Analysis of Virginia's 2017 election (including alt-right candidate Corey Stewart)
05-02-2017, 12:10 AM
Virginia, a presidential battleground state that in 2016 voted for Hillary by a 49.7% to 44.4% margin, is holding elections in 2017 for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and all 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. (The Virginia Senate isn't up for election till 2019.) There are also a few local elections here and there.
The Republican primary is on 13 June, and for reasons explained in more detail below, I suggest Virginians vote for Corey Stewart (for Governor) and Bryce Reeves (for Lieutenant Governor). Stewart is an alt-right candidate, and Reeves is possibly slightly less cucked than his opponents. (Quite the ringing endorsement, right?) Absentee voting has already begun. Virginia allows voters to cite any of 19 different reasons for voting absentee, so pretty much everyone qualifies, whether because they work, or stay home with kids, or will be on vacation that day, or whatever. The online application for an absentee ballot is here.
Virginia used to be a conservative state, but increasingly has been turning purple. For the past several elections, the voters have been choosing Democrats in statewide races (for President, U.S. Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General). Republicans have a 66-34 majority in the Virginia House, though, and a 21-19 majority in the Virginia Senate. The game plan for Democrats this year is to turn this election into a referendum on Donald Trump, and thereby once again win all three statewide offices, plus pick up as many seats as possible in the Virginia House.
If Democrats were to win a landslide victory, as some of them, Rachel Maddow-style, are already predicting they will, they would then most likely use that to try to spook Republican Congressmen into cucking out even more than they already have (which would probably involve trying to further distance themselves from Trump and other controversial figures favored by the alt-right).
I've started a more comprehensive write-up on Kings Wiki, and plan to continue expanding and updating it as events unfold.
Governor
So, let's look at the Governor's race. On the Republican side, Corey Stewart, who served as state chairman for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, is running for Governor. Stewart became famous for an illegal immigration crackdown he instituted as chairman of the Prince William County board of supervisors. He also got labeled a racist and a white nationalist because in a Reddit AMA, he called out his Republican primary opponent, Ed Gillespie, as a "cuckservative"; and because he opposed removing a Confederate statute from Charlottesville. However, Stewart says:
![[Image: 800px-58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg]](http://commons.kingswiki.com/w/images/thumb/0/04/58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg/800px-58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg)
That's an anti-Stewart rally (with pro-Stewart counter-protestors on the right, right next to the Antifa contingent), where "progressive" demonstrators were chanting "Don't pay for hate" in protest against the Potomac Nationals' donation to Stewart's campaign.
Some Republican politicians have been cucking out and switching their endorsements from Stewart to Gillespie, but I think it's important to get Stewart's vote count as high as possible, in order to send a message that Trump's supporters remain a well-organized force to be reckoned with. Since turnout tends not to be very high in primaries, a strong "get out the vote" effort could tip the outcome.
On the Democratic side, Ralph Northam (who, strangely enough, admitted voting for George W. Bush twice) is running against progressive, Bernie Sanders-endorsed Tom Perriello.
There's also a Libertarian, Cliff Hyra, who seems to have a pretty standard libertarian platform from what I've seen thus far. Given the suckiness of the major party Lieutenant Governor candidates, some people wish he had run for that office instead.
Lieutenant Governor
There doesn't seem to be a lot to say about this race. Thus far, it hasn't attracted a lot of media attention. On the Republican side, Glenn Davis and Jill Vogel, both of whom have endorsed Gillespie, are running against Bryce Reeves, who as far as I know has not endorsed Gillespie. All else equal, that seems to make Reeves the slightly less-cucked of the three. Vogel is a mainstream politician (I actually consider her to be a femiservative, based on some of the legislation she's supported) who's been trying to seem conservative lately.
On the Democratic side, we have Justin Fairfax, Susan Platt, and Gene Rossi, who to my knowledge haven't endorsed any gubernatorial candidates. Fairfax, though, has been endorsed by the Bernie Sanders progressives, so we can assume that the other two fall more into the category of Establishment Democrats.
Attorney General
Here we have Republican John Adams (who to my knowledge hasn't made a gubernatorial endorsement) running against Democrat Mark Herring, a Northam supporter (and therefore someone I would put in the Establishment Democrat category).
This office partly serves as a bench politicians sit on while waiting for their chance to run for Governor, so a lot of voters will probably just pick a candidate based on party.
House of Delegates
The reason Democrats are so optimistic about the House of Delegates elections is that in 2016, Hillary Clinton carried 17 House of Delegates districts that are currently held by Republicans. So they're running challengers in every single one of those districts. The unexpectedly strong performance by the Democratic candidate in the Kansas special election has made Democrats suspect there will be an anti-Trump wave this year.
Also, Democrats say that an unexpected victory in the Prince William County Clerk of Court election spells the end of the Trump era. Prince William County is where Corey Stewart served as chair of the Board of County Supervisors, and several competitive House of Delegates districts (including the 31st, where Peruvian immigrant Elizabeth Guzman is running on an anti-Stewart progressive platform) contain chunks of Prince William County.
The Trump resistance has emboldened all kinds of colorful characters to come out of the woodwork. There are women's studies professors, transgender journalists, and gay computer programmers running against stodgy, evangelically Christian incumbent Republicans like Bob Marshall.
![[Image: icon_popcorn.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/new/icon_popcorn.gif)
Local races
The only local race I'm paying attention to at the moment is the Arlington County School Board race mentioned in the earlier thread, School board member apologizes for saying women shouldn't date violent abusers. That primary will be held on 9, 11, and 13. Of course, I'm rooting for Lander.
Conclusion
Given the state of Virginia politics these days, if the Republicans can win any of the three statewide races, or limit their losses in the House of Delegates to fewer than five seats, I think they can call that a victory of sorts. Democrats would prefer to get a landslide so they can spin that as an early rebuke of Donald Trump, given this is one of voters' first opportunities to weigh in on his administration by voting for or against his party's nominees. Virginia's importance to the 2020 presidential election, and the fact that only Virginia and New Jersey are holding gubernatorial elections this year, increases the likelihood that it will be viewed (or at least spun) as a bellwether.
In the long term, victory for the alt-right will require building up a deep bench of alt-right-leaning local, state, and federal politicians, rather than putting all the eggs in the Trump basket. This election is one opportunity to further that goal.
The Republican primary is on 13 June, and for reasons explained in more detail below, I suggest Virginians vote for Corey Stewart (for Governor) and Bryce Reeves (for Lieutenant Governor). Stewart is an alt-right candidate, and Reeves is possibly slightly less cucked than his opponents. (Quite the ringing endorsement, right?) Absentee voting has already begun. Virginia allows voters to cite any of 19 different reasons for voting absentee, so pretty much everyone qualifies, whether because they work, or stay home with kids, or will be on vacation that day, or whatever. The online application for an absentee ballot is here.
Virginia used to be a conservative state, but increasingly has been turning purple. For the past several elections, the voters have been choosing Democrats in statewide races (for President, U.S. Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General). Republicans have a 66-34 majority in the Virginia House, though, and a 21-19 majority in the Virginia Senate. The game plan for Democrats this year is to turn this election into a referendum on Donald Trump, and thereby once again win all three statewide offices, plus pick up as many seats as possible in the Virginia House.
If Democrats were to win a landslide victory, as some of them, Rachel Maddow-style, are already predicting they will, they would then most likely use that to try to spook Republican Congressmen into cucking out even more than they already have (which would probably involve trying to further distance themselves from Trump and other controversial figures favored by the alt-right).
I've started a more comprehensive write-up on Kings Wiki, and plan to continue expanding and updating it as events unfold.
Governor
So, let's look at the Governor's race. On the Republican side, Corey Stewart, who served as state chairman for Donald Trump's presidential campaign, is running for Governor. Stewart became famous for an illegal immigration crackdown he instituted as chairman of the Prince William County board of supervisors. He also got labeled a racist and a white nationalist because in a Reddit AMA, he called out his Republican primary opponent, Ed Gillespie, as a "cuckservative"; and because he opposed removing a Confederate statute from Charlottesville. However, Stewart says:
Quote:Corey Stewart Wrote:
They said, 'Corey, I can't believe you're embracing the Confederate flag,' blah, blah blah. I'm not embracing the Confederate flag, folks, but here's the deal. It's not about the flag at all. It's about political correctness. In fact, it's about rampant, uncontrolled political correctness that is shaming Virginians who are simply trying to honor their ancestors, their ancestry, their heritage.
And, I'm going to stand up against political correctness because it's a constraint. It's a bondage. It's a constraint against our free speech."
![[Image: 800px-58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg]](http://commons.kingswiki.com/w/images/thumb/0/04/58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg/800px-58f11d0a637b1.image.jpg)
That's an anti-Stewart rally (with pro-Stewart counter-protestors on the right, right next to the Antifa contingent), where "progressive" demonstrators were chanting "Don't pay for hate" in protest against the Potomac Nationals' donation to Stewart's campaign.
Some Republican politicians have been cucking out and switching their endorsements from Stewart to Gillespie, but I think it's important to get Stewart's vote count as high as possible, in order to send a message that Trump's supporters remain a well-organized force to be reckoned with. Since turnout tends not to be very high in primaries, a strong "get out the vote" effort could tip the outcome.
On the Democratic side, Ralph Northam (who, strangely enough, admitted voting for George W. Bush twice) is running against progressive, Bernie Sanders-endorsed Tom Perriello.
There's also a Libertarian, Cliff Hyra, who seems to have a pretty standard libertarian platform from what I've seen thus far. Given the suckiness of the major party Lieutenant Governor candidates, some people wish he had run for that office instead.
Lieutenant Governor
There doesn't seem to be a lot to say about this race. Thus far, it hasn't attracted a lot of media attention. On the Republican side, Glenn Davis and Jill Vogel, both of whom have endorsed Gillespie, are running against Bryce Reeves, who as far as I know has not endorsed Gillespie. All else equal, that seems to make Reeves the slightly less-cucked of the three. Vogel is a mainstream politician (I actually consider her to be a femiservative, based on some of the legislation she's supported) who's been trying to seem conservative lately.
On the Democratic side, we have Justin Fairfax, Susan Platt, and Gene Rossi, who to my knowledge haven't endorsed any gubernatorial candidates. Fairfax, though, has been endorsed by the Bernie Sanders progressives, so we can assume that the other two fall more into the category of Establishment Democrats.
Attorney General
Here we have Republican John Adams (who to my knowledge hasn't made a gubernatorial endorsement) running against Democrat Mark Herring, a Northam supporter (and therefore someone I would put in the Establishment Democrat category).
This office partly serves as a bench politicians sit on while waiting for their chance to run for Governor, so a lot of voters will probably just pick a candidate based on party.
House of Delegates
The reason Democrats are so optimistic about the House of Delegates elections is that in 2016, Hillary Clinton carried 17 House of Delegates districts that are currently held by Republicans. So they're running challengers in every single one of those districts. The unexpectedly strong performance by the Democratic candidate in the Kansas special election has made Democrats suspect there will be an anti-Trump wave this year.
Also, Democrats say that an unexpected victory in the Prince William County Clerk of Court election spells the end of the Trump era. Prince William County is where Corey Stewart served as chair of the Board of County Supervisors, and several competitive House of Delegates districts (including the 31st, where Peruvian immigrant Elizabeth Guzman is running on an anti-Stewart progressive platform) contain chunks of Prince William County.
The Trump resistance has emboldened all kinds of colorful characters to come out of the woodwork. There are women's studies professors, transgender journalists, and gay computer programmers running against stodgy, evangelically Christian incumbent Republicans like Bob Marshall.
![[Image: icon_popcorn.gif]](https://rooshvforum.network/images/smilies/new/icon_popcorn.gif)
Local races
The only local race I'm paying attention to at the moment is the Arlington County School Board race mentioned in the earlier thread, School board member apologizes for saying women shouldn't date violent abusers. That primary will be held on 9, 11, and 13. Of course, I'm rooting for Lander.
Conclusion
Given the state of Virginia politics these days, if the Republicans can win any of the three statewide races, or limit their losses in the House of Delegates to fewer than five seats, I think they can call that a victory of sorts. Democrats would prefer to get a landslide so they can spin that as an early rebuke of Donald Trump, given this is one of voters' first opportunities to weigh in on his administration by voting for or against his party's nominees. Virginia's importance to the 2020 presidential election, and the fact that only Virginia and New Jersey are holding gubernatorial elections this year, increases the likelihood that it will be viewed (or at least spun) as a bellwether.
In the long term, victory for the alt-right will require building up a deep bench of alt-right-leaning local, state, and federal politicians, rather than putting all the eggs in the Trump basket. This election is one opportunity to further that goal.