Virginia Mega Thread: The Youngkin Administration

[Alcibiades]

TMAC keeps this race as Toss-up/Tilt D. Any of the other jokers on this ballot and general election becomes Lean R at best.

https://twitter.com/USA_Polling/status/1360672268330946567

Uh, more like likely/safe D and lean/safe D respectively.

[Alcibiades]

Things can go very badly very fast in midterms. Virginia swung 23 points Republican between 2008 and 2009. Kirk Cox is at least narrowly favored against everyone but The Macker.

Virginia is a fundamentally more Democratic state than it was in 2009. It is only half-exaggerating to say that it might as well be California at this point.

[Alcibiades]

Things can go very badly very fast in midterms. Virginia swung 23 points Republican between 2008 and 2009. Kirk Cox is at least narrowly favored against everyone but The Macker.

Virginia is a fundamentally more Democratic state than it was in 2009. It is only half-exaggerating to say that it might as well be California at this point.

You may not know him well, but Lief is one of the oldest and most skilled trolls on this site.

I tend to see “42,000 posts” and assume they should be taken seriously, but then again, BRTD and Tender exist...

[Alcibiades]

A lot of blame has (rightfully) been placed on Dems for losing this race, but I don’t think we should overlook the fact that Youngkin was a truly outstanding candidate (from an objective electoral standpoint; I personally strongly dislike the guy), one of the very best the GOP has put forward in any state in the last decade.

Perhaps his greatest talent, one that all the most successful politicians possess, was being different things to different people at the same time. He came across as an “authentic” Republican to base voters, and so hugely juiced turnout, while seeming inoffensive and reasonable to independents and swing voters. This is evidenced by the fact that the swing to him was pretty uniform across all areas of Virginia. Youngkin also avoided divisive and unpopular culture wars issues, and instead focused on one of the few that had broad appeal throughout the state, namely education/“CRT”.

Finally, he didn’t say anything stupid. This may seem trivial, but never underestimate just how many ostensibly strong Republicans have thrown away elections because they seem pathologically incapable of not making bizarre and offensive comments.