https://www.wsj.com/articles/democr...irginia-state-house-races-1500495288?mod=e2tw
MANASSAS, Va.—Democrats want to take back control of the U.S. House by winning Republican-held seats where voters backed Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential election.
This fall, they will be conducting a test run in Virginia, including determining whether success comes by focusing on President Donald Trump or not when wooing voters who didn’t support him last November.
“Virginia is a good proving ground and petri dish for our politics, because the state has a little bit of every type of congressional district that will be a battleground in 2018,” said Jesse Ferguson, a longtime Virginia Democratic operative who also worked for the House Democratic campaign arm.
“There’s a little bit of everything, so you’re able to see which types of districts respond most successfully to which messages,” he said.
Mrs. Clinton won 17 Virginia House of Delegates districts where voters backed GOP legislators in the state’s last election in 2015. Democrats must flip 16 seats to win a state House majority for the first time since 1999.
Like the congressional map, Virginia’s House district map was drawn after the 2010 Census by Republicans to favor the GOP, making the push to a majority a steep climb for the state’s Democrats. Parts of the state where Democrats have won federal races have reliably sent Republicans to the state capital in Richmond.
“If you’re a national Democratic donor being pitched on the idea of radically changing the balance of power, I’d say: Donor beware,” said Tucker Martin, a longtime Republican operative in the state who is advising Ed Gillespie, the GOP nominee for governor. “The map is a lot tougher than you’ve been told, and the incumbents are tougher than you’ve been told.”
Statewide, Republicans have a nearly 3-to-1 cash-on-hand advantage over their Democratic challengers.
Delegate Tim Hugo, who represents a Fairfax County district Mrs. Clinton won 53%-42%, said there was little evidence that Democrats can translate opposition to the president into votes in local races.
“Everybody talks about this big wave coming,” said Mr. Hugo, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Delegates. “It might be interesting for people on cable news to talk about, but it rarely materializes.”
With little media attention paid to their races, Democratic challengers in Virginia are trying an array of different messages against the GOP incumbents.
Danica Roem, a former local newspaper reporter who would be the first openly transgender person elected to any state legislature, is devoting her campaign in Prince William County to a single issue: Fixing the traffic bottlenecks on Route 28, a major north-south thoroughfare through northern Virginia. Her campaign signs feature her campaign slogan, in all capital letters: “FIX ROUTE 28 NOW.”
Although Mrs. Clinton beat Mr. Trump 54% to 40% in the district, Ms. Roem doesn’t mention the president in her campaign literature and rarely discusses him on the campaign trail.
She is banking on opposition to the state GOP’s push to implement social conservative policies to propel her campaign against 25-year incumbent Bob Marshall, a Republican who in January introduced legislation that would regulate transgender people’s use of bathrooms in public schools and other government buildings.
“Delegate Bob Marshall is more concerned with where I go to the bathroom than with how his constituents get to work,” Ms. Roem said in an interview in her campaign office.
Mr. Marshall said the Route 28 traffic problems should first be addressed by the county government, not the state, and he stands by his legislation. “Acknowledging laws of biology is not bigotry,” he said.
In Mr. Hugo’s Fairfax County district, Democrat Donte Tanner is trying to appeal to voters who recently stopped being loyal GOP supporters.
Before backing Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Hugo’s district reliably voted for Republicans. In 2013, both Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, the conservative Republicans running for governor and lieutenant governor, won majorities.
Now Mr. Tanner, a 37-year-old small business owner from Centreville, said he hopes his district’s voters will embrace Democratic proposals to improve education, transportation and redistricting.
His Republican opponent, Mr. Tanner said, is part of the “swamp” Mr. Trump pledged to drain during his campaign. “We don’t try to tie him directly to Trump, but we say what the party has done to hold people back,” Mr. Tanner said.
Mr. Hugo, a 14-year incumbent, said few constituents are talking about the president and other business going on across the Potomac River in Washington. “All our guys say we’re not hearing it,” Mr. Hugo said. “It’s not permeating yet.”
But Democrats like Karrie Delaney say their constituents are talking about little else. Ms. Delaney, a 38-year-old nonprofit official, said she is running to be “the first line of defense” against the Trump administration. She is seeking to flip a Fairfax County district that has backed every Democrat running statewide since 2012, including awarding 59% of its vote to Mrs. Clinton.
“Localizing these races, that’s not the right answer for this moment in time,” Ms. Delaney said. “The civility and temperament of the current administration does not reflect the values of this district. People are looking for leaders to take a stand against it.”
Her opponent, four-term incumbent Republican James LeMunyon, said his constituents ask him about education, traffic and problems with the Metro regional mass transit system. He said he rarely discusses Mr. Trump.
“People can draw their own conclusions about the president,” Mr. LeMunyon said.
MANASSAS, Va.—Democrats want to take back control of the U.S. House by winning Republican-held seats where voters backed Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential election.
This fall, they will be conducting a test run in Virginia, including determining whether success comes by focusing on President Donald Trump or not when wooing voters who didn’t support him last November.
“Virginia is a good proving ground and petri dish for our politics, because the state has a little bit of every type of congressional district that will be a battleground in 2018,” said Jesse Ferguson, a longtime Virginia Democratic operative who also worked for the House Democratic campaign arm.
“There’s a little bit of everything, so you’re able to see which types of districts respond most successfully to which messages,” he said.
Mrs. Clinton won 17 Virginia House of Delegates districts where voters backed GOP legislators in the state’s last election in 2015. Democrats must flip 16 seats to win a state House majority for the first time since 1999.
Like the congressional map, Virginia’s House district map was drawn after the 2010 Census by Republicans to favor the GOP, making the push to a majority a steep climb for the state’s Democrats. Parts of the state where Democrats have won federal races have reliably sent Republicans to the state capital in Richmond.
“If you’re a national Democratic donor being pitched on the idea of radically changing the balance of power, I’d say: Donor beware,” said Tucker Martin, a longtime Republican operative in the state who is advising Ed Gillespie, the GOP nominee for governor. “The map is a lot tougher than you’ve been told, and the incumbents are tougher than you’ve been told.”
Statewide, Republicans have a nearly 3-to-1 cash-on-hand advantage over their Democratic challengers.
Delegate Tim Hugo, who represents a Fairfax County district Mrs. Clinton won 53%-42%, said there was little evidence that Democrats can translate opposition to the president into votes in local races.
“Everybody talks about this big wave coming,” said Mr. Hugo, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Delegates. “It might be interesting for people on cable news to talk about, but it rarely materializes.”
With little media attention paid to their races, Democratic challengers in Virginia are trying an array of different messages against the GOP incumbents.
Danica Roem, a former local newspaper reporter who would be the first openly transgender person elected to any state legislature, is devoting her campaign in Prince William County to a single issue: Fixing the traffic bottlenecks on Route 28, a major north-south thoroughfare through northern Virginia. Her campaign signs feature her campaign slogan, in all capital letters: “FIX ROUTE 28 NOW.”
Although Mrs. Clinton beat Mr. Trump 54% to 40% in the district, Ms. Roem doesn’t mention the president in her campaign literature and rarely discusses him on the campaign trail.
She is banking on opposition to the state GOP’s push to implement social conservative policies to propel her campaign against 25-year incumbent Bob Marshall, a Republican who in January introduced legislation that would regulate transgender people’s use of bathrooms in public schools and other government buildings.
“Delegate Bob Marshall is more concerned with where I go to the bathroom than with how his constituents get to work,” Ms. Roem said in an interview in her campaign office.
Mr. Marshall said the Route 28 traffic problems should first be addressed by the county government, not the state, and he stands by his legislation. “Acknowledging laws of biology is not bigotry,” he said.
In Mr. Hugo’s Fairfax County district, Democrat Donte Tanner is trying to appeal to voters who recently stopped being loyal GOP supporters.
Before backing Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Hugo’s district reliably voted for Republicans. In 2013, both Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson, the conservative Republicans running for governor and lieutenant governor, won majorities.
Now Mr. Tanner, a 37-year-old small business owner from Centreville, said he hopes his district’s voters will embrace Democratic proposals to improve education, transportation and redistricting.
His Republican opponent, Mr. Tanner said, is part of the “swamp” Mr. Trump pledged to drain during his campaign. “We don’t try to tie him directly to Trump, but we say what the party has done to hold people back,” Mr. Tanner said.
Mr. Hugo, a 14-year incumbent, said few constituents are talking about the president and other business going on across the Potomac River in Washington. “All our guys say we’re not hearing it,” Mr. Hugo said. “It’s not permeating yet.”
But Democrats like Karrie Delaney say their constituents are talking about little else. Ms. Delaney, a 38-year-old nonprofit official, said she is running to be “the first line of defense” against the Trump administration. She is seeking to flip a Fairfax County district that has backed every Democrat running statewide since 2012, including awarding 59% of its vote to Mrs. Clinton.
“Localizing these races, that’s not the right answer for this moment in time,” Ms. Delaney said. “The civility and temperament of the current administration does not reflect the values of this district. People are looking for leaders to take a stand against it.”
Her opponent, four-term incumbent Republican James LeMunyon, said his constituents ask him about education, traffic and problems with the Metro regional mass transit system. He said he rarely discusses Mr. Trump.
“People can draw their own conclusions about the president,” Mr. LeMunyon said.
