Virginians go out to vote, and have a chance to vote out every Republican delegate in the state legislature, in addition to all key elected positions in city governments.
The race for governor, unfortunately, is a loss for Democrats no matter who wins and I don't wish to talk about that. But the Virginia state legislature seems certain to take a hit this year, city governments will certainly toss out a large number of Commonwealth Attorneys.
About one-third of all Virginians were undecided about these elections all they way up to a few weeks ago.
Then foreclosures jumped nearly 150% as banks found it profitable again to steal homes and resell them.
Then the government shut down, affecting millions of Virginians (most middle class jobs in Virginia are associated with or directly affected by the commonwealth or federal governments, including virtually everyone in the Democratic strongholds of Northern Virginia and Newport News).
Then a couple million Virginians got letters in the mail telling them that their kids are going to go hungry starting on Thanksgiving because Republicans in Congress refuse to extend SNAP benefits.
Then the food-stamp system broke down, and Republicans were automatically but erroneously blamed for that.
Then a panic erupted and EBT card holders ripped through most or all their funds this week, in the fear that unspent funds may be taken back. Then a week-long deluge swamped thousands of acres of crops and grazing land.
Then Virginia lost to Maryland by one point in the ACC football conference.
Republican policies have also severely affected rural (read: Republican) Virginians, to the point where there is already a massive and highly visible demographic shift as impoverished and sick Virginians gravitate to cities and young, upwardly mobile liberals buy up their rural properties.
Most of the people I see in the course of my job are pissed off and out for blood this week. That does not mean that they will vote, or are even permitted to vote (felons in Virginia are disenfranchised and institutional racism ensures that votes are disproportionately taken away from poor and minority voters--the stated intent of the law, by the way).
But it has easily doubled the costs of Republican candidates this campaign season and virtually guarantees stronger and more widespread opposition in subsequent elections. Combined with the Republican-caused die-off of Republican voters, who are expiring several election cycles sooner than predicted back in the early aughts, it's only a matter of time before these folks are run out on a rail.
Virginia is about to flip over to "Safe Democratic" and the way it's headed, Republicans will never get it back once it does. Maybe not this year, but probably sometime within the next five years. The painfully simple answer is that the flip is inevitable because the idiots of Virginia sacrificed their lives and treasure to enrich the masters of the GOP. Soon most of them will have been prematurely shuffled off to their just reward.
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