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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump moves to turn Virginia red amid Democratic meltdown
The president's political team is using the state's elections this year as a test of whether Trump has a shot at flipping the state in 2020.
By ALEX ISENSTADT 03/29/2019 05:06 AM EDT
President Donald Trump is muscling into a blue state where Democrats are reeling: Virginia.
With a tenuous grip on states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, the president is looking for opportunities to expand his electoral playing field. Hes set his sights on Virginia, a state Democrats have dominated in the past decade, but where the partys 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.
Trump is keenly interested in the push. Before Pence departed for the fundraiser on Wednesday, the president asked him to deliver a message to state Republicans.
Tell them we think Virginia is in play and that Im going to be there, Trump told the vice president, according to one person familiar with the exchange.
more
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/29/trump-virginia-elections-1243100
shanny
(6,709 posts)(it is Politico, after all, and that's their schtick) but tRump focusing on the state should bolster them. Especially as he dives deeper into madness. (that's not to say they don't have work to do on their own)
Thanks donnie boy!
OnDoutside
(19,974 posts)in Virginia, and I hope that is currently being done, but context is important too.
He is the gift that keeps on giving, and we need to capitalize on that.
OnDoutside
(19,974 posts)be a lifetime of Trump Ups between now and then.
btw, a "trump up" may well enter the lexicon as an epic political blunder
OnDoutside
(19,974 posts)Vinca
(50,310 posts)Squinch
(51,021 posts)DFW
(54,445 posts)He says it looks like the only ones reeling in Virginia are the Republicans who got their asses handed to them in the last election, and are still asking themselves why.
OnDoutside
(19,974 posts)DFW
(54,445 posts)I'll be back there in a couple of weeks. Is there some specific incident I forgot to ask about?
OnDoutside
(19,974 posts)disappeared from the National Headlines, but I suspect there are a lot of raw feelings over it, and of course Republicans will attempt to make hay. I'd love to know how the attempts to heal amongst the Democrats (especially the African American community), is going on ?
DFW
(54,445 posts)OK, this is only from the northern part of the state where my brother lives. Langley/McLean/Falls Church/Arlington etc.
The Northam and Fairfax (Lt. Gov, not the county) "scandals" seem to have vanished into the same puff of smoke from which they came. As with so many things, when Republicans lose interest, funding for keeping the so-called scandals alive is withdrawn, Fox drops the subject, and the raw feelings stoked either die down or are directed at this week's new "scandal." Or at Hillary's old ones, most of which seem to be part of the old inventory Fox keeps on the shelf, and dusts off for when they have nothing else to do.
What I find scary is to what extent right-wing agenda-driven organizations like Fox can influence OUR thinking and focus OUR interests. If we are THIS vulnerable to the right-wing propaganda machine's capacity for shaping OUR dialogue, how can we expect to shape the dialogue during the election cycle?
lilactime
(657 posts)have voted Republican before. In fact, they don't just hate him - they HATE HATE HATE him!