Virginia's new governor declares his victory a rejection of Donald Trump
Virginia Governor-elect Ralph Northam has wasted no time defining his electoral victory as a rebuke of President Donald Trump and his "divisive" rhetoric.
During his first press conference following his Tuesday electoral victory, Mr Northam said that Democrats' clean sweep of the top state races shows that Americans are rejecting Mr Trump's policies, one year after he was elected in a surprise upset against Hillary Clinton.
"I think what this message was yesterday that Virginia sent not only to this country, but to this world, is that the divisiveness, the hatred, the bigotry, the politics that is tearing this country apart, that's not the United States of America that people love," r Northam, a paediatric neurologist and Army veteran, said.
Prior to the election, many pundits looked to Virginia as a potential signal of how Americans feel about Mr Trump one year out. Democrats, including Mr Northam, showed that the suspected anti-Trump sentiment in America could have tangible electoral repercussions for Republicans, especially those in states where Mr Trump's performance against Ms Clinton was relatively tepid. Virginia Democrats won the governorship, the lieutenant governorship,, and the attorney general races.
Those electoral victories could have an important impact in the state, as Democrats will now have enough votes to see through an expansion of Medicaid and health benefits. Former Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, pushed for years for such an expansion, but was blocked by Republicans in the state's General Assembly. It is not clear how significant the gains in the state House will be for Democrats.
But, although Democrats swept in Virginia and other states like New Jersey, others note that it may not foreshadow as devastating a future in the 2018 midterm elections as pundits say. Those individuals note that Mr Trump lost Virginia by a significant margin, and that it has been several cycles since Republicans won a state-wide election there. Instead, they say that it shows that Virginia is no longer a swing-state: It is now undeniably blue territory.
"Virginia's Republican Party, we've got some bigger problems. We have not won statewide in eight years, so that's number one. Number two, Trump actually lost Virginia by a pretty significant margin," former Virginia Representative Eric Cantor said Tuesday night on CNBC.
The Tuesday elections mark the first major election since Mr Trump's election, and follow several smaller elections held over the past year to fill vacant seats left behind by members of Congress who either resigned to work in the Trump administration, or retired. In addition to Mr Northam's win, Democrats retook the governorship in New Jersey, where Phil Murphy ran a successful campaign against his Republican foe.
While it is impossible to say what might happen when the nation votes in the 2018 midterms, there are other concerning signs for Republicans aside from Tuesday's blue wave. That includes a pretty large lead in general ballot Congressional polls, which show Democrats with nearly a 10 per cent lead over Republicans. That general preference for Democrats could translate into a wave of Democrats in the House next year, potentially flipping the legislative body away from Republicans.
