When it comes to winning control of the state legislature in Virginia, the Democratic Party of Virginia are the major league equivalent of a cellar-dweller, a last place finisher. At present, Democrats are unable to field a full team to even play the game. They find themselves in the minority in both the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates. Outnumbered 21-19 in the former and by a whopping 67-32 by the Republicans in the latter, the D team is unable to score runs for the Governor’s positive agenda or work through creative compromises with the conservatives on the other side. This situation is unlikely to change in this year’s election cycle or for a generation unless the Democrats start playing as a team and get serious about fielding candidates for every position.
Let’s look at the numbers. All 140 legislative seats are up for election this year—100 in the House of Delegates and 40 in the Senate. The Democrats are not playing like a team bent on winning. Although outnumbered 67-32 in the House, the Party is leaving 44 seats unchallenged—yes, they are putting up candidates for just 56 seats, a bare majority if they were to win every single seat. Forty-four seats are preemptively surrendered to the Republicans. Like playing a baseball game with only five of your nine positions covered.
For the Senate, the Dems are trying slightly harder—running candidates in 30 districts, leaving 10 Republicans unchallenged. With luck, it is conceivable that they could add a couple of seats to their current 19, and eke out a majority. But, I doubt it. More likely, the Republicans will add to their existing majority. Surely, it would be better to run hard in every district, and not simply bail out in so many.
Party officials and officeholders tell me it is very hard to get candidates in many gerrymandered districts. No doubt. But, it is not going to get easier by ceding “difficult” districts to the forces of darkness. The good Democrats in those districts feel abandoned and over time less likely to identify with the Party.
What to do? Few Dem officeholders take responsibility for party building—i.e. putting out the effort to be leaders in candidate search squads, actively mentoring future candidates, and sharing their bulging campaign chests with potential and new candidates. Since they are often unchallenged themselves in gerrymander land, they do have the time and $$ to play a much bigger role. Incumbents also have the capacity to inspire others to commit more time and energy to achieve our common public policy goals. The Party faithful need a spark and they need stronger leadership to be able to compete throughout the Commonwealth.
Speaking of good people doing good things, Reston lost one of its best on June 12 when Mary Ellen Craig passed away. Mary Ellen was a bright light in our community serving, among other things, as a PTA President and as an inspiring ethical and energetic Reston Association Board President committed to making this a better place. Her character and compassion carried over into work helping clients through difficult divorces with her gentle, caring touch. I hope we’ll see more like her in Reston’s future.