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You are here: Home / Archives for Virginia

Democrats Show Strength In Virginia

October 7, 2019 at 8:18 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Wason Center poll in Virginia survey finds Democrats holding a 13-point advantage on the “generic ballot” test, which asks voters if they will cast their state legislative ballots for the Republican or Democratic Party’s candidates.

“This gap persists under all versions of our likely voter model and is further supported by the strong preference voters express that the Democratic Party control the General Assembly after this election: 53% of voters want the Democrats to control the Assembly,  compared with 37% who want Republican control, a 16-point gap.”

“In our first test of Virginia’s 2020 presidential ballot, President Trump is trailing a generic Democratic opponent by 15 points. Again, most of this data precedes the Ukraine disclosures. Overall, 51% of voters said they would vote for the unnamed Democrat and 36% said they would vote for President Trump.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

Northam’s Approval Bounces Back In Virginia

October 4, 2019 at 11:06 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post-Schar School poll: “Many Virginians seem to have shrugged off the scandals that engulfed the state’s top Democrats earlier this year, when Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring admitted to blackface incidents in the 1980s and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax denied claims by two women that he sexually assaulted them in the early 2000s. Northam’s approval rating stands at 47%, with 29% disapproving. Almost a quarter of Virginians have no opinion on his job performance.”

Also interesting: “Trump’s approval rating among Virginia residents is at 39%, with 58% disapproving of his job performance.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

Trump Approval Slides to New Low In Virginia

August 26, 2019 at 6:44 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

A new Roanoke College poll find found that 53% of potential Virginia voters said they disapproved of President Trump’s job performance, while just 27% said they approved — a new low.

“The president has been a drag on Republicans in statewide elections since 2016. This year is especially significant because all 140 seats in the General Assembly are on the Nov. 5 ballot. Democrats hope to take control of the legislature, with Republicans defending razor-thin majorities of 20 to 19 in the Senate and 51 to 48 in the House of Delegates, with one vacancy in each chamber.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Virginia

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Virginia Republican Denied Spot on Ballot

August 7, 2019 at 3:02 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Virginia’s board of elections has ruled that Del. Nicholas Freitas (R) did not qualify for the ballot this fall, upholding a finding from elections department staffers,” the Washington Post reports.

“The ruling amounts to an unforced error for state Republicans, who are scrambling to protect narrow majorities in the legislature with all 140 seats on the ballot this November.”

Filed Under: 2019 Campaign Tagged With: Virginia

Virginia Legislature Abruptly Adjourns Gun Session

July 9, 2019 at 3:50 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Less than two hours after beginning a special session called in response to a mass shooting, Virginia lawmakers abruptly adjourned Tuesday without taking any action and postponed any movement on gun control until after the November election,” the AP reports.

“Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called the Republican-led Legislature to the Capitol to address gun violence in the wake of the May 31 attack that killed a dozen people in Virginia Beach. The meeting got off to a chaotic start, with the Republican Senate majority leader averting a mutiny in the GOP caucus by publicly disavowing a gun-control bill he proposed only a day earlier.”

Filed Under: Gun Control Tagged With: Virginia

Northam Calls for Special Session on Guns

June 4, 2019 at 9:21 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) will recall lawmakers to the state Capitol in coming weeks to take up a package of gun-control legislation, the AP reports.

“The Democratic governor has long been an advocate for stricter gun control. But staunchly pro-gun Republicans who controlled the Virginia General Assembly have rejected previous efforts at limiting gun access.”

Filed Under: Gun Control Tagged With: Virginia

Trump Moves to Turn Virginia Red

March 29, 2019 at 6:38 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“President Trump is muscling into a blue state where Democrats are reeling: Virginia,” Politico reports.

“With a tenuous grip on states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, the president is looking for opportunities to expand his electoral playing field. He’s set his sights on Virginia, a state where Democrats have dominated the past decade, but where the party’s three top officeholders are embroiled in scandals.”

“Leading the offensive is Vice President Mike Pence, who on Wednesday evening headlined a fundraiser in McLean for Republican state legislators up for election in November. Pence is expected to hold additional events for Virginia lawmakers in the coming months, and White House officials intend to use the 2019 elections to test whether they can make inroads in the state, which Trump lost by 5 percentage points.”

Filed Under: 2020 Campaign Tagged With: Virginia

Virginia GOP Celebrates Democratic Implosion

February 9, 2019 at 8:37 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Politico: “The scandals that engulfed the state government’s top three leaders have given Republicans renewed hope they can blunt the state’s leftward drift. It was no accident that this week Republicans decided to target Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, the state’s most popular politician who was not thought to be at risk in 2020. They think several newly-elected Democratic House members bungled their response to the first sexual assault allegation against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax by, in some cases, waiting days to react— creating an opening for the GOP.”

“And Democrats worry that the state’s top lawmakers won’t be able to raise money or campaign this year when all 140 seats in the nearly evenly divided legislature are up for grabs.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

One Way Out for Virginia Democrats

February 7, 2019 at 8:20 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

When a racist photo from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) medical school yearbook surfaced over the weekend, the calls from Democrats for his resignation were swift and nearly unanimous. It was a strong signal Democrats want to keep the moral high ground on race in the age of Trump. It was made easier knowing that Northam’s successor would be Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), an African-American.

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Filed Under: Members, State House Tagged With: Virginia

The State of Virginia Politics

February 6, 2019 at 1:44 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Mark Berman of the Washington Post recaps:

  • Virginia’s governor admitted he wore blackface.
  • The Lt. Governor is facing a sexual assault allegation.
  • The Attorney General says he too wore blackface.
  • The House Speaker is next in line. He has that job because an election was tied and a name picked out of a bowl.

Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball: “Saying that anything in the annals of American political history is ‘unique’ or ‘unprecedented’ is dangerous, for the simple fact that the past is filled with so many oddities from which we can draw parallels. That said, we’re struggling to come up with something equivalent to what we’ve seen in Virginia over the past week.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

Early Voting Way Up In Virginia

October 19, 2018 at 10:13 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “Nearly 78,000 people have completed ballots since absentee voting began Sept. 15 — more than double the number who voted early by this point last year, according to an analysis of voting data by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. That number is still shy of the 123,221 absentee ballots cast during the 2014 midterm elections, state data shows. But with a little less than three weeks before the Nov. 6 elections, local election officials say this year’s absentee totals are on pace to eclipse 2014 and may even approach the turnout for the presidential election of 2016, when a near-record 496,452 Virginians cast their ballots early.”

Filed Under: 2018 Campaign Tagged With: Virginia

Virginia Set to Expand Medicaid

May 31, 2018 at 9:16 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court left the decision to states on whether to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, Virginia is about to extend health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of Virginians without it,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.

“Gov. Ralph Northam has left no doubt he will sign a pair of budget bills that will begin a two-phased process of receiving federal approval to expand Medicaid in Virginia on Jan. 1, relying on billions of dollars in long-available federal funds and a pair of taxes on hospital revenues to pay for it.”

Washington Post: “Years of obstruction in the commonwealth gave way because key Republicans from rural areas couldn’t bear to deny coverage for their constituents any longer, moderates wanted to cut a deal and, most of all, Democrats made massive gains in November’s off-year elections.”

Filed Under: Health Care Tagged With: Virginia

What Virginia Can Tell Us About Midterm Turnout

May 1, 2018 at 2:56 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

When the Virginia polls closed at 7 p.m. on November 8, 2016, most of us knew Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was in deep trouble. The first returns showed Donald Trump dramatically outperforming expectations, especially in rural areas. Clinton eventually won the state but voter shifts to Trump were mirrored in other states around the country.

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Filed Under: 2017 Campaign, 2018 Campaign, Members Tagged With: Virginia

Republican Wins Random Drawing In Virginia

January 4, 2018 at 11:12 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

In a random drawing to decide a tie race in the Virginia’s 94th district, incumbent David Yancey (R) won.

The decision gives Republicans a 51 to 49 edge in the House of Delegates.

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

Your Vote Can Change the World

December 19, 2017 at 5:24 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

This piece is only available to Political Wire members.

The next time you wonder whether it’s worth voting, remember what happened in Virginia this year.

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Filed Under: 2017 Campaign, Members Tagged With: Virginia

Democrat Wins Virginia House Seat In Recount

December 19, 2017 at 4:03 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Washington Post: “A Republican seat flipped Democratic in a wild recount Tuesday – with the Democrat winning by a single vote – creating a rare 50-50 tie between the parties in the House of Delegates and refashioning the political landscape in Richmond.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

Northam Tries Bipartisanship In Virginia

December 17, 2017 at 9:16 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Virginia Gov.-elect Ralph Northam (D) “has the weight of a Democratic landslide to throw around in the State Capitol, but he’s holding back,” the Washington Post reports.

“He could pluck a few Republicans out of the General Assembly — where the GOP is holding onto the majority by a thread — and give them jobs in his Cabinet to tilt the balance of power toward Democrats. He could try to ram through a broad expansion of Medicaid and other Democratic priorities.”

“But Northam says he is not looking to vanquish the other side.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Ralph Northam, Virginia

Chaos In Virginia House After Wrong Ballots Given

November 27, 2017 at 6:49 pm EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“A Democratic tidal wave on Election Day in Virginia three weeks ago has left chaos in its wake, with control of the House of Delegates still undecided and no end in sight to the dispute,” the AP reports.

“Lawsuits, threats and recriminations are flying as the state wrestles with the tricky question of what to do about the 147 voters in and around a crucial district who were given the wrong ballots.”

Filed Under: State House Tagged With: Virginia

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goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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