Terry McAuliffe Wins Virginia

Governor elect McAuliffe

I am most pleased that Terry McAuliffe has apparently won the gubernatorial contest in Virginia.  My only regrets are (i) that the race for attorney general remains undecided with the insane Mark Obenshain currently slightly ahead, and (ii) given the narrowness of McAuliffe's win, the vile extremists at The Family Foundation will likely not be booted into the political wilderness where they belong.   As noted earlier this evening, the election results reveal a huge divide politically between the rural areas of Virginia where hate, bigotry and racism continue to thrive and the urban areas of the state which are poised to embrace the future. The Washington Post summarizes the election results:

Terry McAuliffe, a businessman and former head of the Democratic National Committee, captured the Virginia governor’s seat Tuesday, defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli II, the state attorney general whose conservative crusades made him an icon of the tea party movement, according to preliminary results.

With 95 percent of the precincts reporting, McAuliffe edged ahead of Cuccinelli by about 25,000 votes, or about 1 percent. By 10 p.m., Edison Media Research, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News had projected McAuliffe as the winner.

The Democrat was far ahead in Northern Virginia, according to early returns, while Cuccinelli had strong support in the central and western portions of the commonwealth. 

Ralph Northam, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, was projected to defeat Republican E.W. Jackson, according to exit poll results from Edison and early vote returns.

Mark Obenshain, the Republican candidate for Attorney General, led Mark Herring by 2 percent, with 94 percent of the precincts counted.

For Cuccinelli, the state’s attorney general, the election halted his rise as a Republican party star. 

The Republican held a commanding lead among white voters, according to the poll, though they were voting for him at a lower rate than they did for Gov. Robert McDonnell in 2009.

As the governor’s race began, Cuccinelli sought to focus on the economy, steering away from the divisive social issues that had made him well-known. But McAuliffe kept reminding voters of Cuccinelli’s views, using his massive fundraising advantage to inundate the airwaves with ads focusing on Cuccinelli’s opposition to abortion, among other issues. By the early fall, polls showed McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli by 24 points among likely women voters. 

There will be plenty of post mortems.  I wish more Democrats and moderates had gotten off their asses and voted.  The GOP ticket deserved to be totally crushed.  That it wasn't speaks volumes about the apathy of many Virginians and the religious extremism and racism of those who voted for Cuccinelli and Obenshain.