The Virginia Elections
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We haven’t heard much about these critical Virginia elections this week, mostly because there’s no governor race (too bad because sweeping those clowns from the state’s top offices would be good for everyone). Given how close Democrats are to taking the state legislature, I hope everyone a) realizes that you have to show up to these elections and b) that the presidential primary hasn’t distracted people from things that are really more important. Given that Democrats haven’t been as dominant in special elections since November 2018 as they were before, I have some skepticism that this victory will be what it should be, though obviously the case against the state’s ridiculous gerrymandering will help a lot. In any case, Republicans are ready to go and they have a special strategy that seems really short-sighted:
State Sen. William R. DeSteph Jr. (R-Virginia Beach), facing a tough and well-funded challenge from Democrat Missy Cotter Smasal, urged the crowd to turn out the Republican vote Tuesday.
“Go to the retirement home, pick up 20 people, and bring them with you,” he said. “The stakes are too important.”
The Republican base is primarily scared, angry, and most important very old white people. I guess the strategy is to pack the courts and engage in enough voter suppression to hold off the backlash to this when these voters die in the next 3 years or whatever.