What to make of yesterday's elections

Republican Ed Gillespie lost the Virginia gubernatorial election last night.  Democrats also won the governorship of New Jersey.  Denying there are danger signs is a head-in-the-sand approach. It's wrong-minded.  But so is the Chicken-Little, the-sky-is-falling panic.

Virginia is no longer a red state.  It may not even be a purple state.  President Trump did not win the state so having a losing governor run in a Trump presidential year, is not exceptionally surprising.  The other side of the coin is the congressional wins in Trump districts over the past 9 months or so.  The partisan divide, is holding.  

Not exactly. Maybe a little.

New Jersey was not going to elect a Republican governor.  There was a reaction to Chris Christie just as he was a reaction to his predecessor. New Jersey is a very blue state.  The New York mayor, who shall remain nameless, was re-elected as well.  Republican mayors of the ultra-liberal city are the anomaly.  So this is not a terrible time for Republicans.

Where there should be some concern among conservatives, is the enthusiasm among Democrats and the potential for an enthusiasm momentum.  The left has traded on impeach Trump vitriol for a year.  That level of anger is just not sustainable.  Real momentum requires victories and it requires something to be hopeful about.  That's what not what birthed, but rather carried the Tea Party movement through  the Obama years.

Countering the liberal momentum what do the Republicans have?  No major legislative victories.  No Obamacare repeal. No tax reform.  They have to counter it and legislatively waited too long.  That is not to say that the Republicans are not on the timeline they originally proclaimed for tax reform (late 2017).  The impact in voter pocketbooks needs to be felt.  The impact on the economy needs to be felt, the momentum of it needs to be felt prior to November 2018.

So what to make of the elections? The Republicans have some issues to address.  Predominantly the issues is lethargy.  They need to move faster.  They need to deliver.  It's something pundits on the right side of the blogosphere, myself included, have been harping on since about March. The GOP may have had their heads in the sand on president Trump for the last 10 months, but many are starting to figure it out. They need tax reform, they need it now, and they need it to not be the last thing they do before the midterm elections.

Ed Gillespie for Virginia

If you haven't voted in Virginia, consider Ed Gillespie.

Virginia: Ed Gillespie has a shot

This race wasn`t supposed to be close.  Ed Gillespie trailed Warner by 20 points at one point.  It`s down to single digits and he`s done it without financial help from the GOP.  He`s a better choice than Warner and Gillespie could really use your vote.  He`s got the potential to be a great senator for the state of Virginia.

There`s Mark Warner:



Then there`s Ed Gillespie:

Virginia: Gillespie's outside chance moving inside

Via Fox News:

Republican Ed Gillespie is making a tight race out of his ambitious plan to defeat Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, slicing deep into the incumbent’s lead in the final days to re-emerge as a player in the GOP set piece to take the Senate.

By some accounts, Gillespie, a former Bush White House staffer and Republican National Committee chairman, has already done his job by forcing Democrats and their supporters to keep spending money on an expected victory, instead of on the handful of other Senate races that they desperately need to retain control of the upper chamber.

But with 10 days to go before Election Day, Gillespie, who according to a recent poll has cut the lead to single digits, feels confident about winning and is in no mood to declare a moral victory for what Washington war room strategists refer to as “expanding the playing field.”

The big 'aha' moment for those of us outside of Virginia comes late in the Fox story - popular incumbent Democrat Warner is struggling in light of a recent revelation that's been a big deal in Virginia.

...the race could now be even tighter, following revelations in mid-October about Warner allegedly discussing a federal judgeship for a supporter in an effort to keep her father from quitting the state Senate and giving Republicans the majority.

Bell said the allegation, largely overlooked by the national media, is a big deal among Virginia voters, though no public polls have been released since it surfaced.

“It’s a big issue,” Gillespie said. “It’s deeply troubling that Mark Warner would play politics with an appointment to a federal bench. Something happened to Mark Warner on his way to Capitol Hill.”

Is that enough to actually put Virginia in play? Perhaps it is. Perhaps this race could now be inside of 5%. Maybe even 3% (i.e. the typical polling margin of error). Let's hope it's a big upset on election day.

Virginia: Give Gillespie a chance to work for you

Virginia has an affinity for the name Warner.  But senator Mark Warner, who has cultivated an image as being a bi-partisan moderate, has voted with president Obama 97% of the time.  That's a party line liberal voting record and not the sign of a moderate.  If anyone argues that president Obama has been right 97% of the time, they are as partisan as anyone who claims Obama has been wrong 97% of the time. (In reality the president has only been wrong 95.4% of the time).

This race was supposed to be a cakewalk for Warner.  But Ed Gillespie has closed a 20 point polling gap down to 10 points and has momentum on his side.  Virginians who care about their state and are not blinded by name recognition and would like Virginia to be represented by someone who cares more about the state than ideology, should give Gillespie a chance.