Last fall, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump by a decisive 50-44 margin in Virginia, but that victory didn’t translate downballot for Democrats. In fact, despite getting whipped at the top of the ticket, Republicans managed to win seven of the state’s 11 congressional races while Democrats took just four, a sad state of affairs you can see illustrated in the map at the top of this post.
So how can the same party win 64 percent of a state’s House seats while carrying just 44 percent of the presidential vote? Simple: gerrymandering. Republicans won complete control over Virginia’s state government in 2011, so they alone got to redraw the state’s congressional map after the last census—and they made sure to pack Democratic voters into as few districts as possible while carefully spreading Republican voters just widely enough to ensure GOP control over a majority of seats.
It’s a travesty, and one progressives know we can’t let happen again when the next census rolls around in 2020. That’s why Daily Kos is getting involved in Virginia’s elections this year. We can’t wait until the last minute—we have to prepare for the future now, because Republicans are doing the exact same thing.
So there are two things we have to do this fall in the Old Dominion in order to have seats at the table for the next round of redistricting: (1) keep the governor’s mansion in Democratic hands and (2) win back seats in the state House. As far as No. 1 goes, Democrats have two strong candidates running for governor: Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and ex-Rep. Tom Perriello, and Daily Kos is not going to take sides in that primary, which isn’t until June 13.
But we’re champing at the bit and don’t want to sit on the sidelines for three more months, so we’re asking you to contribute now to a special account set up by the Democratic Governors Association that will deliver all funds (minus ActBlue’s normal processing fees) to the winner of the primary just as soon as it’s concluded. It’ll actually work out perfectly: That infusion of cash will come at a critical time to help our nominee hit the ground running for the general election—and as soon as we know who that person is, we’ll start raising money for him directly.
Then there’s the matter of the state House, which Republicans have also gerrymandered to within an inch of its life: They control 66 out of the chamber’s 100 seats—again, despite Trump losing statewide (and Mitt Romney before him, and John McCain before him). But the good news is that Clinton actually won a majority of districts in the state House: 51 in total, and 17 held by Republicans. Democrats have landed challengers in all 17 of those seats, and they’ll be prime targets for us in November.
As with the governor’s race, there are still lots of primaries to be sorted out, and it’ll be a little while before we know exactly which candidates are worthy of our community’s support, though rest assured, plenty will be. But again, we can’t afford to remain idle, so we’re also asking you to give today to the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, which is already busy mobilizing to support Democrats statewide.
All of these races are going to be hotly contested because as badly as we want to make gains in Virginia, Republicans want to stop us. They’ve enjoyed their cozy gerrymanders a great deal and won’t relinquish them without a bitter, bloody fight. Let’s make sure we give them one.
Please give $3 today to support Virginia Democrats running for governor and the state House!