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Democrats’ disappointing performance in Virginia should be wake-up call for party, report says
"If our most-effective message in 2022 is that Republicans = Trump, we’re going to get creamed,” the report stated.

Politics

Democrats’ disappointing performance in Virginia should be wake-up call for party, report says

By Amy B Wang
Yesterday at 4:12 p.m. EST | Updated yesterday at 5:08 p.m. EST

A report conducted by Democrats in the wake of the Virginia election painted a gloomy picture for the party’s performance in the governor’s race there, led by a candidate voters did not find memorable and whose attempts to make the race about former president Donald Trump failed.

The report, which was conducted by the Democratic think tank Third Way and ALG Research, also laid out issues Democrats are likely to face in upcoming midterm and other elections, citing a “weak national brand” and an electorate that remains convinced the economy is doing poorly, despite several reports that show job gains, higher wages and other improvements amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Voters are unhappy with the direction of the country and don’t think we get it,” the report stated. “They aren’t hearing solutions from us, they don’t think we’re doing anything to address the big issues (lack of workers + rising prices), and in general they just aren’t seeing the smoother ride they thought they’d get after having voted out Trump.”

The report’s findings were based on interviews conducted virtually Nov. 8 and 9 with 18 voters — three focus groups of six voters each in the Richmond metro area and Northern Virginia. The demographic makeup of the focus groups was not specified. All had voted for President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, then either swung Republican or considered both candidates in the Virginia gubernatorial race.

Republican Glenn Youngkin, a former CEO of the Carlyle Group private equity firm and a first-time political candidate, defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who had already served as Virginia governor once before. Youngkin’s victory was an upset for Democrats a year after Biden won Virginia by 10 points.

The report offered a bleak assessment of the candidacy of McAuliffe, who received “no benefit” from having been governor before and who some voters got mixed up with current Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D).

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{Brian Stryker, a partner at ALG Research and a co-author of the report,} said the report had takeaways for Senate and House incumbents, despite its damning summary of McAuliffe’s forgettability.

“If we’re going to hold the House and we’re going to hold the Senate, it’s mostly through incumbents,” he said. “You can’t just assume that people know what you’ve been up to. You need to tell the positive side of the story — especially since, for a lot of these people, covid just blotted out the sun for two years.”

By Amy B Wang
Amy B Wang is a national politics reporter. She joined The Washington Post in 2016 after seven years with the Arizona Republic. Twitter https://twitter.com/amybwang