One anecdote doesn’t capture a state. But I wanted to pass on this note from a TPM alum …
I read and enjoyed your piece on McAuliffe’s loss. I think it’s all on target, atop the fact that McAuliffe just isn’t a base moving guy on his own.
It may not have changed the result given the headwinds at play, but from where I sit in the Northern VA suburbs of DC, it also seems like McAuliffe and the VA Dems got completely out-hustled and out-campaigned, while leaving their reliable voters to do the work for them.
I’ve been a Fairfax County resident since we moved back to the area. Just my anecdotal observation, but for months now, the only people showing up at my door have been Youngkin folks. Youngkin signs? Everywhere. Truthfully, one of the only times I heard directly from VA Dems was a mailer scolding me for not voting in 2017 when I didn’t even live here.
Perhaps their GOTV operation elsewhere in the state was more sophisticated and more targeted than I’m giving credit for. But from here it feels like they could have done *much* more to defend the stronghold suburbs where margins were always going to be widely in McAuliffe’s favor, but where a few points either way were also always going to be crucial.
