Northam’s Incentive to Pull a Gilmore
Virginia Democrats are giddy. And a bit put out.
Fresh off their second consecutive sweep of the state’s top three state offices, they could also secure a 50-50 split with Republicans in the House of Delegates … if random chance in the 94th district race breaks a tie in their favor.
Now, surely, the great causes Democrats have long championed in the house to no avail — be it school funding, climate change or health care — finally can move from campaign brochures to enacted legislation.
And woe to any who stand in their way after 17 long years in the political wilderness.
That includes you, Ralph Northam.
In an interview with The Post’s Gregory Schneider, Northam, the governor-elect, sounded the low-key, bipartisan tones that have marked his political career.
Northam will not be storming any barricades or scaling any scary political heights. Rather, Northam said he would avoid “showboating” and is urging new Democratic House members to forge relationships with Republicans.
Northam also said he wasn’t interested in imitating former governor Jim Gilmore, who tipped the General Assembly’s partisan balance to favor Republicans by offering plum state posts to incumbent Democratic lawmakers.
And Northam also soft-peddled Medicaid expansion, warning of the program’s rising costs and the need to contain them.
It was Northam at his best — conciliatory, comforting, professional.
Progressives went ballistic.
Tom Perriello, whom Northam walloped in the Democratic primary in June, demanded a vote on expansion before the 2019 elections, casting expansion as “a policy that is morally right & good for VA economy.”
Others criticized Northam for “taking the high road” and much more.
They want Northam to be like Gilmore. And they want him to do it now.
