Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his fellow Virginia Republicans entered the 2023 election cycle with a sense of great optimism. The GOP already controlled the commonwealth’s House of Delegates and the governor’s office, and by taking control of the state Senate, the party could start implementing a far-right agenda.
Republicans had even settled on a specific priority for the top of their to-do list: They’d impose a 15-week abortion ban on Virginians. Indeed, for months, party officials boasted that they’d somehow cracked a rhetorical code and found a way to sell the idea of an abortion ban to skeptical mainstream voters.
They’d emphasize words such as “limits,” “reasonable,” and “common sense,” and the electorate would be impressed. The plan would prove so effective that it’d create a model for Republicans to follow in the 2024 elections. The strategy would dazzle friend and foe alike.
Or not. NBC News reported:
Virginia voters have rejected Republican efforts to take full control of the state’s government, keeping Democrats in power in the Legislature as a counterweight to GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin and conservative policy proposals that include a 15-week abortion ban. Democrats kept their majority in the state Senate and flipped the state House, The Associated Press projected.
In other words, the Republican plan was focused on winning the state Senate, while keeping the state House. Voters went the opposite way, denying the GOP control of the upper chamber, and flipping the lower chamber to Democratic control.
NBC News’ report added, “Youngkin spent much of the summer and fall campaigning on behalf of Republican candidates across Virginia, and his PAC, Spirit of Virginia, poured millions of dollars into key races. The group also launched an early-voting program that led to increased early turnout among Virginia Republicans, according to data released by the State Board of Elections.”
What does the governor have to show for his expensive efforts? Nothing.
In the short term, Democrats will now be in a position, not only to block Youngkin’s conservative ideas, but also to advance their own legislation. But stepping back, there’s also broader national implications to consider. It’s hardly a secret that there are still some GOP powerbrokers who hope to derail Donald Trump’s candidacy before he secures the Republican nomination, and as recently as six weeks ago, The Washington Post reported that many of these party insiders saw Youngkin as someone who could jump into the race late, raise a ton of money, and serve as a “white knight” who’d save the party from the scandal-plagued former president. The Virginia governor has had plenty of opportunities to end the chatter and shut that door categorically, but he instead left it ajar. A big win for the GOP in the state legislative elections would’ve taken the scuttlebutt about a possible 2024 campaign to a new level. Voters, however, had other ideas.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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