How Backing Gun Control Helped in Virginia

Kevin O’Holleran, who managed Mark Herring’s (D) campaign for Virginia attorney general, writes in the Washington Post that gun control was the key to his narrow win.

“Political conventional wisdom has it that in a purple state, such as Virginia, support for gun-safety legislation is best played down. As manager of Mark Herring’s campaign for attorney general, I got a lot of advice. One of the things I heard most frequently was that we should soft-pedal his strong record and advocacy for sensible gun legislation. It would hurt us outside of Northern Virginia and wasn’t a voting issue within the Beltway, I was told. Like much conventional wisdom, this was wrong — and we not only ignored this advice but did the opposite.”