Special elections today in 8th and 37th Senate districts

Today is another election day in Virginia, and while the national attention is on Massachusetts, citizens of the 8th and 37th Senate Districts have the opportunity to do something equally important – elect strong conservatives to the State Senate and hold that legislative body to being just one vote in the balance on almost any issue.

First, in the 8th, Jeff McWaters is a tried and tested businessman who has been successful at creating thousands of jobs in Virginia. He fully understands the healthcare debate and knows the struggles that Virgnia would face under Obamacare. He also recognizes that the budget needs to be reigned back in. His challenger in the GOP primary, Rosemary Wilson wrote yesterday:

The Republicans need to hold onto this seat, and Jeff McWaters needs us all to go out tomorrow and vote for him.

In the 37th, Navy veteran and School board member Steve Hunt has based much of his campaign on talking about the states unsustainable budget and what we need to do to bring fiscal sanity back to Richmond. While his opponent had to recently move to the 37th by moving some boxes into a basement, Steve has been a faithful public servant in the county for years building a record people can trust.

When you vote today, understand the consequences of just one of the two Democratic challengers winning: The Senate Democratic majority will go from 21 to 19 to 22 to 18.

That’s bad news for the GOP because it takes several scenarios that would make Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling the tie-breaking vote out of the picture.

For example: if one Democrat were to agree on the budget (or any other bill for that matter) along with the Republicans, Bolling could cast the tie-breaker. Or, if one Democrat were to retire or be appointed to a position in the state government, making the seat open for a competitive election, that option would now be off the table for the GOP to pick up the seat and make the Senate 20-20.

None of these options are plausible if Republicans don’t hold today in the 8th and 37th, so that makes today’s vote crucial to the GOP and will send a strong message regarding the mood of the electorate in Virginia. The question political observers are asking is was November a fluke?

We’ll see tonight.

If you live in the 8th or 37th and observe things in the election today, please use this post as your open thread to comment.

Polls are open at the regular polling locations today until 7 p.m.

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About the author

JR Hoeft

Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.