Senate Status Quo
So, just when I think I have the electorate figured out, they manage to confuse me.
Don’t get me wrong – big win last night for the GOP.
Conservatives retain the majority in the State Senate and Terry McAuliffe still has a long two years.
Congratulations to Frank Wagner, who overcame McAuliffe’s spending spree, and Glen Sturtevant, who stood strong against Bloomberg’s buck blitz, in order to hold the GOP majority in the Senate 21-19.
“Today, Virginians voted for a fiscally responsible and conservative majority, for Republican senators and senators-elect who are committed to responsive and accountable government,” remarked Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr. (R-James City). “Our victory is all the more impressive in that it was achieved despite the record-breaking millions of dollars spent by Governor McAuliffe, his allies, and out-of-state, single-issue PACs. This election was decided by Virginians, and they again voted for a Republican-majority Senate.”
And kudos to many other candidates, including Slobhan Dunnavant, Amanda Chase, and Jill Vogel . War on women? What war on women!
However, before the accolades pile on, what befuddles me is that even in depressed turnout, there are enough people who have been lied to often enough in Roanoke and northern Virginia that they would rather return John Edwards and send Jeremy McPike to the upper chamber. They do this in spite of Roanoke hemorrhaging jobs and continuing to plummet economically and Democrats making promises to wage a war on commuters in NoVA.
This is a conservative communications problem.
Those that agree more than 50% of the time with one another need to stop acting like a dysfunctional brand and start working together; in addition, this conservative band must also demonstrate/articulate why they care, why they have compassion for the electorate and what their rational, reasonable solutions are for what ails us: poverty and joblessness, violence, racial tension, infanticide, etc.
Conservative values rock: We value God. We value life. We value freedom. We value the individual. But do we show it? Have we proven why these values matter? Have we connected with the voter or are we just shouting at each other under a Gadsden Flag?
“Senate Republicans are honored to have been given this opportunity and this privilege once again,” concluded Norment. “We look forward to building on our record of accomplishment with another productive and effective four years in the majority.”
The question is, can they be a coalition in order to be productive?
We’ll dissect this ad nausea in the podcast, but if I ever hear Democrats complain about redistricting again, I will use this election as Exhibit “A.”
J.R. Hoeft is the founder of BearingDrift.com
This post initially appeared in J.R.’s nightly email, “The Last Word”
Twitter: @jrhoeft | Facebook: http://facebook.com/jrhoeft
