Member-only story
The Game has Changed
What McAuliffe’s loss tells us about the new Republican Party and the future of democracy in America
It was close, but as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes. The state of Virginia went from blue to red Tuesday when the race for Governor went to Republican Glenn Youngkin, leaving Democratic candidate, Terry McAuliffe, smarting from a defeat he didn’t, but should have, foreseen.
While it wasn’t a surprise to some of us, it was still disappointing. More so because it was avoidable. The hardest part about this isn’t that Virginia will have a Republican governor, it’s that the Democrats proved how inept they are at campaigning.
Granted, the failure of two much-touted infrastructure bills to pass the House and Senate, prior to Tuesday’s election, was arguably a key factor. Nobody trusts Dems to make things happen anymore. I blame that on the last few months of public sausage making. It’s been painful to listen as Dems in Congress say things like “Well, we only just recently started really talking,” as if we should congratulate them for finally doing what they should have been doing all along.
Many of us are still (perhaps, naively) hoping for childcare subsidies, paid family leave, universal health care and police reform — not to mention the obvious need for infrastructure to reinforce bridges, resurface highways, and…
