| This morning, Fox Business channel trained its friendly fire on Ed Gillespie and laughed away his chances in the Virginia gubernatorial race. In a segment on Varney & Co., Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt rained on Gillespie’s parade and predicted a Northam victory of six points.
“I’d say right now Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee, is likely to win,” said Chris Stirewalt. “And right now polls on average show him leading by about as much as Hillary Clinton led in Virginia, or by as much as she won in Virginia in 2016.”
The betrayal comes in tandem with reports showing Ed Gillespie’s campaign is struggling to connect with Trump voters in southwest Virginia, who are concerned that the President is absent from the campaign trail. These tensions are revealing themselves in Gillespie's own campaign, with the Washington Post reporting that Gillespie staffer Jack Morgan — the former leader of Trump’s campaign in Southwest — resigned in protest over Gillespie’s refusal to embrace the President.
Transcript:
Stuart Varney: Virginia.
Chris Stirewalt: *Whistles*
Stuart Varney: *Laughs*
What do you mean by that? Because I think that the Democrats will lose if they cannot bring out the black vote. What say you on that?
Chris Stirewalt: African-American voters obviously are a huge part of the Democratic coalition in Virginia. Not just in Richmond but also the Tidewater area is an enormous, enormous component of the Democratic coalition.
I’d say right now Ralph Northam, the Democratic nominee, is likely to win. And right now polls on average show him leading by about as much as Hillary Clinton led in Virginia, or by as much as she won in Virginia in 2016.
If Democrats cannot show that they have greater momentum than that, it can’t just be treading water they’ve got to show what they’ve shown in a couple other places. Which is they’ve got big momentum in a swing state that they can do it. Six points not enough to send that message and not enough to give them tailwinds for 2018. |
