Va. gov contest goes to Trump foe
Democrat Ralph Northam won the closely watched governor’s race in Virginia Tuesday in a contest seen as an early bellwether of the 2018 midterm elections and of President’s Trump’s political clout.
In what had been expected to be a photo finish, Northam won easily — 54-45 percent — over Republican Ed Gillespie with nearly all precincts reporting.
“Today, Virginians have answered and have spoken,” said Northam, who once referred to President Trump as a “narcissistic maniac.”
“Virginia has told us to end the divisiveness — that we will not condone hatred and bigotry, and to end the politics that have torn this country apart.”
Northam, 58, the current lieutenant governor, is a pediatric neurologist and military veteran who treated wounded soldiers during Operation Desert Storm in 1990.
“I want to let you know that in Virginia, it’s going to take a doctor to heal our differences, to bring unity to our people,” he said. “And I’m here to let you know that the doctor is in!”
Gillespie wiped away tears and struck a conciliatory tone in his concession speech, belying the bitter, racially charged campaign.
After Gillespie lost, Trump said the Republican ran a poor campaign, tweeting: “Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for.”
Trump went on to say that “we will continue to win, even bigger than before!”
Elsewhere in Virginia, former news anchor Chris Hurst — whose reporter girlfriend was gunned down on live TV — won a seat in the House of Delegates on an antigun platform, upsetting a threeterm incumbent.
The Democrat was thrust into the spotlight in 2015 when fellow reporter Alison Parker was fatally shot while conducting an interview during a live broadcast.
Also, a transgender woman — Danica Roem — won a House of Delegates seat, ousting a longtime incumbent who had led efforts to restrict bathrooms for transgender people. Roem became the first openly transgender person ever elected to a state legislature, according to LGBTQ political action committee Victory Fund.