Blue Virginia published an article calling out eleven Republican legislators whose districts went for Hillary Clinton in the November election.
Those Republican delegates are Jim LeMunyon (67th), Dave Albo (42nd), Tag Greason (32nd), Jackson Miller (50th), Mark Dudenhefer (2nd), “Sideshow Bob” Marshall (13th), David Yancey (94th), Scott Lingamfelter (31st), Robert Bloxom Jr. (100th), Randy Minchew (10th) and Rich Anderson (51st). Another two – Ron Villanueva (21st) and Tim Hugo (40th) – hold districts where Clinton barely lost. In theory, if Democrats could pick up the 11 seats won by Hillary Clinton, we’d be at 45 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, within striking distance of taking back the House.
As always, it is prudent to keep an eye on what our Democrat friends are thinking. For those considering investing in Republican candidates in 2017, here are eleven who could certainly use your support. Electoral strategy should no longer be merely the purview of political insiders. Activists and election-day Republicans should be looking for ways to support the Republican Party financially in thoughtful and deliberate ways. Obviously, much of the inside politics and intelligence never makes it to the voting public, but what does make it to the public’s attention should be acted on.
So…now the key is for Democrats to recruit strong challengers – and for state and national Democrats to support them financially and in every other way – at LEAST for the most vulnerable 11 Republicans holding down Hillary Clinton districts, plus as many others as possible in districts that Mark Herring won (or got around 50% in), etc.
Now, in truth, many of these Democrats are only as safe as we allow them to be. Remember, one of the reasons why Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election was because Democrat voters simply lacked enthusiasm. Republicans need to go after Democrat seats with passion and optimism, though we must keep in mind that we can’t run liberty candidates in blue districts and win. Their positions will be easy to demagogue and will rally voters to the polls on election day. In fact, it wouldn’t be an entirely bad idea to run some Republicans as Independents in these districts and just not run a “republican” at all.
Instead of making these decisions about which party people support, make elections about issues like school choice, economic opportunity, crime, etc. We can win these arguments in blue districts if we can just get the debate. Whether we run Independents or Republicans is really beside the point. We need to be aggressive in blue districts, so long as there is even the slightest chance we can win. Make the Democrats spend money defending “safe” seats. Use the grassroots to rally around the most conservative candidates and take advantage of their energetic support.
This 2017 election is going to be a fight. Virginia voted for Hillary Clinton. If we want to make Virginia Red Again, we’re going to need everyone working together to get our candidates elected.
