Virginia Mega Thread: The Youngkin Administration

[Fuzzy Bear]

I am doing a lot of thinking whether I would support Jennifer Carrol Foy.

yes she is the electable progressive. But I fear I may have to vote for Terry McAuliffe. The anti fairfax and carter people need to stick together and I do not want to risk the Democrats losing it.

This guy says "Fairfax and Carter" run everything:

[Fuzzy Bear]

The Republican Party stands for the same things in Virginia, Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, you name it. Why should Democrats vote for someone who will run down their public services, pander to the racists in their policies, deny women the right to choose, do nothing about climate change, and even try to rig the system so Democrats are unfairly disadvantaged? It's different when in cases like Maryland and Louisiana, the minority party actually tries to reflect the views of their state and avoid the stuff people hate from their party. However, there's no reason for people who didn't support Trump to support Youngkin. Frankly, polarisation isn't a bad thing, people should be consistent and vote their views up and down the ballot. The problem is that the American political system is poorly designed so that it's far too hard for either party to get a fair chance to win full control and then do what they promise.

That's not a problem; it's the way our system was designed.  It was designed to require major changes to come through CONSENSUS, not through the Tyrrany of the Majority.

As for the upcoming race, I'll say this:  McAuliffe does not have much personal popularity.  He almost lost to Ken Cuccinelli in 2013, and Cuccinelli was given up on by the National GOP.  McAuliffe is a slight fave and he should be, but he's very much vulnerable, and he does not have the kind of personal popularity to overcome a massive GOP wave should there be one.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Would former Senator and Governor George Allen have won if he ran this year?

Maybe not.  George Allen was in his prime years when in office, but he'll be 70 next year and he looked a tad rough recently.  He's the kind of candidate whose past would hold him back, and would cause folks to give up on him when the going got tough.  (I personally think Cuccinelli would have beaten T-Mac in 2013 had the GOP not given up on him.)

Youngkin was an articulate, disciplined candidate who didn't scare people and spoke to voters on what was on THEIR mind.  He didn't overplay his hand on the School Curriculum issue, and he got a big assist from Merrick Garland (who DID overplay HIS hand).  He was an impressive candidate who ran a GREAT campaign.  T-Mac was an unattractive candidate who made unforced errors. 

[Fuzzy Bear]

Would former Senator and Governor George Allen have won if he ran this year?

Maybe not.  George Allen was in his prime years when in office, but he'll be 70 next year and he looked a tad rough recently.  He's the kind of candidate whose past would hold him back, and would cause folks to give up on him when the going got tough.  (I personally think Cuccinelli would have beaten T-Mac in 2013 had the GOP not given up on him.)

Youngkin was an articulate, disciplined candidate who didn't scare people and spoke to voters on what was on THEIR mind.  He didn't overplay his hand on the School Curriculum issue, and he got a big assist from Merrick Garland (who DID overplay HIS hand).  He was an impressive candidate who ran a GREAT campaign.  T-Mac was an unattractive candidate who made unforced errors. 

Given that Youngkin won by less than 2, I'm pretty sure Allen would have lost.  He's ancient, but he's also a gaffe machine with practically no appeal in urban areas of the state.  He would also neutralize the retread/sneak around term limits issues McAuliffe had.

He's not a "gaffe machine".  His "Macaca" statement and its effects were overblown.  Allen lost because of demographic change, and because of the shifting of public opinion on our involvement in Iraq.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

It wasn’t only Democrats on this forum who see Youngkin as an “extremist” as the democrats in Virginia ran their entire campaign on Youngkin being an “extremist” for proposing exactly what he said he’d do and they lost .

So far Youngkin hasn’t done anything he didn’t promise he would do

What a concept!  Doing what you said you'd do!