“Virginia it seems is on the verge of becoming another permanently blue state. “
Nothing is permanent. Get the Karl Rove nonsense out of your head :-) (I was a victim of that too ... I don’t mean to sound argumentative :-) ).
So Virginia shifted ... it doesn’t mean that it’s out of reach this year. Moreover, the Republicans have the opportunity to make inroads in states like Michigan and Wisconsin as well as solidify a base in crucial states like Ohio.
Try looking at things dynamically :-) ... the electoral map certainly has “static” states (CA, IL, NY, etc.), but there are lots of dynamics at play this time around.
The thing about Karl Rove is that he a supporter of the mass immigration that has helped turn Virginia from a reliably and solidly red state to (at best) a purple state. At least I think he is; he worked for Bush who is about as clueless on immigration as any Republican. One of the reasons the static blue states you mention are pretty much permanently blue now is because of this now decades-long era of Democrat-importing mass immigration.
Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio do offer opportunity, but mostly by increasing the share of the white vote in those states. The dilemma facing the GOP with regards to whites is that any attempt to get more of their vote will be demonized as racist and white nationalist. And while that may have no impact on poor and working class whites, who are used to be trashed by culture and ignored by politicians, it does seems to have an impact on upper-scale, suburban whites. They probably can’t explain exactly why it’s ‘racist’ or ‘white nationalist’, but they’ve heard it repeatedly in the press and media and so they think it must be true.
Anyway, I hope you’re right, I really do. Recapturing Virginia this year could be big, and to win a state that hasn’t gone GOP since 1984 in Wisconsin, or 1988 in Michigan would be huge.