Democrats win bitter Virginia governor's race in setback for Trump

[webfact]

Democrats win bitter Virginia governor's race in setback for Trump

By John Whitesides

 

Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie voted Tuesday morning in Virginia's hard-fought governor's race that could offer clues about the country's political mood.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Ralph Northam won a bitter race for Virginia governor on Tuesday, dealing a setback to President Donald Trump with a decisive victory over a Republican who had adopted some of the president's combative tactics and issues.

 

Northam, the state's lieutenant governor, overcame a barrage of attack ads by Republican Ed Gillespie that hit the soft-spoken Democrat on divisive issues such as immigration, gang crime and Confederate statues.

 

Trump, who endorsed Gillespie but did not campaign with him, had taken a break from his Asia trip to send tweets and record messages on Tuesday supporting the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

 

But after the outcome, Trump quickly distanced himself from Gillespie.

 

"Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for," Trump tweeted. "With the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!"

 

At his victory party, Northam told supporters the sweeping Democratic win in Virginia sent a message to the country.

 

"Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness, that we will not condone hatred and bigotry, and to end the politics that have torn this country apart," Northam said.

 

The Virginia race highlighted a slate of state and local elections that also included a governor's race in New Jersey, where Democrat Phil Murphy, a former investment banker and ambassador to Germany, defeated Republican Kim Guadagno for the right to succeed Republican Chris Christie.

 

Murphy had promised to be a check on Trump in Democratic-leaning New Jersey. Guadagno, the lieutenant governor, was hampered by her association with the unpopular Christie.

 

BOOST FOR DEMOCRATS

 

Murphy's win and the Northam victory in Virginia, a state Democrat Hillary Clinton won by 5 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election, provided a much-needed boost for national Democrats who were desperate to turn grassroots resistance to Trump into election victories.

 

Democrats had already lost four special congressional elections earlier this year.

 

But a strong turnout in the Democratic-leaning northern Virginia suburbs of Washington helped propel Northam, who in the end won relatively easily. With nearly all precincts reporting, he led by a 53 percent to 45 percent margin.

 

Exit polls in Virginia showed that one-third of the voters went to the polls to oppose Trump, and only 17 percent went to support him.

 

Democrats also swept the other top statewide Virginia races, winning the offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general, and gained seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Democrat Danica Roem beat a long-time Republican incumbent to become the first transgender person to win a state legislative race.

 

"This is a comprehensive political victory from statehouse to courthouse. Thank you Donald Trump!" Democratic U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly of Virginia told Northam's supporters at a victory party in northern Virginia.

 

In Virginia, Democrats had worried that if Gillespie won, Republicans would see it as a green light to emphasize divisive cultural issues in their campaigns for next year's elections, when all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 of the U.S. Senate's 100 seats come up for election. Republicans now control both chambers.

 

Gillespie, speaking to crestfallen supporters in Richmond, Virginia, said he had run a "very policy-focused campaign."

 

But voters in Arlington County - a suburban Democratic stronghold bordering Washington - said national politics were important to their votes.

 

"Trump talks about draining the swamp, but Gillespie kind of is the swamp," said Nick Peacemaker, who works in marketing and considered himself a Republican until Trump won the party's presidential nomination.

 

Peacemaker said Gillespie seemed to shift closer to Trump's policies after securing the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

 

In local races across the country, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York and Marty Walsh in Boston both easily won re-election. Voters were also picking mayors in Detroit, Atlanta, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

(Additional reporting by Ginger Gibson and Gary Robertson; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Peter Cooney and Himani Sarkar)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-11-07

 

[Jingthing]

trump's endorsement the kiss of death. 

[selftaopath]

How sweet it is. Thank you Virginia. 

 

Let the (voter) wave drown all 45 defenders sending the message that The U.S. is BETTER than the current regime.

[ilostmypassword]

Even more significant is the fact that Democrates made huge gains against republican legislators despite the fact of massive gerrymandering by Republicans.

[ilostmypassword]

Fox News Went 100 Minutes Tuesday Night Without Discussing the Republican Loss in Virginia

The biggest political story of the hour is that Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie went down big in Virginia after running a Trump-esque campaign fixated on inflammatory culture-war issues, losing to Democrat Ralph Northam by what looks like it will end up as a nine-point margin. It's the biggest story of the hour, that is, unless you're watching Fox News: As observed by political writer Chris Hooks, Donald Trump's favorite network spent more than 90 minutes in prime time on Tuesday—Election Night!—between discussions of election results.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/11/08/fox_news_what_election_results.html

[Thakkar]

Thoughts and prayers to all the republicans who’ve been massacred with votes. No need to fund any studies or do any reviews as to hows and whys of this massacre. Just carry on, hope and pray it doesn’t happen again.

[boomerangutang]

Congrats to the winner.  Republicans tricksters are getting dirtier as the months roll by.  There is absolutely no limit to how ugly they'll go - to try to win.  It worked with Trump and other Reps last year.  So they figure, 'if dirty tricks work, why change the formula?'  

 

Perhaps the trend will segue a bit towards decency, but am not hopeful - as long as people like Roger Stone are allowed to roam among us, sowing lies and hate. 

[lannarebirth]

11 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Even more significant is the fact that Democrates made huge gains against republican legislators despite the fact of massive gerrymandering by Republicans.

 

That is the more significant fact to take away from the election. All the ballyhoo about the governor's race is about the Democrats merely retaining a governorship. It is the down ballot victories where the tide begins to turn.

[lannarebirth]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

Congrats to the winner.  Republicans tricksters are getting dirtier as the months roll by.  There is absolutely no limit to how ugly they'll go - to try to win.  It worked with Trump and other Reps last year.  So they figure, 'if dirty tricks work, why change the formula?'  

 

Perhaps the trend will segue a bit towards decency, but am not hopeful - as long as people like Roger Stone are allowed to roam among us, sowing lies and hate. 

 

Here is one of the anti Gillespie ads. I'll leave you to judge if it is dirty, ugly, segues towards decency, and if it sows lies and hatred.  The takeaway is that the ad is seen by its makers as having been successful and they will be doubling down on the strategy.

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/latino-victory-fund-well-double-down-on-controversial-ad?utm_term=.ngVr1NyM3#.eqOKa3JBR

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by lannarebirth

[ilostmypassword]

5 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

That is the more significant fact to take away from the election. All the ballyhoo about the governor's race is about the Democrats merely retaining a governorship. It is the down ballot victories where the tide begins to turn.

I don't understand. Is your down ballot reference to the Virginia house of delegates where the democrats scored a huge victory despite massively gerrymandered districts?

And as for the governor's race, it was very significant because of the big margin of victory. 8.9 percent About 3 times what the polling average showed. That means democratic voters were highly motivated.  Seems to me like you're echoing a fox new analysis of the results.

[ilostmypassword]

5 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Here is one of the anti Gillespie ads. I'll leave you to judge if it is dirty, ugly, segues towards decency, and if it sows lies and hatred.  The takeaway is that the ad is seen by its makers as having been successful and they will be doubling down on the strategy.

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adriancarrasquillo/latino-victory-fund-well-double-down-on-controversial-ad?utm_term=.ngVr1NyM3#.eqOKa3JBR

 

I notice that you have no commens about Gillespie's ads. And those ads were officially authorized by him. The ad you refer to was done by an independent outside group?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/gillespie-quietly-rolls-out-second-kill-rape-control-attack-ad-against-northam/2017/09/28/8540cd24-a46f-11e7-8cfe-d5b912fabc99_story.html?utm_term=.f924a41ba875

 

[lannarebirth]

9 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

I don't understand. Is your down ballot reference to the Virginia house of delegates where the democrats scored a huge victory despite massively gerrymandered districts?

And as for the governor's race, it was very significant because of the big margin of victory. 8.9 percent About 3 times what the polling average showed. That means democratic voters were highly motivated.  Seems to me like you're echoing a fox new analysis of the results.

 

Did I saw all that? It is a general reference about where Democrats need to make the greatest gains. The public's attention is too often focused on higher profile candidates.  "All politics is local" as they say.

 

I don't watch television news so I can't be echoing it.

[ilostmypassword]

1 minute ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Did I saw all that? It is a general reference about where Democrats need to make the greatest gains. The public's attention is too often focused on higher profile candidates.  "All politics is local" as they say.

 

I don't watch television news so I can't be echoing it.

And as I pointed out, the Democrats had a massive victory in the Virginia house of delgates despite the gerrymandering. Were you even aware of that?

 

[lannarebirth]

7 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

I notice that you have no commens about Gillespie's ads. And those ads were officially authorized by him. The ad you refer to was done by an independent outside group?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/gillespie-quietly-rolls-out-second-kill-rape-control-attack-ad-against-northam/2017/09/28/8540cd24-a46f-11e7-8cfe-d5b912fabc99_story.html?utm_term=.f924a41ba875

 

 

I have neve seen a Gillespie ad.  I read a post yesterday, I think it was authored by you; it went something like this "but, but, but, but, but, but the other guy" 

[lannarebirth]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

And as I pointed out, the Democrats had a massive victory in the Virginia house of delgates despite the gerrymandering. Were you even aware of that?

 

Yeah, that's what this thread is about.

[ilostmypassword]

Just now, lannarebirth said:

Yeah, that's what this thread is about.

No it's not. It makes just one very mild mention of the democratic victory in the house of delegates race " ..gained seats in the Virginia House of Delegates.  That could man as few as 2 seats.  It was, in fact, a huge victory. Anyway, was this comment of yours  "It is the down ballot victories where the tide begins to turn." made in recognition of this huge democratic victory?

[ilostmypassword]

7 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

I have neve seen a Gillespie ad.  I read a post yesterday, I think it was authored by you; it went something like this "but, but, but, but, but, but the other guy" 

Yes, I write those .but..but but but comments when someone brings up hillary or some other irrelevant item of distraction. Something like whan a conversation is about one thing and then someone writes "I think it was authored by you; it went something like this "but, but, but, but, but, but the other guy" 

That's the kind of comment someone who has nothing pertinent to say  would pull out of their butt butt butt butt butt.

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

No it's not. It makes just one very mild mention of the democratic victory in the house of delegates race " ..gained seats in the Virginia House of Delegates.  That could man as few as 2 seats.  It was, in fact, a huge victory. Anyway, was this comment of yours  "It is the down ballot victories where the tide begins to turn." made in recognition of this huge democratic victory?

Yes.  That's why I used italicised words for emphasis. Sometimes it is hard to see though.

[ilostmypassword]

3 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

Yes.  That's why I used italicised words for emphasis. Sometimes it is hard to see though.

And I still don't see why you think Northam's big margin of victory wasn't significant.

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Yes, I write those .but..but but but comments when someone brings up hillary or some other irrelevant item of distraction. Something like whan a conversation is about one thing and then someone writes "I think it was authored by you; it went something like this "but, but, but, but, but, but the other guy" 

That's the kind of comment someone who has nothing pertinent to say  would pull out of their butt butt butt butt butt.

I only mentioned it because we were talking about one ad and you "pulled out" another one. I didn't know if if it merely a deflection or if you were trying to justify that horrific ad by showing me another one.

[lannarebirth]

1 minute ago, ilostmypassword said:

And I still don't see why you think Northam's big margin of victory wasn't significant.

It hindsight it may prove to be significant if it sets a trend, but it's just W's and L's right now IMO.

[ilostmypassword]

34 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

It hindsight it may prove to be significant if it sets a trend, but it's just W's and L's right now IMO.

In other words:  "I'm-not-a-supporter-of-Trump but..."

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

In other words:  "I'm-not-a-supporter-of-Trump but..."

 

No I am not a supporter of Trump and FWIW I'm a registered Democrat. I think where your confusion lies is that I don't feel the need to spew hatred at the other side for its faults and defend the horrible things my side does. Rather I try to focus on how my side could be better and I see a lot of work to be done there. That's what I teach my kids and it is how I try to live. I always imagined that was the way most people thought till I started reading social media.

[ilostmypassword]

23 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

No I am not a supporter of Trump and FWIW I'm a registered Democrat. I think where your confusion lies is that I don't feel the need to spew hatred at the other side for its faults and defend the horrible things my side does. Rather I try to focus on how my side could be better and I see a lot of work to be done there. That's what I teach my kids and it is how I try to live. I always imagined that was the way most people thought till I started reading social media.

Yes, your rejection of overwhelming evidence clearly supports your alleged political stance. And the fact that you didn't even know about Gillespie's ads clearly shows where you're not getting your news from.

[lannarebirth]

39 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Yes, your rejection of overwhelming evidence clearly supports your alleged political stance. And the fact that you didn't even know about Gillespie's ads clearly shows where you're not getting your news from.

Rejection of what overwhelming evidence?  What political stance? I didn't know about Gillespies ads because I live in Washingtoon state 3,000 miles away and I got my news from CNN on the day of the election. I didn't even follow it prior to that. Why would I?

 

I think you're pretty presumptuous and always the same way. The way that leads most readily to conflict. Let me be a little presumptuous, if I may. I think you can benefit from reading this:

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/empathy-and-relationships/201701/when-binary-thinking-is-involved-polarization-follows

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by lannarebirth

[boomerangutang]

Several other interesting political races which were overshadowed by the VA gov's race.  Nationwide, several Dems won who are openly pro-LGBT.  A Muslim won a race in Montana.  MONTANA!   That's encouraging, because it's probably the most redneck state in the union - arguably more so than Georgia or Mississippi.   Montanans just got viewed in a better light by liberals like me.   A Somali woman won a contest (NJ?).  ....and a trans-gender won. 

 

Probably as good news as anything else:  man-with-fat-between-his-ears Chris Christie got booted out as gov of NJ.  Of all the surveys ever done for governors in the US,  Christie has scored the lowest.   Christie was Trump's partner in Crime in Atlantic City.   Trump loved Christie.  Why did they break up?  Maybe because, when Christie would come over for lunch at the Trump's, he would eat them out of house and home, and bring canvas bags to stuff with leftovers.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

Rejection of what overwhelming evidence?  What political stance? I didn't know about Gillespies ads because I live in Washingtoon state 3,000 miles away and I got my news from CNN on the day of the election. I didn't even follow it prior to that. Why would I?

 

I think you're pretty presumptuous and always the same way. The way that leads most readily to conflict. Let me be a little presumptuous, if I may. I think you can benefit from reading this:

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/empathy-and-relationships/201701/when-binary-thinking-is-involved-polarization-follows

 

So you only get your news on election day? And because you live in Washington State? This has been national news for months.  And it's odd you don't know much about the race but somehow you get wind of an ad that's hostile to Gillespie.

And if I truly believed you were moderate, your reference to that article might have a point. Here's a link for you:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=concern troll

 

[lannarebirth]

26 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

So you only get your news on election day? And because you live in Washington State? This has been national news for months.  And it's odd you don't know much about the race but somehow you get wind of an ad that's hostile to Gillespie.

And if I truly believed you were moderate, your reference to that article might have a point. Here's a link for you:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=concern troll

 

 

How is it odd?  Here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/06/politics/northam-governor-virginia/index.html

That in turn links to the commercial in question.

 

Why would I follow a race on the other side of the country? I only saw the link because it was on the election results page.  And if you're interested in "what I believe" you have years of my posts to crawl throuth if you like. Knock yourself out.

 

Would that the Democrats had vetted their candidate with the same measure of scepticism.

Edited November 9, 2017 by lannarebirth

[ilostmypassword]

14 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

How is it odd?  Here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/06/politics/northam-governor-virginia/index.html

That in turn links to the commercial in question.

 

Why would I follow a race on the other side of the country? I only saw the link because it was on the election results page.  And if you're interested in "what I believe" you have years of my posts to crawl throuth if you like. Knock yourself out.

 

Would that the Democrats had vetted their candidate with the same measure of scepticism.

but but but but but but Hillary!

[lannarebirth]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

but but but but but but Hillary!

ergo Trump. It took a while to get there but the theorem is now proved. Thanks for playing.