Posted on 11/08/2017 5:08:45 PM PST by Kaslin
“Virginia is gone.”
And with it goes another leg in the GOP’s “Sunbelt” or “Southern” strategy. Florida is politically iffy as is North Carolina.
In terms of the Electoral College, we used to easily count on these three states as firmly in the GOP column.
Heck even Georgia is showing some, albeit light, shades of blue.
The worst part is that we don’t have any big states that are trending GOP. I like what I saw in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin the last few elections. They have either GOP governors or majorities in at least one chamber of the legislature. But the same time, I can’t see those states becoming red in the long term.
In 1990 Fairfax County was still over 80% white. It is now at 50% or maybe even slightly less.
Add to that the largeness of the federal government and the number of federal employees and contractors that live in Fairfax and surrounding counties who vote to support a large federal government.
Both of those factors contribute to voting blue with the ethnic makeup becoming a larger factor year over year.
It became a solid blue state after the immigrants.
Virginia’s Rupublican Party offers no real opposing views in NoVa - they run as Dem lites.
see #25
What IS important is this: had EVERY person who voted for President Trump in 2016 voted for Gillespie in 2017, he would have won, BIG TIME!
Given the same Democrat turnout, of course.
So, the relevant question is, why did 596,117 Virginia 2016 Trump voters stay home in 2017?
Trump obviously was able to energize Republicans to get out and vote and Gillespie/VA Republican Party was not.
There is a lesson in this election result for those who would care to look!
BTW, Republicans could have won NJ also, if the 2016 Trump voters had turned out for Ms. Guadagno.
You might look at the latest voter registration changes on my twitter feed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.