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(48,681 posts) Fri Sep 29, 2023, 08:15 PM Sep 2023

Could Virginia Become the Next Florida? It May Come Down to 20 Legislative Races

This November’s races in Virginia are shaping up to be the wildest—complete with a streaming sex scandal—and most consequential in ages, as Glenn Youngkin and his GOP allies might get the power to push further right on everything from abortion to education.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/could-virginia-become-florida-20-legislative-races

https://archive.ph/xX2kF

It is exceedingly rare—as in, it basically never happens—that a first-time candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates becomes internationally famous. Yet last week, Susanna Gibson—nurse practitioner, mother of two, and Democrat from suburban Richmond—made headlines around the world after The Washington Post revealed that Gibson and her husband had performed sex acts for a live online audience. In at least two of the videos, the Post reported, Gibson told viewers she was “raising money for a good cause.”

Whether that “cause” was her campaign is unclear. In Gibson’s only public statement since the news broke, she quickly and deftly spun the controversy, claiming that she was the victim of a political dirty trick and of revenge porn. Her Republican opponent, a housing developer named David Owen, said his campaign had nothing to do with the videos surfacing. “I’m sure this is a difficult time for Susanna and her family,” Owen said, “and I’m remaining focused on my campaign.”

However the legalities of Gibson’s exposure may play out—her attorney has suggested that circulating the videos breaks the state’s revenge porn law—the episode is adding complexity to what was already a close and crucial race in an off-year election cycle with enormous stakes. All 140 of Virginia’s legislative seats are on the ballot; adding to the uncertainty is the fact that this will be the first election held with newly redistricted lines. “Without hyperbole, these are the most important, most unpredictable legislative races we’ve ever seen in Virginia, at a very strange time on the national calendar,” says David Mills, a former executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party. “Until we see the results in November, no one knows quite what to make of it.”

In-person early voting begins Friday. Roughly 20 contests are likely to determine whether Republicans gain control of both houses of Virginia’s legislature—and give Republican governor Glenn Youngkin the power to steer the state even further to the right on everything from abortion to school curriculum. “State Republicans were essentially one vote away from passing the abortion ban earlier this year,” says Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist who grew up in Virginia and has worked campaigns in the state. “Which makes it happening with a Republican majority more than a theoretical threat.” Youngkin also has plenty at stake personally: Victory in the state this November would set him up nicely to become a Republican presidential contender in 2028. The governor’s PAC has been setting records, taking in $8.5 million this year, with much of the case being funneled toward legislative races.

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