legislature.
TSUNAMI, not a wave, a TSUNAMI!

Lee Arnold said...

And a nice little Southern cherry on top of the cake.

In Georgia: State Democrats flipped three GOP-held legislative seats, including breaking a Republican super-majority in the state Senate.

Ducky's here said...

But the mothership is saying this Virginia election was close even though it was very nearly a ten point Dem win.
One theory being floated there is that " I believe they allow felons to vote now and wonder if that was a deciding factor since the election was so close."

No word on why the legislative races favored the Dems.

Not much happening in New England except Maine voting for the Medicaid expansion.
Rethugs are going to have to change their tune on health care.

Ray Cranston said...

The wingnuts must be listening to FUX News because they're calling the Virginia governors race "close."

Final tally:

Northam: 53.7% of the vote
Gillespie 45.1% of the vote


That is NOT close! Wingnuts lie to themelves because reality is too harsh. Poor wingnuts.

Dave Miller said...

Ray... they're trying to say they didn't lose too big considering all the evil press Trump gets.

You know, the stuff like reporting what he says...

Dave Miller said...

We're still waiting to see if the Dems took over the House in VA... if they did, the Dems get to make the redistricting map for the next decade.

One seat, and control, is hinging on 12... 12 votes.