A Sanders Nomination Would Threaten Reelection For Luria and Spanberger

Three Virginia Democrats who could lose
their seats if Sanders wins the 2020 nomination.

In 2018 Democrats picked up three (3) congressional seats in moderate districts where the Democrat candidates ran as moderates and disavowed more extreme positions of the far left in the Party.  Now, with the potential of a Bernie Sanders nomination, all three House members are seeing their prospects for reelection threatened by the potential of a radioactive top of the ticket.  While Bernie Sanders and his followers - who seemingly have imbibed large amounts of Kool-Aid laced with a mind altering drug - remain in denial as to Sanders toxicity in many parts of the country, Democrats in touch with reality are terrified a Sanders nomination would allow Republicans to not only retain the White House and and control of the Senate but also allow the GOP to recapture the House of Representatives. It is insane to nominate a candidate whose only chance of winning is that voters might hate Trump more.  It could set the stage for a repeat of 2016 when many voters (foolishly, in my view) stayed home because they disliked both candidates. A piece in the Washington Post looks at the disaster that a Sanders nomination would be for Virginia Democrats.  Here are excerpts:

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) wasted no time in denouncing presidential candidate Bernie Sanders this week after he said he would skip the annual conference of the pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“Senator Sanders’ comments only contribute to the divisive rhetoric often used when discussing the issue of Israel’s right to exist,” Luria said in a statement Tuesday that rocketed around social media.

Her swift reaction was an example of the tactics she and other centrist Democrats may use to try to steer clear of the senator from Vermont, a self-described democratic socialist, if he wins their party’s presidential nomination.

Analysts say Sanders could endanger down-ballot incumbents, especially moderates such as Luria, a Navy veteran who ousted a Republican in a swing district in 2018 and helped Democrats win control of the House.

Already, GOP candidates and groups targeting the once deep-red Virginia districts held by Luria, Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Rep. Jennifer Wexton have tried to link the freshman lawmakers to Sanders and others in the party’s left flank. Luria, who has endorsed former vice president Joe Biden, won’t risk being painted as a Sanders acolyte — especially when it comes to one of her signature issues: Israel.

In 2018, Luria, Spanberger and Wexton appealed to moderate Democrats and Republican-leaning independents by promising to work with Republicans and vote independently of their party.

Sanders, who favors starkly liberal positions such as a single-payer health-care system, free public college and a national ­$15 minimum wage, could force them to go on the defensive and undermine their efforts to win a second term.

“The Democratic nominee doesn’t matter much except if it’s Sanders,” said Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.

Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said Spanberger and Luria have the most to lose with Sanders at the top of the ticket. Sanders plans to barnstorm Virginia ahead of the primary, with rallies in Richmond on Thursday as well as in Wexton’s hometown of Leesburg and Virginia Beach, in Luria’s district, on Saturday.

“The voters in their district turned Democrat because each of them ran as political centrists,” Rozell said. “But the voters could turn right back again if they perceive that the Democratic Party is captured by the ideological extreme wing.”

[T]he National Republican Congressional Committee is already taunting her [Luria] about Sanders, asking in a mass email Tuesday: “Is she ready to reverse course and refuse to support the socialist and upset her socialist base?”

Spanberger and Wexton have not made endorsements in the presidential contest and have no plans to at the moment. Spanberger, a former CIA officer, said she has already cast her absentee ballot; she declined to reveal her choice or rule anyone out.

Rob Jones, one of several Republicans vying to challenge Wexton in November, suggested last week that because Wexton often votes the same way as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a top Sanders surrogate, Wexton must support Sanders.

Wexton balked at that logic, and said: “I will not be supporting Bernie Sanders in this primary.” She said she favors a candidate who will work to lower health-care costs, reduce gun violence, strengthen the middle class and bolster the federal workforce.

In 2018, Wexton defeated the Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock, who Rozell noted was in a similar bind when it came to Trump. Comstock disavowed Trump, who was deeply unpopular in Virginia, and even called for him to drop out of the 2016 presidential race after the disclosure of the 2005 video of him making lewd comments and bragging about groping women.

“He [Trump] wins, she loses,” Rozell said. “Remarkable.”

On Super Tuesday, I urge voters to vote for anyone but Sanders.  Sanders must be stopped at all cost.  #neverSanders.

Democrats Take Control of the Virginia Senate

Sen. Lynwood Lewis seated - standing in the same row to his left is Newly elected Sena. Jennifer Wexton

Karma can be a real bitch.  Just ask Virginia Republicans who arrogantly changed the Virginia Senate rules some years back to their own advantage.  Today, with newly elected Senator Lynwood Lewis sworn in - Our group was in the Senate gallery for the swearing in - Lt. Ralph Northam cast the tie breaking vote to use the GOP enacted rules to take control of the Virginia Senate.  Not only will Democrats now be able to block some of the most insane and poisonous bills coming out of the GOP controlled House of Delegates, but bills stalled or preliminarily killed in Senate committees may be brought back to life now that Democrats control the committees.  The conservative Richmond Times Dispatch - which is probably less elated by the shift in control than I am - has details.  Here are highlights marked to show the latest status:

Democrats have taken control of the divided Virginia state Senate and its committees.  Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, a Democrat, cast the tie-breaking vote in the chamber that is divided with 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans.

Democrats gained a 20th vote today when Lynwood W. Lewis Jr., D-Accomack, was sworn in to the seat formerly held by Northam. Senators have elected Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William as president pro tempore, succeeding Sen. Walter A. Stosch R-Henrico.

Democrats plan to have discharged the 11 committees now with Republican chairmen and replace them with Democratic chairmen.  

The caucus also plans to install Democratic majorities in all but two committees -- Local Government and Rehabilitation and Social Services -- the only two committees to which Republicans had given Democrats a majority of members when they took over in 2012.

The takeover would effectively gives Democrats the ability to control which legislation advances through the committee process and makes it to the floor of the chamber.

That control could prove a critical legislative counterbalance to the House of Delegates, where the GOP has a 2-1 majority and can easily advance legislation that Democrats were previously powerless to stop.

The partisan takeover is a surprise to no one on Capitol Square, following Northam's election as lieutenant governor, and Democrats' recent victories in special elections for two open seats.

Over the last two years, Senate Republicans have been able to use their control of committees and the floor -- in some cases with modest Democratic support -- to pass legislation to expand gun rights and the use of public money to fund private school scholarships, and to place new restrictions on voting adoption and abortion.

With GOP dominance in the House of Delegates and Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell in the Executive Mansion, [over the last 2 years] a number of the bills became laws.

In some cases, the controversy generated by those laws became the foundation for campaigns that enabled Democrats to sweep all three statewide offices last November, reversing four years of Republican control of the governorship, and the offices of lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Today was a very good day for Virginia and those who want the state to embrace modernity and reject the religious and racial based bigotry that are the prime motivators of the Virginia GOP.

Recount Confirms Lewis Victory - Gives Democrats Control of Virginia Senate

The last seven days have not been very good for the Virginia GOP what with Mark Herring dropping defense of the state's gay marriage ban and Terry McAuliffle refusing to appoint a special counsel.  Then there was the loss of the special election for Mark Herring's former Senate seat now held by Democrat Jennifer Wexton.  Now, today a recount has confirmed that Lynwood Lewis has won the special election for the 6th Senate District and the result is that with Lt. Governor Ralph Northam as the tie breaking vote, Democrats now control the Virginia Senate and can block much of the insane batshitery passed by the increasingly insane GOP controlled House of Delegates.  The Richmond Times Dispatch looks at this shift of power.  Here are excerpts:

Del. Lynwood Lewis, Jr., D-Norfolk, has been declared the winner of the Virginia Senate recount in the 6th District, giving Democrats an advantage in the chamber that may allow them to seize control of committees and control the fate of legislation.

After reviewing the results of a recount requested by Republican candidate Wayne Coleman, a three-judge panel confirmed a razor-thin , 11-vote victory, which stood at 9 votes after the Jan. 7 election.

On Tuesday Lewis will fill the seat of former Sen. Ralph S. Northam, D-Norfolk, now Virginia's lieutenant governor. 

Lewis' election gives Democrats 20 seats in the 40-member Senate. On Friday, Democrat Jennifer T.  Wexton was sworn in as a senator from the 33rd District in Northern Virginia. She won a special election over Republican John Whitbeck and independent Joe May to fill the seat of Democrat Mark Herring, the former senator from Loudoun elected attorney general.

Now, with Northam as a potential tie-breaking vote in the Senate, Democrat Terry McAuliffe elected governor and Herring serving as attorney general, Republican power in Richmond is now confined to the party's 2-1 advantage in the House of Delegates.

It marks a dramatic turnaround given the GOP's hold on all three statewide offices and the legislature the last two years.

Still, control of the House effectively gives Republicans the ability to scuttle much of  the Democratic legislative agenda. Similarly, Democrats, through an advantage in the Senate and control of the governor's veto power, can stymie conservative GOP priorities that held sway in the Capitol over the last two years.

In other words, both parties will have to work together and find common ground to get anything done this session.