The Wave Builds

The following post for members is by Dan Conley, who was a speechwriter for former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder.

In a sense, Ralph Northam’s victory in the Virginia Governor’s race last night was a return to form. From 1977 through 2011, that race always went to the party that had just lost the U.S. Presidential election the previous year. Three consecutive Republican Presidential victories in the 80s led to three straight Democratic wins in Virginia. Republicans rebounded in Virginia during the Clinton administration, and so on.