Will these results serve as a head-slap to the GOP, that they need to become more like Flake and Corker and breakaway from Trump? We'll see, but I remain highly skeptical. As it is, the conservative diversion apparatus is blaming the VA loss on Gillespie not cozying up enough to Trump. Nice, blame the victim. But by all accounts Gillespie did eventually steer hard right towards Trump, embracing the dog-whistle, racist tactics that Trump's base finds so appealing. All for naught.
To me, the most eye-opening result on the night was the win by transgender candidate Danica Roem. I thought it was startling not because Danica won, but rather because she beat a staunch anti-LGBT conservative, Robert Marshall, who the Washington Post describes as "a 13-term incumbent who called himself Virginia’s 'chief homophobe' and earlier this year introduced a 'bathroom bill' that died in committee."
How does a district go from putting a guy like Marshall in office for 13-terms and then do a 180-about-face and elect Danica? And she didn't just win, she trounced him, winning by a huge 9% margin! I'm both elated and confused. Did the voters suddenly wake up out of a 13-term coma and realize how wrong they were on so many issues? Does this local race speak volumes about the direction Trump has taken the country and the resounding blowback??
The next several months should be very interesting....
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