(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Virginia Politics, a primer, maybe just a purplish state currently, what happens after November? [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-21 I finally figured out how to join the local Democratic Committee. So, I guess it’s time for me to dive into Virginia State and local politics. I have followed National and State level politics for years. In joining the local committee, I realized there is a bunch/ton of information I missed. I’m writing this article mostly for my information. If you also learn something new all the better. For many this is pretty basic info. (Loyalty in voting is to vote for a specific party regardless of the party platform source news.yale.edu/...). Historically Virginia was a democratic leaning state after the civil war. The Republican party was the party of Lincoln. This of course, was not a popular position in a southern state, that was forced to give up enslaved people. So Virginia was a predominant a loyalty voting democrat state till the 1950s. What changes? President Johnson’s signing of the Civil Rights Act. The night that Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, his special assistant Bill Moyers was surprised to find the president looking melancholy in his bedroom. Moyers later wrote that when he asked what was wrong, Johnson replied, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican party for a long time to come.” from www.history.com/... Virginia, after the dominance of Roosevelt and Truman, post the Great Depression era, changed from a loyalty democrat voting patterns to a loyalty republican voting patterns. From 1952 to 2008 the only Democratic Presidential candidate to win Virginia was President Johnson. (source www.270towin.com/...) The historic voting patterns of Virginia are important as this drives loyalty voting. It also follows the track of many southern states as they to switched from democrat to republican voting patterns. This was in a large part due to the Southern Strategy of the republican party.(reference en.wikipedia.org/...) This still effects rural voting patterns in Virginia. President Obama changed this dramatically in 2008. He extensively campaigned in Virginia. His last rally in November 2008 was literally in my back yard. We could hear his speech from our back poach. For each election since then, the vote was for the Democratic candidate. We also have two Democratic US Senators. Seems like a Blue State. It isn’t. We still have too many loyalty republican voters and just enough Democratic loyalty voters to drive up the urban vote to win national elections. To assume Virginia is now a blue state will not help Virginia to become a truly blue state with enough loyalty Democrat voters to support this assumption. We are not Maryland or Illinois. We barely held on to the State Senate and lost the House of Delegates the last election cycle. The current governor is Youngkin, a republican. This purplish state is currently in danger of shifting to Red similar to other Red states. If we loose the Senate and do not take back the House of Delegates then Youngkin can have free reign to pursue a host of Red state issues, including suppressing the vote, attacking education and attacking Women’s Civil Rights. As I’m doing a deep dive into state and local issues I’m finding we are behind as a party on fundraising and platform. We need to find ways to engage rural voters and appeal to issues that humane people share. Our state senate seems to have gone into the traditional democrat infighting between the progressives and the moderates. Our state party may be engaged in the same infighting. A Big Tent party can’t avoid this. We cannot develop a state wide democratic majority by winning huge margins in the urban/suburban areas. We need the common ground of humane politics. The upcoming 2023 fall elections are critical to overcoming the Red shift in Virginia. There are still too many loyalty republican voters to assume Virginia is a safe blue or even a purple state. Democrats in Virginia and as a National party need a Southern/Rural strategy that reflects the strong humane values of Democrats. Just running on local issues may not be enough for Virginia. (Comments on Virginia politics and information are welcomed below. Information that would be helpful to us Virginians in the thread are encouraged). My two cents for today. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/21/2188610/-Virginia-Politics-a-primer-maybe-just-a-purplish-state-currently-what-happens-after-November Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/