"Close Virginia governor polls set Democratic nerves on edge" advised Kevin Robillard at Politico and indeed the democratic party hierarchy has every reason to be deeply concerned. The implications for the future of the party if their candidate Ralph Northam loses to the GOP contender Ed Gilllespie are profound.
Every
traditional omen is in play for the Dem's leading in to the election.
Virginia has gone Democratic in three straight presidential elections,
both its senators, Warner and Kaine (the recent VP candidate) and its
current, term limited governor, Terry McAuliffe are Democrats.
For all
intents and purposes Virginia is not even a "purple" state but solidly
in the "blue" column on the national and statewide levels (although the
state house and senate are GOP controlled).
According
to the polls President Trump's national aggregate approval rating is
39% and he is similarly under water in the Old Dominion.
In the overwhelming majority of cases mid/off term elections go against the party that won the previous presidential election, often massively so.
In the overwhelming majority of cases mid/off term elections go against the party that won the previous presidential election, often massively so.
However, with Donald Trump the jury is out on whether the traditional
playbook has been completely torn up. While the Dem's have won a
scattering of state house elections the four congressional election and
one senate election were all held by the GOP.
The
GOP's winning margin in each congressional election was well down on
the presidential year election but still,a win under circumstances where
traditionally a number of those seats may have been lost. Further the
left spent upwards of $30 million in Georgia trying to get their
candidate Ossoff elected and still failed.
Given
all factors,Trump's purported bad approval, a Democratic safe state,
former President Obama and Tim Kaine campaigning for Northam, the media advising that "Trump's base is deserting him in droves" and the history of elections.
If
Northam loses the Dem's will be in a world of hurt, the only excuse,
one which would most certainly be trotted out is the old chestnut "all
elections are local" where a preemptive strike is on the boards already "Are Democrats trying to lose Virginia's governor's race?"
Unfortunately for the GOP if it is victorious, the muddied waters of a nation wide DNC in chaos, the concept of a totally inept Virginia Democratic campaign has merits for the Dem apologists;
"Northam refused to take a tough stance on MS-13 in order to not upset the extreme activists in his party, but in doing so, he started to lose suburban families who have seen MS-13 murder people in their neighborhoods. Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William counties have seen numerous brutal gang murders in recent years, including one in my own neighborhood in Ashburn. The Washington Post's fact-check on the issue admitted there are more MS-13 gang members in Fairfax County than there are police officers"
"Northam refused to take a tough stance on MS-13 in order to not upset the extreme activists in his party, but in doing so, he started to lose suburban families who have seen MS-13 murder people in their neighborhoods. Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William counties have seen numerous brutal gang murders in recent years, including one in my own neighborhood in Ashburn. The Washington Post's fact-check on the issue admitted there are more MS-13 gang members in Fairfax County than there are police officers"
And
while the Northam campaign literally blacked out his black running mate
for Lt.Governor's image from campaign literature they then managed to
insult the Hispanic community;
"And while Northam is dealing with charges of "subtle racism," the
Democratic Party of Virginia authorized a hit piece on Latina Republican
House of Delegates candidate Lolita Mancheno-Smoak, putting a picture
of her face by a picture of a ravenous dog and a Jason Halloween mask."
Polling is muddled as we have come to expect ranging from Quinnipiac with Northam +14 and Hampton with Gilliespie +8 (with 26% "undecided in the latter case) and the latest poll from Republican associate "The Polling Co." has Gillespie +2. Thus it may boil down to the usual battle of turnout between the DC Democratic counties and the Republican rural areas.
As with the case of Ossoff in Georgia and the Dem's $30 million dollar losing effort the fact of President Trump's supposed poor approval rating may have no bearing on the determination of conservatives to ensure the Republican movement as Trump rightly defined it is stronger than a fractured factioned, message-less Democratic Party.
The only danger for the conservative movement from a Gillespie win is that it may finally waken the media and the DNC to the truth that endless attacks on Trump and "Trumpism" is a dead end and the time has come to attend to the need for objective reporting in the case of the former and putting their house in order in the case of the latter
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