ngl, whether McAuliffe wins by 1 or loses by 1, it's not really going to make me feel a whole different about 2022.
For about as long as this forum has existed, we've been treated to one administration after another who were put into power and then subsequently stripped of power across the country by an electorate that can't or won't make up its mind about what it wants. It would be shocking to me if that wasn't happening again now. It's just what we do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You agree with me that this is not like KY or LA 2019 or MD 2018 right?
its literally going to be a gop sweep up and down the state ballot. That is what makes it different.
In a more polarized voting era, it makes me far less optimistic for VA Dems.
In 2019 KY and LA, we had a uniquely charismatic and well-established Democrat running against Republicans with little charisma or broad appeal (and in the case of KY, the R was downright despised). Even though the states were strongly pro-Trump and Republican, they also were voting for the governor's office in particular based more on the personalities of the actual candidates than nationalized politics (for what may well prove to be one of the last times). But in this case, a fairly popular ex-governor of a pretty blue state who in theory should have been easily the strongest candidate still might lose because of the D attached to his name and because the perfect storm of conditions (see: Loudoun County disaster going on right now, Biden's free falling approval ratings, Youngkin being fairly decent as far as R candidates go) might make it possible for him to lose.
So yeah, I'd agree that if McAuliffe loses, he's likely to drag down the rest of his party in a way that Bevin and Rispone did not. Because people won't really be voting based on their feelings towards the gubernatorial candidates alone, but rather how they feel about the political parties and the ideas they represent (as they perceive them at least) at large. Ironically, Obama trying to "help" T-Mac by campaigning for him and subsequently making gaffes about the Loudoun County disaster that led to direct, angry pushback from the parents of the victim might well have sunk T-Mac in the end. Especially if the race comes down to the wire.
