Are White MAGA voters in Virginia ready to cast their lots with a Black immigrant woman for governor, a gay White man for lieutenant governor, and a Latino for attorney general?
Have to wonder how Democrats are going to play this in the fall.
I mean, it’s the MAGAs who are the anti-“woke,” anti-DEI crowd.
This one seems to be playing into Democrats’ hands, big time.
“As I hope my travels across the state and work ethic have demonstrated, I take my new responsibility as the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor seriously. I will continue to work hard to be worthy of this opportunity and to earn every vote of Republicans, Democrats, and all those looking for a voice across Virginia,” said John Reid, the newly-installed Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, in a statement issued on Monday, after it was announced that Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity had dropped out of the GOP race, citing lingering health issues after undergoing heart surgery last month.
Reid, a former George Allen staffer-turned-radio squawker, figured to face something of an uphill battle in a June primary, fair or not, because of his sexual orientation.
We’re long past the days where you could be a Log Cabin Republican and not risk offending Joe and Martha MAGA.
Glenn Youngkin lead the MAGA sweep in the 2021 statewide elections by making DEI the issue of the fall race, and Donald Trump’s campaign oversaw $140 million in TV-ad spending on trans issues last fall.
Reid’s fortunes will, of course, be tied to the race at the top, between Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Black immigrant, and the Democratic nominee, Abigail Spanberger, a former congresswoman.
Spanberger has a massive lead on Earle-Sears in the early 2025 polling, and the forecast for the political winds isn’t, in general, looking good for Republicans going forward.
If the races do tighten up in the fall, I’d expect the Dems’ roster of dark-money groups to then come into play, to carpet-bomb the TV airwaves with reminders for the red-meat MAGAs that they don’t like diversity, not so much to try to convince them to vote D, but just to sit this one out.
It’s dirty, but it’s also good politics.
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Chris Graham
