Democrats are seeing overwhelming energy and enthusiasm in traditional Republican bastions in Virginia as the Commonwealth enters the home stretch of the 2024 election. Meanwhile, Republicans are avoiding voters, fighting each other, and getting booed in places where they traditionally win by wide margins.
Washington Post: After bitter GOP primary in this deep-red Virginia district, more anger
“I am as unmotivated as I ever have been in my life,” said [former Campbell County Republican Party chairman Tim] Boyer. He added that he definitely will not vote for McGuire and might not vote for Trump, either, upset that the former president undermined Good and watered down the national party platform on issues where Good never flinched, abortion and same-sex marriage.
As a conservative who describes himself as “to the right of Jesse Helms,” Boyer said, “there’s nothing in November for me.”
Mark Plummer, an owner of a roofing company from Goochland County, said he is also thinking of voting for Witt, rather than writing in Good, because he thinks that’s the surer way to defeat McGuire. Plummer, 65, has voted in every election since he turned 18. A vote for Witt would be his first for a Democrat.
Virginia Mercury: A growing number of 5th District Republicans vow to write in Good on Nov. 5
Even after an additional review of the recount results in the GOP primary in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District last week confirmed state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, as the winner, some Republican hardliners in the district refuse to accept the former Navy SEAL who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump as their party’s nominee.
Instead, they have vowed to write in U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, the incumbent…
But a significant amount of write-ins splitting the Republican vote could potentially put the district in play for Democrats, said David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg.
Meanwhile Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 Virginia Campaign Chair John Fredericks heaped scorn on Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Sears for announcing a run for Governor before Election Day:
[Winsome Sears] might as well be paid for and authorized by the Harris-Walz campaign. She's an insufferable, never-Trumper that's totally myopic and self-serving. We’re 65 days out of the most critical election in history, we have a competitive Senate race & a tied open House seat. Instead of helping GOTV, she's wasting valuable time & resources in the middle of the campaign to run for governor in ’25 to promote herself. Once again, it's all about Winsome Sears, and it's all about screwing Trump - because that's all she does.”
And in the city of Buena Vista, where Trump won by 38 points, voters booed Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Sears. Meanwhile, Hung Cao left and didn't make a political speech, a tradition after the Labor Day parade.
The News Virginian: Jeers for Youngkin, early exit for Cao in Buena Vista this Labor Day
“When a wave of boos came from the Democrat-aligned end of the room, [Governor Glenn] Youngkin indicated that they “loved illegal drugs and fentanyl.”
In Buena Vista, [Republican Senate nominee Hung] Cao, who spoke at the GOP Labor Day breakfast and marched in the town’s annual parade, did not stay for the political speeches that followed, saying he had a separate parade to attend. He could not recall where the next parade was, and his campaign spokesman did not respond to a request regarding the location.
More:
- Veteran Richmond Times Dispatch columnist Jeff Schapiro: Youngkin got “booed in one the reddest corners of the state.”
- Roanoke Times: Cao opts out of speech — and Kaine meeting — after Labor Day parade
- Blue Virginia: Video: Anti-Labor, Pro-Trump MAGA Glenn Youngkin Booed at Buena Vista Labor Day Festival; Crowd Chants “We’re Not Going Back!”
- Sen. Creigh Deeds on the Democratic presence at the Buena Vista parade: “Best turnout this year in more than 30 years.”
Democrats are taking nothing for granted, they are doing the work, showing up, and earning votes, including from Republicans:
Virginia Mercury: Va. Republican voters, officials press for Harris over Trump
For Clint Taylor, for years the extent of his engagement in politics had just been filling in circles on ballots, he said. But now, he’s active in political advocacy, encouraging people to shift support from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this year — despite having voted for Trump in 2016 himself.
Taylor decided to back President Joe Biden in 2020 and will support Vice President Kamala Harris this year, he said. It’s a move that some Virginia Republicans are making as they seek a candidate whose values align more closely with their own.
“There must be other Republicans like me out there that are uncomfortable with Trump,” Taylor said in a call. “I just want to tell them that you don’t have to vote for him.”
Washington Post: Ex-GOP congressman Riggleman endorses Harris, rips Trump’s ‘thirst for power’
Washington Post: Former GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock says she’ll vote for Kamala Harris