What did Ed Gillespie do wrong and what did Ralph Northam do right?

[WilliamStone1776]

please discuss.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Ed Gillespie did everything wrong, Ralph Northam did everything right.

[smoltchanov]

Gillespie was in the wrong place (blue-leaning Virginia), at the wrong time (Trump's presidency) and with a wrong program (running TO Trump, not FROM him).....

[AtorBoltox]

Gillepsie decided to run a Trump like, white cultural grievance campaign in a Hillary state

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Gillespie ran such a shamelessly race-baiting campaign that the racist subtext was practically full-text.  He basically tried to win by selling out his beliefs George Wallace-style and the voters were repulsed by it rightly so).  That’s just not what Virginia’s about anymore.  Northam ran as a pretty bland, inoffensive moderate with some carefully chosen bits of social liberalism thrown in and that’s a wining formula for a Democrat running statewide in Virginia.  Gillespie ran as a proud race-baiter who wrapped his campaign in the Confederate flag and tried to convince voters his opponent was sympathetic to child-molesters.  This was very much a battle for Virginia’s soul and the state made a clear choice.  Of course, that’s ignoring the countless national factors which also effected the race.

[swf541]

Ed Gillespie did everything wrong, Ralph Northam did everything right.

This and Northam was a much stronger candidate than he was given credit for

[MAINEiac4434]

Gillespie was a Republican.

[Rookie Yinzer]

He really was just on the losing side of every issue. Even the issues where he could gain traction like Confederate monuments and maybe on being anti-Sanctuary cities was just a non-starter. People are not flocking to the polls over some damn statues. They want their fck-ing health care protected.

[KingSweden]

I think Ed looking at polls showing 60% Virginians wanted to leave statues up led him to think that was THE issue, instead of AN issue. People can be for statues while also having that be way down on their priority list (as it damn well should be)

[fhtagn]

Gillespie ran such a shamelessly race-baiting campaign that the racist subtext was practically full-text.  He basically tried to win by selling out his beliefs George Wallace-style and the voters were repulsed by it rightly so).  That’s just not what Virginia’s about anymore.  Northam ran as a pretty bland, inoffensive moderate with some carefully chosen bits of social liberalism thrown in and that’s a wining formula for a Democrat running statewide in Virginia.  Gillespie ran as a proud race-baiter who wrapped his campaign in the Confederate flag and tried to convince voters his opponent was sympathetic to child-molesters.  This was very much a battle for Virginia’s soul and the state made a clear choice.  Of course, that’s ignoring the countless national factors which also effected the race.

Let's not pretend Dems aren't racist and didn't resort to equally gross campaigning now


That being said, Gillespie ran in a blue state during a Trump presidency, should have distanced himself more from the President, and focused a bit more on actual policy.

[heatcharger]

Eddie Gillespie ran a vile, nasty campaign and thought he'd be rewarded for it in rural VA. Well he got that part right, but he didn't get the memo that college-educateds wouldn't give him a pass for it and saw right through his race-baiting and disgusting attack ads.

Northam's profile came right out of Democratic casting: genteel country doctor with a military background from Eastern VA. Northam made suburban moderates across the state feel very comfortable voting for him in a way other candidates might not have.

[Young Conservative]

Gillespie ties to be somethint he isn't. He also did the wrong thing. He should've run as himself and allowed people like pence to come and run up the turnout in western virginia. He should've maintained his typical persona and targeted central and exurban northern virginia.

[Hindsight was 2020]

Some post-election polling has come out. Apparently the thing that sunk Ed was the MS-13 ads https://twitter.com/jaredleopold/status/928647529843093504

[Mr. Smith]

Gillespie went in a little too much on those statues, and then at the end...he started trying to ditch Trump...not impressive if you're trying to win over the Corey Stewart vote and have a reputation for being an establishment hack to shed.

Ultimately he pulled a right-winger's version of Hillary last year.

As for Northam, he won by default because of this rather than anything he actually did, except be nice and not say anything stupid.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Gillespie ran such a shamelessly race-baiting campaign that the racist subtext was practically full-text.  He basically tried to win by selling out his beliefs George Wallace-style and the voters were repulsed by it rightly so).  That’s just not what Virginia’s about anymore.  Northam ran as a pretty bland, inoffensive moderate with some carefully chosen bits of social liberalism thrown in and that’s a wining formula for a Democrat running statewide in Virginia.  Gillespie ran as a proud race-baiter who wrapped his campaign in the Confederate flag and tried to convince voters his opponent was sympathetic to child-molesters.  This was very much a battle for Virginia’s soul and the state made a clear choice.  Of course, that’s ignoring the countless national factors which also effected the race.

Let's not pretend Dems aren't racist and didn't resort to equally gross campaigning now
*snip*

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were being sarcastic here.

[fhtagn]

Gillespie ran such a shamelessly race-baiting campaign that the racist subtext was practically full-text.  He basically tried to win by selling out his beliefs George Wallace-style and the voters were repulsed by it rightly so).  That’s just not what Virginia’s about anymore.  Northam ran as a pretty bland, inoffensive moderate with some carefully chosen bits of social liberalism thrown in and that’s a wining formula for a Democrat running statewide in Virginia.  Gillespie ran as a proud race-baiter who wrapped his campaign in the Confederate flag and tried to convince voters his opponent was sympathetic to child-molesters.  This was very much a battle for Virginia’s soul and the state made a clear choice.  Of course, that’s ignoring the countless national factors which also effected the race.

Let's not pretend Dems aren't racist and didn't resort to equally gross campaigning now
*snip*

I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you were being sarcastic here.

I'm just gonna assume you haven't been paying attention, or the blinders you're using are super effective.

[IceSpear]

Gillespie was in the wrong place (blue-leaning Virginia), at the wrong time (Trump's presidency) and with a wrong program (running TO Trump, not FROM him).....

This. Northam didn't do much wrong or right, despite the bedwetting. He was just generic D with the perk of having a slight boost on the Eastern Shore.

[Blair]

Despite my own doubts about Northam at times I did make the point that a lot of posters on here tend to criticize during elections without saying what they'd do differently. Sure Northam ran relatively vanilla ads about him being a Doctor but it's better than the crap pumped out by the GOP in the race.

Hats off to Pierrello for campaigning hard across the state, and for lots of various democratic groups putting serious work in.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Ed's approach of "Trumpism without Trump" was a flop. Virginia is a state that Trump lost by nearly 6 points against Clinton. Whatever made him think that Trump voters could propel him to victory in Virginia is beyond me.

[Ye We Can]

Gillespie ran a red meat campaign in a state where that doesn't work anymore.

Also lol at all the Dems who say Northam ran a totally clean campaign.  It got dirty on both sides.

[IceSpear]

Ed's approach of "Trumpism without Trump" was a flop. Virginia is a state that Trump lost by nearly 6 points against Clinton. Whatever made him think that Trump voters could propel him to victory in Virginia is beyond me.

He was banking on:

1) Higher turnout among Trump voters than Clinton voters, which would've been a pretty good bet in the past.

2) Presenting himself as a Trump acolyte to Trump voters, but a McDonnell-esque "establishment moderate" to NoVa, and hoping that neither side would notice (or at least not care.)

[Bojack Horseman]

Gillespie was in the wrong place (blue-leaning Virginia), at the wrong time (Trump's presidency) and with a wrong program (running TO Trump, not FROM him).....

This exactly. They learned somewhat from the Cuccinelli debacle of 2013 and didn't nominate an absolute bozo, but he turned himself into a clown while trailing late. Of course the pundits thought that he'd won the election by going full Trump, but thankfully the people said otherwise.

[darklordoftech]

Gillespie ran a Trumpist campaign in an establishment state.

[Bidenworth2020]

To Democrats-
even if you are not a fan of Berniecrats, one must admit tom Perriello was very good about his loss in the primary and it helped unite the party. Also, his efforts to help win the HoD likely made a huge difference.

[Orser67]

Gillespie was in the wrong place (blue-leaning Virginia), at the wrong time (Trump's presidency) and with a wrong program (running TO Trump, not FROM him).....

This. Northam didn't do much wrong or right, despite the bedwetting. He was just generic D with the perk of having a slight boost on the Eastern Shore.

I agree with this interpretation too. The campaigns probably mattered relatively little