Written by T. Logan Dayne
In the wake of Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial lose, the Democratic Party is left to face a new enemy, itself. It’s not just Youngkin’s win to the Virginia governorship, a string of victories and tight races were won by Republican candidates this week, namely, Winsome Seares, who was elected Lieutenant Governor in Virginia, and Edward Burr, a truck driver elected to the New Jersey Senate having spent a total of $153 on campaigning and beating the longtime President of the New Jersey Senate. Many corporate media pundits were quick to point the blame of the failure of McAuliffle’s reelection in a state where less than a year prior President Biden won by more than 10 percent. This would be a mystery quickly solved by any of them that cared to look in a mirror.
There is a split in the Democratic platform and there are few waking up to see it. James Carville, long time and moderate Democratic strategist, blames nothing else but “stupid wokeness” for the upset. The progressive and moderate branches of the democratic party are at odds with each other. Carville points to slogans such as ‘defund the police’ and the push to erase Abraham Lincoln’s name from schools as nothing more than progressive pursuits that alienate and suppress moderate voters. This split can be seen especially in the language being used. “They’re expressing a language that people just don’t use, and there’s backlash and a frustration to that.”, Carville observes of the progressives. He goes on to add that, “We got to change this and not be about changing dictionaries and change laws.”
In the end, Youngkin had only to avoid progressive policies and tactics to win. His messages were simple and spoke to the suburban voters. As Carville sums up, all Youngkin had to do was allow his opponents to “pull the pin and watch the grenade go off.” The shift in Virginia and New Jersey is the result of voters pulling away from this “wokeness”. All this spells more struggle for the Democratic Party if it is not resolved, as predicted by Kamala Harris herself when she said, “What happens in Virginia will in large part determine what happens in 2022, 2024 and on.”
Photo Cred: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images
