Posted on 11/10/2017 12:06:02 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
The day after his "Silent Majority" speech on Nov. 3, 1969, calling on Americans to stand with him for peace with honor in Vietnam, Richard Nixon's GOP captured the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey.
By December, Nixon had reached 68 percent approval in the Gallup Poll, though, a year earlier, he had won but 43 percent of the vote.
Contrast Nixon's numbers with President Trump's.
Where Trump won 46 percent of the vote against Hillary Clinton, his approval rating is now nearly 10 points below that. He has less support today than on the day he was elected, or inaugurated.
Tens of millions of Americans are passionately for Trump, and tens of millions are passionately against him. The GOP problem: The latter cohort is equal in intensity but larger in number, and this is especially true in purple and blue states like the Commonwealth of Virginia.
There is no way to spin Tuesday as other than a Little Bighorn, and possible harbinger of what is to come.
In George Washington's hometown of Alexandria and Arlington County, Democratic candidate Ralph Northam won 4-1. In Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the most populous D.C. suburbs, Northam won 2-1.
In the rural counties, however, Republican Ed Gillespie rolled up the landslides.
As there are two Americas, there are two Virginias.
Consider. Of all the delegate seats in the Virginia assembly allocated to Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, the GOP can today claim only one.
Northern Virginia is taking on the political and socioeconomic profile of San Francisco.
Another and perhaps insoluble problem for the GOP, not only in the Old Dominion, is demography.
Democrats rolled up their largest margins among African-Americans, Hispanics, single women, immigrants and the young. And these voting blocs are growing.
Gillespie ran up his largest margins among white males near and past retirement age and married white women. These Middle Americans are in inexorable demographic decline.
The Greatest Generation is passing on, and baby boomers born between 1946 and 1951 are now on Medicare and Social Security.
Yet reports of the GOP's demise are grossly exaggerated.
Though Gillespie lost by nine points, Jill Vogel, who ran for lieutenant governor on Trumpian issues, lost by six.
By 2-1, Virginians do not want their Confederate monuments torn down. Northam, sensing this, moved toward Gillespie's position as the campaign went on. Also, among the 27 percent of Virginians who regarded taxes and immigration as the top issues, Gillespie won by nearly 4-1.
It was health care concerns, the No. 1 issue, that buried the GOP.
As for mainstream media rage and revulsion at the "racism" of Gillespie ads suggesting Northam supported sanctuary cities and was soft on the MS-13 gang, this reflects an abiding establishment fear of the Trumpian issues of illegal immigration and crime.
Then there was the Republican messenger.
A former chairman of the RNC, Washington lobbyist and White House aide, Gillespie is an establishment Republican unconvincing in the role of a fighting populist conservative. His speeches recalled not Trump's run, but that of the Republicans Trump trounced.
Ed Gillespie was Virginia's version of Jeb Bush.
Message from the Old Dominion: A purple state, trending blue, with its economy recession-proof as long as Uncle Sam across the river consumes 20 percent of GDP, is a steepening climb for the GOP. You must have a superior candidate, comfortable with cutting issues, to win it now.
Republicans are being admonished to drop the monuments-and-memorials issue and respect why NFL players might want to "take a knee" during the national anthem.
But if to win in Northern Virginia the GOP must move closer to the Democratic Party, why would the rest of the state want to vote for the Republican Party?
During the campaign, both candidates moved rightward.
Northam rejected sanctuary cities and accepted Lee and Jackson on Richmond's Monument Avenue, and Gillespie ran Trumpian ads, even if they seemed to clash with the mild-mannered candidate himself.
The lesson for 2018:
While the solid support of Trumpians is indispensable for GOP victory, it is insufficient for GOP victory. Republican candidates will have to decide how close they wish to get to President Trump, or how far away they can risk going and survive.
Facing this choice, Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker decided to pack it in. Other Republicans may follow. But a house divided will not stand.
Republicans should recall that off-year elections are often problematic for incumbent parties. In 1954, President Eisenhower lost both houses of Congress. After pardoning Nixon in 1974, Gerald Ford lost 49 seats. In 1982, Ronald Reagan sustained a 27-seat loss.
In 1994, Bill Clinton lost 53 seats and control of the House. In 2010, Barack Obama lost 63 seats and control of the House.
If the nation chooses to turn Congress over to Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in 2018, will that be all Trump's fault? Or should perhaps some credit go to Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and venerable political tradition.
I believe this to be utter BS!
Despite Trump’s valiant efforts to save this nation, I now am coming to the reluctant conclusion that we are doomed.
Demography is destiny, and there is no stronger force in this world than racial/ethnic hatred.
As Virginia turns blue, we must turn Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and even Minnesota red.
republicans have more power now than ever before..EVER....dems win 2 blue state Gov, and everybody runs around with their hair on fire. R’s won all 4 actual congressional specials this year, the only congressional race tuesday, the R won by 40 points. No comparing now with anything from the past...this is hardly the Eisenhower era. Dems voting in transexuals, avowed communists, ..Trump is at 38-40 %..but everybody else is lower...a year is a long time in politics..geez.
and West Virginia was always blue...solid red now..
In the rural counties, however, Republican Ed Gillespie rolled up the landslides.
As there are two Americas, there are two Virginias.
Demographics, which many, particularly on the right, continue to ignore.
This isn’t our grandfathers Virginia.
Comparisons of voting patterns in the Virginia of 1969 and the Virginia of 2017 are close to meaningless.
Washington DC has pretty much destroyed Northern Virginia - and Maryland as well.
Today the vote from the government fueled population explosion in liberal Northern Virginia overwhelms the vote of the more traditional parts of the state.
Michigan has a Republican governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general (all elected positions).
Republicans hold a 9 to 5 edge in Michigan's House delegation in the U.S. Congress.
Republicans hold 27 of the 38 seats in the state Senate, and hold a 63-45 edge in the Michigan House of Representatives.
Strange as it may sound in light of the way the state has voted in past presidential elections, Michigan has become a very Republican state in recent years.
The real defining trend here, as I've been saying for years, is not demographics in terms of race or ethnicity, but demographics in terms of urban vs. rural voters. Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio have become more Republican as many of their large cities have faded. Virginia has become more heavily Democrat because the state is getting much more urbanized.
I like your comment about Minnesota becoming a viable GOP target. As the Twin Cities area goes to sh!t this may actually happen.
Pat buried the correct lead paragraph half-way down into the article:
“Ed Gillespie was Virginia’s version of Jeb Bush.”
Pat needs to hire an editor.
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