Republicans haven’t won this state in 12 years.
In 2020, Joe Biden won this state in a landslide.
But in 2021, Democrats are scrambling as this state could be his worst nightmare.
In 2020, Virginia wasn’t even on the radar when political pundits looked at battleground states between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
And it isn’t hard to see why.
Democrats have won every statewide race for President, Senate, Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General since 2009 in Virginia.
That’s 12 years of uninterrupted Democrat statewide wins, as well as 13 straight statewide elections where Democrats have defeated Republicans.
After 2018, Democrats even flipped three congressional seats in the once-ruby red state, and in 2019 they flipped both chambers of the state legislature to give the party complete control at all levels of government in Virginia for the first time in decades.
No matter what way you look at it, Virginia has gone from being a Red State, to being a Purple State, to being a deep Blue State in the course of less than 10 years.
But after a decade of Democrat dominance in the Old Dominion, things appear to be getting competitive once again.
And it’s left Joe Biden and his party in a panic.
“Strap in, Virginia: The 2021 governor’s race is suddenly at full speed. It’s already clear that this year’s contest — which will help define the national political landscape heading into the 2022 midterm congressional elections — is likely to be a strange, expensive, surprising affair.” writes the Left-wing Washington Post, which itself is having to admit that Republicans could break their decades long losing streak in Virginia this Fall.
Democrats are yet to nominate their ticket, which will occur on the June 8th primary, Republicans already have theirs.
The party has nominated multi-millionaire former Carlyle Group executive Glenn Youngkin as its Gubernatorial nominee, whose deep pockets are expected to enable the party to compete with the expected Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of the Clintons and former Governor of Virginia from 2014-2018.
Republicans also nominated candidates for Lt. Governor and Attorney General who could be extremely competitive in the Fall as well, selecting former State Delegate Winsome Sears and current State Delegate Jason Miyares for the respective offices.
Sears is an immigrant from Jamaica and a former Marine, and she led a national group of Black Trump supporters campaigning for the President’s re-election in 2020.
Miyares meanwhile is the son of a Cuban immigrant, and hails from the former GOP stronghold of Virginia Beach, a city the Republican Party must win if it hopes to defeat any of the Democrat statewide nominees.
“Youngkin is running on the premise that Democrats, who control the state House and Senate as well as the Executive Mansion, have driven Virginia into a “ditch,” partly with pandemic-era shutdowns of businesses and schools. He also criticizes them for raising taxes and tightening restrictions on guns while loosening them on abortion and voting. He touts his outsider status and expertise as a former executive as strengths,” adds the Washington Post.