United States 2021 VA, NJ & MD Statewide Thread

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Battlegrinder said:
I'd caution reading too much into this, McAuliffe lost by a solid margin, yes, but in part that's because he ran an awful campaign that's primary message was incessantly screaming about Trump, and doubled down on that when Youngkin stastarted gaining. A Democrat capable of running an actual campaign wouldn't have done that.

On the other hand, given that everyone from McAuliffe to Biden had no message aside from "Youngkin is Trump 3.0" and never attempted any sort of course correction, it may be that after the last 4 years they're just not capable of making any other arguments.
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I'm encouraged. This was a high turnout race in a legitimately purple state. Yes, McAuliffle ran naked through the minefield, but it is proof that messaging about the DNC's authoritarian overreach can get through the noise when it bubbles to the surface. As someone with over a dozen teachers in my family tree, it's nice to see the Teacher's Union's shit finally recognized as the horsecrap it is.
 
A pity the race was even that close after McAuliffe basically argued that yes, your kids should belong to the state and the state should not only be free to teach them hatred, but also allow its protected groups to rape them with abandon. But a win's a win even without 2009 Bob McDonnell numbers, and I'm certainly very happy that I didn't wake up to news of a last-minute ballot dump or twelve in Fairfax County to drag the Democrats up over Youngkin.

From what I understand, Youngkin also won not only because TDS has lost its luster despite McAuliffe's best efforts to lean into it, but because he ran a fantastic campaign that managed to thread the needle between diehard Trump supporters in the west of the state and the considerably squishier suburban voters. Solid path forward for the GOP as a whole in 2022, I think. Now here's hoping he and all those other newly elected GOP figures take full advantage of the backlash that propelled them to victory and go hard not only on cleaning up education (that newly elected Attorney General, Miyares, can start by smashing the Loudoun County school board to splinters - shame Youngkin didn't also thank them for his victory in his speech earlier, heh) but also to secure electoral integrity, DeSantis-style. Tighten up mail-in ballots massively, require a full accounting of mail-in-ballots by 7 or so on election night and hourly reporting of the number of ballots still uncounted, all that good stuff.
 
Tiamat said:
Thing is, as it was stated previously? This is New Jersey. It should not typically be this close. I had the (mis)fortune to live there a year, it’s as blue as an Asaris posterior (apologies for the Mass Effect reference).
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Someone pointed out somewhere that New Jersey in 2017 was badly misread by Democrats. It isn't that the state is actually that progressive, it's that much of the state *really* despises Trump.

Now, one thing Trump and Congress did accomplish was to get rid of the SALT deduction, and since that was eliminated, New Jerseyans and other blue-staters have been finding out just how painfully high taxes are, and how it isn't just "the rich" who get soaked.

Again, it's who addresses the issues people actually care about and has a workable plan. As it turns out, a lot of people have quickly figured out that is not Murphy and it certainly isn't Biden.

Side note: Steve Sweeney is currently down 2,009 votes with one precinct still to report in, and both the assemblymen in my area (yes they're both male) are also trailing their Republican challengers (who are female).

All in all...this is one hell of an exciting election. Even those I know who are more plugged into the local political apparatus are shocked by this.
 
Airedale260 said:
Side note: Steve Sweeney is currently down 2,009 votes with one precinct still to report in, and both the assemblymen in my area (yes they're both male) are also trailing their Republican challengers (who are female).
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Sweeney's the guy that got crushed by some random trucker with a Facebook page and $153 worth of campaign expenses, right?
 
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