The Virginia Way: What happens when Democrats don't vote
Here in Ol' Virginny we celebrate "The Virginia Way" -- which means if you want to be elected to a state office, you cozy up to Dominion Power who will bless you with tons of $$$. But that's for another day.
This is what happens when Democrats don't GET OUT AND VOTE.
Background:
-- In VA, we vote in odd-numbered years -- 2019, 2021, 2023 . . .
-- Gov, Lt Gov, and Atty General are four-year terms -- 2017, 2021, 2025. Gov cannot be re-elected, although former governor can wait four years and run again.
-- Our General Assembly consists of Senate (44) and House of Delegates (100).
---- State Senators serve four-year terms and are elected all at once: 2019, 2023, 2027.
---- Delegates serve for two years: 2019, 2021, 2023, 2025.
---- Thus, every so often we elect the entire General Assembly: 2019, 2023, 2027.
VA Democrats got into the habit of voting once every four years -- in the Presidential election. For the longest time, Virginia was like all Southern states -- thanks to the Reagan-Nixon Southern Strategy, our old-line white supremacist Democrats all became white-supremacist Republicans and we continued to elect them. Then, in the early 2000's, things began to turn around, mainly with the population decline in rural areas and population growth in urban and suburban areas turning the state blue. Eventually we elected Democrats as Gov, Lt Gov, and Atty General, as well as taking over the General Assembly -- and VA started to progress out of the darkness.
Democrats became complacent and we are now stuck with Trump supporters as Gov and AG and a gun-totin', anti-abortion Republlcan LtGov. Here's how that happened.
Look at these numbers.
2020 Presidential Election, Virginia
Biden 2,413,568
Trump 1,962,430
2021 Gubernatorial Election, Virginia
Youngkin 1,663,596 Difference from Trump: -15%
McAuliffe 1,600,116 Difference from Biden: -34%
One year after Biden took Virginia, 15% fewer Republicans voted while 34% fewer Democrats voted.
And that, folks, is what happens when Democrats stick up our noses and say "Well, the Democratic candidate is not 100% in line with me on every single issue." We lose.
Not only that, but in 2021, Republicans took over the House of Delegates and came within two seats of taking the State Senate. We Democrats stepped up in 2023, held on to the Senate and took back the House of Delegates, and now we have stopped our pro-Trump lame duck Governor from inflicting any more damage.
VOTE BLUE, NO MATTER WHO.
= new reply since forum marked as read
