Election surprise in Va.
Ralph Northam’s convincing win in the Virginia gubernatorial race temporarily stifles the talk about Democratic impotence. Not only did Ed Gillespie lose his personal race, his reckless talk at campaign’s end spurred voters to elect Democrats to the state legislature. Moreover, the lieutenant governor candidate and attorney general’s office were captured by the Democrats.
Some of the victors in the legislative races were to the left of Hillary Clinton. In the Hampton Roads area, a member of Democratic Socialists of America beat a GOP incumbent, and in the north, a transgender candidate defeated the author of the Bathroom Law. Every shade of Democrat did well and they took control of the legislature.
Now Republicans will be quick to blame Donald Trump for the defeat. True, the president did not help but Gillespie ran a campaign playing on old prejudices. His pitch for confederate statues served only to remind voters of the Charlottesville disturbances. The more the GOP tries to distance itself for Trump, it becomes apparent that it is all about appearances. If Trump says the same things as Gillespie, he is labeled a divider. If a moderate Republican engages in the same tactic he is regarded as a shrewd user of wedge politics. In fact, there is no difference between Trump and the GOP.
For instance, health care was considered the number one issue in Virginia. Given the Ayn Randian proclivities of Paul Ryan, it is clear that ignoring the medical needs of the middle class and poor was a priority. But when voters in Maine voted overwhelmingly to expand Medicaid they sent a message not only repudiating Ryan but their libertarian fire-eater Governor Paul Lepage. Of course, Lepage refuses to enforce it — why not, fanatics do things like that.
Republicans will have to reassess what moderate conservative means. Certainly the activities of the GOP-controlled Congress or in state legislatures do not reflect balance, or rationality for that matter. Trump certainly does not improve the situation but he is a reflection of a party whose negativity is forcing it off the deep end. Gillespie was never a moderate, he was a hard conservative all along. Simply, the goal posts have been moved — now hardline conservative is the new normal in the GOP.
Does all this mean that Democrats have discovered an antidote for the alt-right and its cousin, the libertarian wing? Probably not, but it is a start. The results in Virginia and New Jersey stress that a friendly moderate face can soften the image of the party.
However, Roy Moore, the Republican Senate nominee in Alabama, whose willful ignorance of the law forced judges to remove him from the bench, is hardline as they come. He represents the alt-right version of the religious right.
The difference between Moore and his primary opponent Luther Strange was the difference between ugliness and obscenity. Trump succeeded in taking the mask off the Republican Party; let’s hope he does not do the same for the United States.