Democrats like Northam, Murphy, and De Blasio should not run only on Trump. That is what Hillary Clinton did in 2016 against Trump. She was "Love not Hate". She did not have an economic and military message to win.
If Northam and the Virginia Democrats want to win in 2017, they need to have a message, and not just on anti-Trump only to motivate Democratic voters in NOVA and in other Virginia suburban areas.
Agreed-although Murphy and (prob De Blasio) could prob shoot someone and still win no matter what.
The problem for Northam running on solely an anti-Trump message is math imo. Sure Trump maybe unpopular in NOVA and VA was one of only a few swing states he didn't care etc. The issue with running on such a message against Gillespie is that it could backfire and aggravate Trump's base downstate to really come out on election day. Along with the other fact that Gillispie is likely to do several points better at least in NOVA compared to Trump who totally collapsed in Fairfax, PWC, and Loudoun. As someone pointed out here earlier Gillespie's standing in NOVA seems to be an odd bright spot for him.
Also keep in mind during his 2014 run for Senate, Gillespie carried Loudoun and came close in Prince William and preformed slightly better in Fairfax. If he had gotten only 10,000 or so additional voters in rural VA or in Southside, Richmond area, or VA beach he would be Sen. Ed Gillespie(R-VA) right now
