As a college student who grew up in Fairfax County, Virginia, I have always felt as though Virginia was too conservative. When I have travel to other parts of the country I almost always say that I am from the DC area or that I am from Northern Virginia. However, I now take pride in the fact that my home state is moving to the left, or at least becoming more moderate.
There is more below the fold.
The Commonwealth's last two governors (Mark Warner and Tim Kaine) have been moderate Democrats. Warner's fabulous policies have even cast him as a potential candidate for president in 2008. There has also been a strong netroots movement in support of Democrat Jim Webb who is currently challenging George Allen for the right to represent Virginia in the US Senate. This movement is in part thanks to important bloggers such as Kos and other members of this site. As many of you know, Kos has kindly blogged in support of Webb and has also placed him in the "Netroots Endorsed" section of this site. There are also many Virginia bloggers, such as Vivian J. Paige and the Richmond Democrat, who come from outside of the Northern Virginia area and blog in support of the Democratic Party. Since NOVA is typically considered one of the more liberal regions of the Commonwealth, it is nice to see that the movement is making an appearance in other regions as well. (My apologies to all of the other great bloggers I failed to mention. These were simply the ones that came to my mind at this particular moment and there are too many others to list all of the sites I enjoy reading.)
In addition to the netroots campaign, there is also a visible difference in the actual communities in Virginia. On the campus of George Mason University, for instance, the College Democrats are much more active than the College Republicans. Harris Miller, Jim Webb's opponent in the Democratic Primary last month, even made an appearance at GMU. Active College Democrat chapters can also be found at other colleges throughout the state. Is this just because college students as a whole are generally more liberal than other groups? I don't think so.
I believe Virginia's movement away from its conservative roots is a sign that even the more conservative states are becoming frustrated with the Bush Administration. Whatever the reason is that Virginia is moving more towards the left, I believe Democrats must take advantage of the opportunity this movement presents. Democrats need to become the majority party in both Houses of Congress and eventually win the Presidency. In order to do so, I believe that Democrats need to focus national attention on traditionally conservative states, such as Virginia, that are currently showing interest in Democratic candidates. This is one of the best ways to go about saving the integrity of the American Government from the corrupt and secretive ways of the Republican Party.
Look at Warner/Kaine/Webb etc... The state is becoming more and more blue. And while yes, the whole state won't shift, NoVA is growing fast and rural voters are being brought in with the Warner/Kaine/Webb message.
And if Warner makes a viable run at president (and he is my preffered candidate), it will be all over, the blue hills will be blue yet again.
in 1996 he lost by two, and Mark (not John) Warner lost by 4.
That hardly sounds like RED to me
and oh yeah, Dems won Gov in 2001 and 2005
I was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY wrong.
We're coming down south bc it is cheaper, the weather is better, and "traffic" in Virginia is NOT traffic.
And we are bringing our damn left wing liberal agenda with us, along with our elitist cawfee drinks. ;)
Democrats have Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond City, Charlottesville and the Rockingham/SW Virginia Section. That's proably about 3.5 million voters in the area.
Republicans have Shennendoah, Southside, the Richmond Suburbs, the NoVa Exurbs, and the Tidewater Region. That's probably about 4 million voters. So I mean, I'm not really surprised we're getting closer to equal party parity. With more and more people moving to Northern Virginia, the place is getting bluer, and the Richmond suburbs are seeing a lot of northern transplants, so expect Richmond to get a lot bluer with time. What we really need is more strong local parties downstate, especially in the Richmond/Southside Area. Because I believe the real reason we don't have a stronger democratic presence is just lack of organization, and the uncanny ability to never want to run candidates in certain parts of the state...HARRUMPH I SAY!!!!!
VA is a purple state, its just a gerrymandered purple state so we SEEM more republican.
I see it every day.
If you look at the election results downstate you will see that the independent cities and towns are also going Democratic. Harrisonburg/Stanton/Charlottesville/Roanoke/Blacksburg/Radford. Why? People that live in cities know that the result of poor government is chaos, paralysis, and decay. And simply handing the keys to the city over to developers, charter schools, and low-wage employers isn't good government - it is a lazyass sell-out.
The task for the Democratic Party is to get out in "the sticks" and win back the faith of the abandoned, unemployed, underemployed voter that see government as the facilitator of NAFTA / CAFTA, and a tool for the corporations that extract their resources and then leave. These people know how intractable and treacherous the greedheads are, they want to know the candidate has a plan and the mettle for the job.