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NOVEMBER 3,  2021

THE KEY POINTS – OVERNIGHT:   Readers may have noticed that we did very little blogging in the last few days.  I saw no value in simply rehashing what you were getting from media.  The smoke has still not cleared, but I pass on some observations on what just happened in the off-year elections, things that might be overlooked:

1.  The most important fact to come out of Tuesday's vote is that, according to Fox, Glenn Youngkin won a majority of the Hispanic vote in Virginia.  He didn't simply improve on the performance of past Republican candidates, but a majority.  If true, and numbers will have to be analyzed, this is a major event in American politics.  The Hispanic vote has been one of the foundations of the Democratic coalition.  If it is faltering in its support for Democratic candidates, it could leave a huge torpedo hole in the hull of the Democratic ship. 

Maybe we shouldn't be too surprised.  A Hispanic friend tells me that there's a young generation rising within the community that doesn't want to wear Che Guevara T-shirts.  It wants to wear Brooks Brothers suits.  It is classic generational change.  The second generation aspires to be fully American.

2.  Unfinished Constitutional business.  Winsome Sears was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia Tuesday. Anyone who saw her accept her victory knows that she will be a star.  A woman of color, born in Jamaica, she has a rare presence, and an even more rare public patriotism.  And yet, her political future is limited because she isn't a native-born American, a fact that will keep her off a national ticket.  We've talked about changing this Constitutional requirement for the presidency, but we never do it.  It's time we did.  Winsome Sears should have the right to aim for the top.

3.  Fight every fight.  A lesson the Republican Party has yet to learn.  A moderate Democrat was elected mayor of New York City Tuesday, but the city was ripe for a Republican mayor in the mold of Rudy Giuliani, someone to clean up the place.  But the New York GOP couldn't be bothered – there's so much golf to be played – and no strong candidate came forward.  Missed opportunity.  Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, took a shot at running for governor of Virginia, a state where Joe Biden had beaten Donald Trump by ten points in 2020.  Youngkin is now governor-elect.  If Republicans aren't on the field, they'll never win.  They get another shot next year, when New York State elects a new governor.  The time to find a great candidate is now. New York is ready.

4.  A possible vocabulary change.  The word "racist" and the phrase "white supremacy" took a beating on Tuesday.  Smarter Democrats will realize that these words must quickly disappear from political campaigns.  They have become meaningless and are now being ignored.  The people who elected Winsome Sears, a black woman, were called racist. 

"White supremacy" was really a term that applied to the racial attitudes of the Old South.  That and "racist" have been part of a new McCarthyism that has cheapened political debate and frozen conversations.  Just as Joe McCarthy had to be brought down by fellow conservatives, the people who have debased racial language must be brought down by their fellow leftists.  I don't think the fringe leftists will budge, but I do think there is hope that traditional liberals will find their way back to sanity.

5.  The birth of a movement.  It will be absolutely fascinating to watch what now happens to the parents' movement across America.  The moment when parents of Loudoun County, Virginia, led by women, realized they were required to act, will become part of American history.  It had to happen.  Parents listened to their children tell of what went on in schools, and understood what they had to do.  The schools belong to the people.  The movement that started in Virginia, and was instrumental in electing Glenn Youngkin as governor, should thrive.  It is multiracial.  It is very American.

6.  The use of a phrase, the death of a campaign.  Rarely do we get a phrase that can end a political campaign.  The moment Terry McAuliffe said in a Virginia debate that parents shouldn't tell teachers what to teach was the moment his campaign was over.  He had committed the unforgivable sin.  He attacked the American parent, especially the American mother.  His words will be remembered. 

November 3,  2021     Permalink

NOVEMBER 2,  2021

HAVE YOU HEARD? – OVERNIGHT:  Of course you have.  The Atlanta Braves won the World Series, and Glenn Youngkin was elected governor of Virginia. 

Youngkin's victory is a political earthquake, a Republican victory in a state that had been reliably Democratic for a decade.  I was eager to see how he would accept his victory, which was declared by several news organizations.  He was terrific, gracious yet strong, with a natural appeal to his audience.  And he knows how to go after the opposition without sounding cruel.  I think a star was born.

Youngkin currently has a two-point lead over Terry McAuliffe, with 97 percent of the vote counted.  Macauliffe has not yet conceded, which raises the question as to whether he'll contest the election.  We may know that later today.  I think a challenge would fizzle, though.  Enthusiasm for Youngkin is high, and no irregularities have thus far been noted or charged.

Youngkin brings with him a lieutenant governor and attorney general who are right out of central casting...for the Democratic Party.  These two demonstrate how the GOP is changing.  The Dems do not have exclusive control over minorities.   The new lieutenant governor is Winsome Sears.  Born in Jamaica, Sears becomes the first black female Republican, first female veteran, and the first naturalized citizen, to serve.  Eat your hearts out, diverse Democrats. 

The new attorney general will be Jason S. Miyares, the first Latino to have the job.  Those Republicans, so diverse.

Another race to watch, still not declared, is the contest for governor of New Jersey.  The incumbent Democrat, Phil Murphy, was supposed to glide to easy re-election.  Instead, he's in the fight of his life against Republican Jack Ciattarelli.  The counting is still going on.   Should Jack win, that would be two upsets in governors' races in the same year, a warning to the Democratic Party that it doesn't have ownership over part of the population.

More later....