Democrats Could Learn a Lot From What Happened In Virginia.
'States dont become battlegrounds overnight.
On Tuesday night, Virginia Democrats won their most consequential election in decades. After obtaining a majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, Democrats now have a governing trifecta for the first time since 1993. This is no accident. It comes in the midst of a generational political shift that was put in motion years ago. Virginias Democrats got where they are today as a result of year-round community organizing and voter engagement.
For decades, Democrats allowed the prize of an Electoral College victory to blind them to electoral opportunities elsewhere, staving off funding and failing to provide meaningful support for candidates, campaigns and local parties in places they had written off as unwinnable. The national Democratic Party spent millions in Virginia this year, but the state wasnt always such a priority. From its position in the South to its prominent role in Americas legacy of oppression, Virginia was long considered reliably conservative unbreakable. As recently as six years ago, Republicans controlled the office of the governor and the General Assembly.
Local organizations like mine understood the political potential of Virginia when we got started 12 years ago. We are winning because we recognize the power of an electorate that includes and reflects the diversity of our state. We dont talk to voters only when campaign season rolls around. We try to reach voters of all colors, women, low-income workers and young people where they are, which has made it possible for us to develop a robust base of support along Virginias so-called Urban Crescent, from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads. Long before Election Day, we registered more than 300,000 voters, knocked on more than 2.5 million doors, and organized within communities of color to help win significant policy changes like Medicaid expansion, which covered nearly 400,000 people.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/opinion/virginia-election-democrats.html?
leftieNanner
(15,087 posts)"All politics are local."
Truth.
underpants
(182,799 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Juli Briskman flipped off Trump, then flipped a seat on the County Board.
John Flannery is an MSNBC regular, with national name recognition (though only running for a County seat).
KPN
(15,645 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and it didn't even happen yesterday...
2017 was when the tide turned, and only a technicality after three recounts and a literal coin flip prevented Dems from having a total takeover... 2019 was just unfinished business.