Any VA folks out there who can shed light on these VA cities. Are they DEM or REP areas? The "Low AA enthusiasm" implies they are AA areas and thus DEM strongholds?
All heavily AAD, all predominantly rat.
All are Democratic strongholds. Keep an eye on Republican areas like York County (adjacent to Hampton and Newport News); Chesapeake and Suffolk (outside Norfolk and Virginia Beach), along with the Richmond suburbs and all the rural areas in the state. Those are areas Trump must run up a large plurality to offset the Dim vote. If those totals from Norfolk and other urban areas hold, it’s a good sign, and confirmation that the so-called “Obama coalition” won’t turn out en masse for Hillary.
Didn’t see the “Big Three” northern Virginia counties mentioned in this snippet. Those totals will also be telling. A Republican can have a 50,000 vote lead until Fairfax and Loudon counties begin coming in and lose by a significant margin.
This is the official link to follow if you want accurate VA vote information. Early vote (which we don’t have, it’s absentee voting) is up substantially. Not sure where this guy is getting his figures. Hampton Roads is down 6% but NOVA is up 63. Trump needs huge margins out west to overcome that. I live in Va Beach, it’s not red, it’s purple. Usually 50/50 for presidential elections but tilts very conservative (about 60/40) for midterms.
http://www.vpap.org/visualizations/early-voting
I know Newport News, loved there from 2006 to January 2014. It’s population is about 185,000, about 40% black. Normally heavily Dem but who knows what inroads Trump has made among black voters. VA Beach is largest city in VA, fairly affluent, about 445,000. It used to be Republican but now is barely leaning R. Nearby Norfolk is less affluent, heavily military, but may lean Dem.