THANK YOU GOD and everyone who came out and voted for the Democratic ticket in Virginia!!!! From NPR & the Washington Post.....
In Backlash To Trump, Democrat Ralph Northam Wins Virginia Governor's Race
Updated at 8:55 p.m. ET
Democrat Ralph Northam has won the Virginia governor's race, according to The Associated Press, defeating Republican Ed Gillespie in a stinging rebuke to President Trump.
The surprisingly early call in what was expected to be a much closer contest portended a very good night for Democrats in the Old Dominion and across the country. And one year after the 2016 presidential contest, Democrats finally got a signature win after long boasting of rising opposition to Trump.
Polls in the final days showed a close race in Virginia, but ultimately Northam, the incumbent lieutenant governor, successfully rode an anti-Trump wave to victory over Gillespie's hard-line message on immigration and social issues.
Trump quickly weighed in via Twitter, arguing Gillespie lost because he hadn't embraced him enough. Trump didn't campaign for Gillespie, though he did tweet out support for him and recorded a robocall saying the Republican candidate would help "make America great again."
The backlash to Trump wasn't limited just to the Virginia governor's mansion, however. Democrats are are poised to make major gains in the Virginia House of Delegates as well, including electing the country's first openly transgender state lawmaker. Democrat Danica Roem defeated Republican Bob Marshall, an outspoken social conservative who unsuccessfully sponsored a so-called "bathroom bill" in the state legislature and refused to call Roem "she" or "her."
In New Jersey, Democrat Phil Murphy easily bested Republican Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. Outgoing GOP Gov. Chris Christie has the lowest approval ratings of any governor in the country, and Trump remains deeply unpopular there as well.
The last few weeks of the Virginia contest turned especially bitter as the race tightened. Gillespie doubled down on a Trumpian message, promising a crackdown on violence by Latino gangs and pledging to protect Confederate monuments. The messaging was a major turn for the former Republican National Committee chairman, but had he been successful it would have meant Republicans nationwide would not be afraid to embrace Trump's more populist, anti-establishment message come next year.
Northam, meanwhile, tried to unite Democrats' centrist and progressive wings, although he upset the latter last week when he said he would be willing to sign a bill banning so-called sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants.
Ultimately, however, Democratic turnout did not seem depressed at all across the commonwealth, and exit polls showed that, in particular, college educated white voters turned out at higher levels than in 2016 to reject Trump and vote for Northam and the Democratic ticket.
Democrat Ralph Northam was projected to win Virginia’s race for governor Tuesday over Republican Ed Gillespie, as Democrats appeared headed for a big night across the board in races for lieutenant governor, attorney general and several key seats in the House of Delegates, based on exit polls and early returns.
Virginia’s elections have been closely watched nationwide as a test of President Trump’s status and impact on the tenor of politics in every state.
From South Korea, Trump wasted no time in lashing out at Gillespie. “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” the president tweeted before the final tally was in.
If the results hold, it could signal a big win for Democrats in Virginia. In another closely watched race, in Prince William County, Democrat Danica Roem became the first openly transgender person to win a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. She beat longtime Republican incumbent Robert G. Marshall by a wide margin. At least four other Republicans lost their seats.
It was part of a wave of apparent victories for Democratic candidates, including what looked like a sweep of statewide offices. Democrat Justin Fairfax appeared headed to win as lieutenant governor over Republican Jill Holtzman Vogel, and Attorney General Mark R. Herring was headed for reelection over Republican challenger John Adams.
The governor’s race had been close in pre-election polling, and Northam had been criticized by some in his party for waging a low-key campaign at a time of high passion and sharp rhetoric. But Virginians turned out in large numbers on a day of patchy rain around the state as Northam and the Democrats relied on an increasingly efficient system for getting voters to the polls, especially in the more-populous parts of the state.
Northam’s victory was propelled by white, college-educated women; voters who are concerned about health care; a robust showing among Democrats; and voters who strongly disapprove of Trump, exit polls indicated.
Though overall returns were incomplete, Northam’s strength showed in a few bellwether counties.
With 95 of 96 precincts reporting in the D.C. suburb of Loudoun County, Northam had a nearly 20-point advantage. In 2013, Democrat Terry McAuliffe won Loudoun by only about four points on his way to a narrow gubernatorial victory.
Similarly, the key Richmond suburb of Chesterfield County, long a Republican stronghold, was showing a one-point edge for Gillespie with 75 of 76 precincts reporting. In 2013, Republican Ken Cuccinelli took the county by nearly eight points in his losing bid against McAuliffe.
Recent statewide polls had shown the race for governor to be neck and neck, but the outcome hinged on two unpredictable factors: turnout and Trump.
While Democrats were energized to show some force after last fall’s demoralizing presidential loss by Hillary Clinton, Republicans were itching to deliver a knockout punch by snatching Virginia away. It was the only Southern state that went for Clinton last year.
Preliminary exit polling Tuesday showed Northam winning about 8 in 10 nonwhite voters, on par with Clinton’s performance in Virginia in 2016 and with McAuliffe’s in 2013. Clinton beat Trump in Virginia by five points.
The exit polling also showed Northam capturing roughly 7 in 10 voters in the D.C. suburbs, including the populous exurbs of Loudoun and Prince William counties. That’s a slightly higher edge than Clinton had there last year. Northam also had a roughly 20-point advantage in his home turf of Hampton Roads.
In the mountainous and western parts of the state, 7 in 10 voters supported Gillespie in the preliminary exit polling — but there are far fewer people in those regions.
The race was closer in central parts of the state as well as areas from the southern border up to Richmond.
Northam was counting on high turnout in Virginia’s populous, diverse urban areas, particularly among African American voters. Gillespie fought hard to eat into the growing Democratic base in Northern Virginia, as well as to motivate the largely rural, white voters who had supported Trump last fall.
It was a tricky needle for Gillespie to thread. He resisted even talking about the president for much of the race, while Northam called Trump a “narcissistic maniac” and pledged to be a bulwark against his policies in Virginia.
But Gillespie made a late turn toward Trumpian tactics that seemed to energize his campaign, promising to defend Confederate heritage and airing ads that raised the specter of violence from illegal immigrants.
Trump, who never campaigned in Virginia for Gillespie, tweeted about the race several times Tuesday morning.
“Ralph Northam will allow crime to be rampant in Virginia,” the president wrote on Twitter. If the Republican wins, Trump said, “MS-13 and crime will be gone.” He was referring to the MS-13 street gang, which featured prominently in Gillespie ads raising fears of violence and illegal immigration.
Those ads seemed to take a pivotal place in the race, appealing to some as an honest take on very real fears in suburban neighborhoods, but condemned by others as Willie Horton-style race-baiting.
“I didn’t think any of the ads in any of the races were good. It was a race to the bottom,” said Morgan Broman, who is retired and accompanied his 18-year-old son as he voted for the first time at the Mount Vernon Recreation Center in Alexandria. “Ralph Northam is not a member of MS-13 as far as I know.” Broman voted for the Democratic ticket.
But at Beville Middle School in Woodbridge, Republican voter Barbara Cottman said she worried that Gillespie didn’t go far enough with a law-and-order message. “I believe in . . . America first,” said Cottman, 73. “The Constitution, the Constitution, the Constitution. Without that we’re gone. That’s our foundation.”
The Trump factor drove an unusual amount of national attention toward Virginia, whose election was one of only two statewide contests in the country. The other, in New Jersey, wasn’t considered competitive, so Virginia became the proxy for the painful efforts by both major parties to find their way forward in the age of Trump.
Half of the more than $50 million raised by Virginia’s statewide candidates came from outside interest groups, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.
Trump is deeply unpopular in Virginia. Preliminary exit polling Tuesday showed just over 4 in 10 Virginia voters approving of the president’s performance, slightly higher than in some pre-election polls.
The top issue for Virginians in exit polling was health care, with just over 4 in 10 naming it as the most important factor in their vote.
Roughly 1 in 7 named taxes as their deciding issue, the same number as identified gun policy or immigration.
Gillespie campaigned on cutting taxes in Virginia and opposing “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal deportation orders. Northam, a doctor, highlighted health care.
Northam appeared to get a boost from the man he was trying to succeed: McAuliffe, who is prohibited by the state constitution from serving a second consecutive term.
In preliminary exit polling, a slight majority of voters approved of McAuliffe, with just over 4 in 10 disapproving of his job performance.
Democrats pulled out all the stops to try to boost turnout in the final weeks of the campaign, especially in a bid to woo African American voters to the polls. Former president Barack Obama appeared at a rally in Richmond in late October and recorded a robo-call that went out Tuesday to voters in urban parts of the state.
Northam’s campaign reported that the Democratic field army had knocked on 1 million doors since Saturday.
Voter Georgia Jones, 68, a surgical technician from the Richmond area, said she voted for the Democratic slate out of a sense of tradition and obligation.
“Too many people suffered for us to get to this point for people not to vote,” said Jones, who is African American. Politicians need to know that “it’s not about you. Do something for the people for a change.”
Pat Sullivan, Sarah Gibson, Rachel Chason, Antonio Olivo, Maria Sacchetti, Julie Zauzmer, Shira Stein, Jenna Portnoy, Scott Clement, Emily Guskin and Kristen Griffith contributed to this report.
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Democrats were poised to makes significant gains in the Virginia state House of Delegates after launching an unprecedented push to channel anti-Trump fervor and demographic changes into gains in the overwhelmingly GOP chamber.
Early returns showed Democrats unseating at least four Republican incumbents, including a woman poised to defeat one of the most ardently anti-LGBT rights members of the General Assembly to become Virginia’s first openly transgender lawmaker.
Democrats were leading in races in Prince William County, include two women who would be the first Latina members of the General Assembly. A pair of Republican incumbents in Loudoun County were also trailing their Democratic challengers.
“This is an unbelievable night,” said House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) in an interview an hour after polls closed. “There were districts we didn’t think we had much of a shot in and we are running even right now, and there’s going to be some pretty strong upsets.”
Republicans had structural advantages heading into Election Day, including a cash advantage built up over years and the name recognition and community ties that come with incumbency.
Republican House leadership did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The legislative races this year included the most contested by Democrats, and women, in modern history. Democrats put up candidates in 54 of the 66 seats that Republicans hold in the lower house of the state legislature. More than half of their candidates are women, and roughly a quarter are people of color or millennials.
While House of Delegate races are normally seen as the sleepy backwater to the gubernatorial contest, they generated a surge of interest this year from activists energized by Trump’s election and new groups that see the legislative contests as an opportunity to test strategies and technologies ahead of next year’s midterm election.
The highest spending race was in southwest Virginia where former television news anchor Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend was fatally shot during a live broadcast in 2015, challenged Republican incumbent Joseph Yost.
Both raised more than $1 million for their bids, and results showed Hurst leading with one-third of precincts reporting.
A pair of Democratic incumbents fended off well-financed challenges by Republicans. Subba Kolla, who would have been the body’s first Indian American lawmaker, appeared to be losing to Del. John Bell in Loudoun County, and Heather Cordasco trailed Del. Mike Mullin in Hampton Roads.
Democrats appeared to be flipping the most seats in Northern Virginia as party’s gubernatorial nominee, Ralph Northam, posted a strong showing in the populous region.
Battleground: Prince William
Danica Roem, center, who is running for a House of Delegates seat against GOP incumbent Robert Marshall, campaigns as voters take to the ballot boxes at Gainesville Middle School on Tuesday in Gainesville, Va. If Roem wins, she would be the first transgender legislator elected in the USA. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)
Robert Marshall, a GOP incumbent defending his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, smiles while voting Tuesday at Signal Hill Elementary School in Manassas, Va. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
The biggest battleground was Prince William County, a D.C. exurb where people of color constitute a majority of the population. A diverse group of five Democratic challengers hoped to channel demographic changes and Democratic energy to unseat white male incumbents.
Danica Roem, who would be Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official, defeated Del. Robert Marshall (R-Manassas), a culture warrior who opposes LGBT rights. Elizabeth Guzman, who raised more money than any Democratic candidate except for Hurst, was leading in her challenge to Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Woodbridge).
On Tuesday morning, Guzman’s husband, Carlos, handed out blue Democratic sample ballots to incoming voters at a middle school in Woodbridge, chatting with voters in English and Spanish.
One woman told him in Spanish she hoped the district would elect a Latina who understands what immigrants go through. A silver-haired white woman took the ballot and asked him, “Who is the good one here?”
“Elizabeth Guzman,” he replied smiling. “My wife.”
She smiled and walked away holding the paper. “Don’t forget to vote for her,” he added. “It’s time for a change.”
With nearly all precincts reporting, Jennifer Carroll Foy had a substantial lead over Republican Michael Makee for an open seat vacated by a retiring Republican.
Republican Dels. Richard Anderson and Jackson Miller were trailing their Democratic challengers, Hala Ayala and Lee Carter.
Northern Virginia races
In Fairfax County, Democrat Kathy Tran was leading Republican Lolita Mancheno-Smoak for an open seat vacated by retiring Del. Dave Albo (R). Del. James LeMunyon (R) was trailing his Democratic challenger, Karrie Delaney. Less than two-thirds of precincts had been reported in both races.
With nearly all precincts reporting in Loudoun County, Del. Thomas A. “Tag” Greason (R) was set to lose to Democratic challenger David Reid in that county’s most competitive race in a district that Hillary Clinton carried by 19 points a year ago.
Greason’s fellow Loudoun County lawmaker, Del. J. Randall Minchew, was trailing his Democratic challenger, Wendy Gooditis. Another Loudoun County Republican lawmaker, Dave LaRock, was ahead of his Democratic challenger, Tia Walbridge.
Greason and other Republican incumbents were counting on their community ties to offset their districts’ Democratic leanings in federal election years.
Bunny Giordano, a 69-year-old accounting worker, said she voted for Greason because he championed legislation to create a specialty license plate featuring the gold ribbon of childhood cancer awareness — inspired by her grandson Mathias’s story.
Greason brought the bill to Mathias Giordano’s home so he could see it before he died at the age of 13 in 2014.
“He’s a big supporter of the people; he’s very good at that,” she said of the delegate.
Looking ahead
Democratic leaders in the House of Delegates see a potential for pickups next year, if a court challenge of legislative district maps forces special elections, and in 2019 when all 100 seats are on the ballot again.
Republicans have a narrow 21-to-19 majority in the state Senate, where all seats are up in 2019.
Control of the governor’s mansion and legislature in Virginia has national implications. The General Assembly will draw congressional and state legislative district maps after the 2020 Census, and the governor has the power to veto those maps.
Maria Sacchetti and Jenna Portnoy contributed to this report.
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