Op-Ed: A midterm elections threat assessment — high and getting higher
In case you thought the Democratic Party might have been overhyping their chances of taking back the governorship of Virginia in 2018 to counter Republicans, they’re now facing a real threat. The reason is because the Blue Ridge city of Wise is the most racially diverse city in Virginia, which means that a win there actually could boost Democrats.
And, in a race where a Democrat has nearly 1,200 more registered voters than Republicans, an upset could actually tip the balance.
At the moment, it’s a stretch, but Virginia Democrats appear confident about making a serious run at the governor’s race in 2018. The party has begun rolling out a series of ads and events designed to energize their base, targeting their anger at GOP Gov. Robert McDonnell’s administration after McDonnell came under fire over his role in a racist scheme to fire a former employee.
That came to a head just weeks ago, when it was revealed he was under federal investigation for having paid off the former employee, Shirley Sherrod, a black woman who helped McDonnell on his presidential campaign in 2004, in exchange for her voting records being changed. Now, with the race in Virginia’s House of Delegates in doubt, and Democratic turnout in the state’s most racially diverse community falling steadily, it looks like Democrat Ralph Northam is in good shape to win the race against Republican Ed Gillespie.
Of course, Republicans are not giving up yet. They’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves. For one thing, they’ve created a campaign in which they’re trying to get Democrats to turn off their TV screens, by showing only commercials targeted at Republican audiences. For another, they’ve resorted to a strategy that would have worked a few months ago. They’re using an ad campaign to try to draw out undecided voters.
The most recent ad, paid for by the Republican Governors Association, features a family with children and was shown in eight Virginia House districts, including Wise—which is expected to be a close race. The ad, called “Bitter,” features the children holding up signs with the word “Veto” crossed out, and a narrator who plays off those signs as representing political foes.
The ad starts off by linking the family to the issue that is
