Virginia Politics

Midterm Strategy: Ditch the Corporate Consultants for a GOP Performance Review

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

We’re 30 days out. Democrats look like they’re looking at a blue wave that could shift control of Congress from Republican to Democrat, maybe even the Senate. I want to talk about strategy a little bit because I’m seeing a lot of ads on TV that boil down to, “we gotta stop insider stock trading.” And you’re seeing that from both sides…even the guys that are doing it are bragging about voting for legislation that would stop it.

But Democrats are giving us the same old ads about how mom and dad taught me to work hard and I’ll work hard for you. I was a good prosecutor or state legislator or governor or businessman.

This is the same old corporate consultant bullshit that Democrats have been using to lose since 2016, and it’s time to change it up a little bit. Trump’s been president twice. The GOP has controlled all three branches of government for two years. And they still blame Biden for high gasoline prices.

It’s not Biden’s fault. They’ve had a chance to fix it. They haven’t fixed it.

So it’s time to do two things as a strategy for the midterms for Democrats in these last thirty days.

First, make this election a performance review. The GOP asked for control of Congress and the Senate and the presidency two years ago, and Americans gave it to them. They promised to make life more affordable and keep us out of war.

They did neither, and this begs the old Reagan question: Is your life better now than it was when we gave it to them?

The American people gave them control. We gave them power. What’d they use it for? Tax cuts for billionaires. They didn’t use it to bring your grocery prices down. They didn’t use it to bring your gasoline prices down. They didn’t use it to bring your housing prices down. And in fact, they got us into a war they promised not to get us into that raised all those prices.

Make Republicans talk about their performance just like you would at a job. If you’re a manager at a job, someone’s not performing, you talk to them and you fire them if they don’t straighten up and fly right.

The second thing we need to do is point out that the hundreds of millions of dollars corporations and billionaires and special interests are spending to try to win these seats demonstrates that they like the status quo. They want the status quo.

Seven dollar diesel is good for them because they’re selling diesel. It’s not good for you because you have to buy it to fill your truck up.

The same old corporate consultant stuff doesn’t work. These TV ads don’t change anybody’s minds. They just don’t. They may be good for pointing out to people who don’t pay much attention that there is an election, but they’re not changing anyone’s minds. No one is voting for Shannon Taylor because she said “Mom and dad taught me that hard work would bring success, but that doesn’t happen if we don’t stop the corruption” in a TV ad.

She’s right about that, but it’s not changing anyone’s mind. Instead, Shannon Taylor and other democrats need to be online saying it again and again: they promised to fix it and they just broke it even more.

Hammer home the fact that we gave the Republicans control of all three branches of government two years ago, and they’ve done nothing but create chaos and make things more expensive for everyone. It’s time to hold their feet to the fire because they didn’t do the job we hired them to do.

Point out that the corporations like the status quo just fine because they have power, they have no regulation, they have their tax cuts, and if they keep the same people in power, they’ll just get less regulation and more tax cuts.

And your housing will go up, your fuel costs will go up, your grocery bill will go up. Your interest rates on your credit card will go up because that’s all good for them. It’s all good for the corporations that are dropping millions in these elections blaming immigrants and trans people for the problems they caused.

You can’t blame Joe Biden for $7 diesel. The trans person is not causing $7 diesel fuel. Women who want reproductive health care are not causing $7 diesel fuel.

Republicans have had two years to fix it and they’ve only made it worse.  It’s time to hold their feet to the fire.

Progressives Show Strength in Democratic Primaries

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

It looks like Progressive candidates, all three with Mayor Mamdani’s endorsement, swept Democratic Party primaries in New York on Tuesday against candidates with Party support. (Paywall).

“Some of the night’s most potent victories for Mamdani’s branch of the party saw DSA-backed political newcomers Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier defeating establishment-endorsed candidates, signaling a potent fusion of Mamdani’s grassroots popularity with the DSA’s organizing machine. Avila Chevalier attended a pro-Palestinian rally in 2023 in New York City the day after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel that was criticized for including speakers who appeared to justify the violence.”

“Elsewhere, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, also backed by Mamdani, soundly beat incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in a heated election that also centered on U.S. policy toward Israel and the war in Gaza. Lander supports blocking military aid to Israel.”

This is an extraordinary result, and it’s not confined to New York:

“Progressives have romped through Democrats’ spring primaries, notching a series of wins across both safe and competitive districts and upending House and Senate Democrats’ battleplans. Left flank candidates Randy Villegas and Matt Dunlap trounced the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s preferred picks in a pair of battlegrounds in California and Maine.”

Two of the winners are aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, and Brad Lander defeated an incumbent Congressman, Dan Goldman, who held the seat since 2022 and was on the impeachment prosecution team. Lander defeated him by 2-1 with support for Israel the main issue.

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Foggy Bottom Line Bonus Episode: Politics and Economic Development in SW Virginia, Featuring Mike McGirr

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

Mike McGirr is a community activist living in Bristol, Virginia. He grew up on a regenerative farm in Massachusetts where he learned the fundamentals of farming and shaped his lifelong commitment to localized, equitable food systems. Mike works to dismantle barriers that have long disadvantaged farmers of color, small scale producers and under-resourced communities. He also has a degree in graphic design and has handled marketing campaigns for Fortune 100 companies. This year Mike served as the volunteer campaign manager for Cindy Green, who ran for the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 44th District, a deep red district in Southwest Virginia centered on Bristol and Abingdon, near where the Tennesse, Virginia, and North Carolina borders meet. Now he’s running to be the Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia’s Rural Caucus. Mike joins Scott and me for a discussion of politics in rural areas, economic development in Southwest Virginia, and his ideas for organizing the Rural Caucus and local County committees to grow the Democratic Party in rural spaces and more effectively support candidates.

You can find out more about Mike and his work on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/people/MichaelRay4VA/61583415347341/ and at www.MikeMcGirr4VA.com.

The FBL Theme music is Partners In Crime by Alexander Nakarada, downloaded at https://creatorchords.com. Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/free-music/ Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), used by a Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Foggy Bottom Line Podcast: Election Processes

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

Scott served as an election registrar for more than 30 years, including a year as the General Registrar in Fairfax County. With the election coming up on November 4th, I asked Scott to share some of his expertise and describe what happens behind the scenes during the last few days before Election Day.

You can find this and other video content on our YouTube channel @FoggyBottomLineMedia and on Spotify as well.

If you can please support the show by dropping a few coins in the tip jar on Venmo: @FoggyBottomLine.

Thanks!

Value Pack 27

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

I got some fundraising texts this week from congressional candidates that got me thinking.

Raising money is normal candidate stuff. The problem is that we have statewide elections and House of Delegate elections in Virginia this year, and congressional races are a year away. So, two things.

First of all, I think these national candidates – whose elections are more than a year away, should pay attention to supporting the local candidates in their districts this year and help make sure Virginia elects Democrats at the state level and in the House of delegates districts rather than focus on raising money this month. At least one of these candidates is doing that. When I spoke with Salam Bhatti a few weeks ago and mentioned this to him he took it to heart – and went straight out and created an ActBlue page that would take donations for all of the House of delegates candidates in the first Congressional District.

I think the Shannon Taylors of the world ought to do the same thing.

Many of the candidates running for House of Delegate seats whose districts touch CD1 have difficult races in red parts of the Commonwealth. These are districts that the party doesn’t think a Democrat can win, so they don’t think it makes sense to support their campaigns. 

I disagree because these guys are out there on the ground in a statewide election year. They’re knocking on doors, they’re on social media, they’re putting up signs. They’re talking to people. They’re going to meet and greets, talking to voters. They’re working to get out the vote. Voters they turn out for their campaigns will probably also support the statewide candidates on the blue side, which means they’re doing a lot of groundwork for the statewide candidates. So, if you support Abigail Spanberger, you should want to support these guys.

The Democratic Party, and the elected officials in Virginia who already hold General Assembly seats, could provide critical financial support to these efforts. Democratic Party Senators, who don’t have to stand for election until 2027, could donate to these campaigns. Candidates in House races who have no Republican opponent could give critical financial support to these fellow Democrats.

It’s difficult to overstate the epic disaster we would have in this commonwealth if Winsome Sears is governor and somehow managed to get control of the legislature. If you think it’s bad at the national level, wait until you see that at the Commonwealth level.

So this is what we need to do. Sixteen candidates for the House of Delegates in Virginia have no opponent. They they’re sitting on money, some of them with more than a million dollars, some of them with more than half a million. Nine or ten have more than $50,000. They don’t need this money for their own races.

It makes no sense at all for them not to be supporting these candidates in other races, even those they don’t believe can win. They should also be supporting these red district candidates – we’re not going to grow the majority unless we start winning elections in these districts that look like they’re too red to win.

My good friend Fergie Reid, who is a civil rights icon in Virginia, has done a lot of work trying to make sure we have a candidate on the ballot in every district. This year he succeeded, despite Democratic Party apathy.

Twenty-seven of these candidates run in these red districts that nobody thinks we can win, so they get no Party support. So his good friend Charles Gaba set up what he calls the Value Pack 27 ActBlue Page similar to Salaam’s List. Donations made on this page will be split among the 27 Democrats who are running in these hard races.

My ask is that if you know a Virginia legislator who is sitting on a campaign chest but doesn’t have an opponent, reach out to them. Ask them why they’re withholding important support Democratic Party candidates who need help in red districts. 

I’m talking about Don Scott and a lot of these Northern Virginia candidates. The Senate candidates that don’t have an election until 2027. They have two and a half years before they face reelection. They can donate to these candidates who may not win but work hard to turn out the vote in these districts. 

Go write a check yourself. We need to support these Democrats. I ran for office twice in Virginia in very red districts so I know this from personal experience that it doesn’t take a lot of money to mount a little bit of a campaign and make a difference. When I ran for the House of delegates in 2021, a statewide year, I pulled 12,000 votes in a very red district – 12,000 votes that probably went to Terry McAuliffe in his losing effort.

If we can get these guys a little bit of money for more signs, more direct mail, more postcards, more meet and greets, then we can help get out the vote not only for them, but for the state party, as well. That means Abigail Spanberger has a better chance to win. Ghazala Hashmi has a better chance to win.

Jay Jones has a better chance to win. If Jay Jones is attorney general, he’ll push back on the Trump administration by filing lawsuits when they do things that violate the Constitution. Jason Miyares won’t do that. If Abigail Spanberger is governor, she will sign bills that make Virginia a better place to live. Winsome Sears will not. 

We need to do everything we can. The Democratic Party needs to put the pedal to the metal. The national candidates running for Congress next year need to put the pedal to the metal. We all need to do everything we can to get these folks elected and protect democracy. In Virginia, we can protect it this year in the Commonwealth even if our chance to protect it nationally doesn’t come until next year.

The Past, the Future, and Critical Race Theory

~ R. Stanton Scott ~ Leave a comment

It’s unlikely that Winston Churchill actually said these words in just this way, but this particular Tea Party sign correctly notes that we must understand our past if we want a prosperous future. This isn’t easy – understanding America’s past requires a critical examination of ancestors’ sins against the ideals they claimed as their core national promise: an indivisible nation of liberty and justice for all. Part of my project as an activist and candidate is to make room for a discussion of America’s past with those who would turn back time.

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending the Hanover Chapter of the NAACP forum on Critical Race Theory (CRT). Thanks to professors Faye Belgrave and Paul Perrin of VCU for taking the time to help our community understand this very important approach to understanding race and racism in America. 

CRT is a framework for understanding racism, individual and institutional, in America. We cannot create a just society without an examining the legal regime that protects discrimination, whether de facto or de jure. So I was also very happy to see quite a few Hanover County conservative activists in the room, and hoped they would see that CRT isn’t about blaming or shaming anyone for what happened in the past – it’s about informing a just American future.

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