Suddenly a blue trifecta
Altered state capitol awaits Rapp delegate, senator
Given Democrats this past week won both chambers of the Virginia legislature, the Senate and the House, and with Gov. Ralph Northam firmly in place through 2021, the Democratic party now enjoys a rare trifecta: when one political party holds three positions in a state’s government.
The victory for Virginia Democrats was obviously huge for a number of reasons, not the least being they now have full control for all-important redistricting.
Delegate Michael Webert, who represents Rappahannock County, is among the Republicans returning to Richmond after his win against Democrat Laura Galante. And while Webert would certainly have preferred the GOP retain partial control of the legislature, particularly with map redrawing on the horizon, the five-term lawmaker says working across the political aisle is already a given.
“To be honest we [Republicans] need to do that anyway, simply because the governor the last eight years has been a Democrat,” Webert pointed out to the Rappahannock News following his victory last week. “The amount of legislation passed each year [introduced by both Republicans and Democrats] doesn’t get done without one party working across the aisle.”
Still, Webert and his fellow elected Republicans in Virginia — and across the country — are no doubt concerned with 2019’s non-election-year results, on the heels of the 2018 midterms when Democrats had a net gain of six trifectas. Republicans last year lost a net four trifectas.
Here in Virginia it’s dubbed “riding the Blue Wave,” and for the first time in 26 years that energized wave has dumped Democrats in full control of the state, with Eileen Filler-Corn becoming the first woman Speaker of the House in Virginia’s history, and Charniele Herring the House of Delegates’ first woman and first African-American Majority Leader.
Add to this trifecta the fact that both U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are Democrats and one can see why more than the Virginia sky in suddenly blue.
Looking at last week’s election results there’s been no substantial voting shift in the state districts that include Rappahannock — Senate District 26 and House District 18. In fact, the District 26 map of late is so “strongly Republican” that the only blue found from Rockingham County to the northern Shenandoah Valley and points east surround Sperryville, Flint Hill and downtown Harrisonburg. The rest of the map is vivid red.
As a result, incumbent GOP Sen. Mark Obenshain in voting last week had no difficulty defeating Democratic challenger April D. Moore, 65 to 35 percent. Yet here in “bluer” Rappahannock the margin of victory was much narrower for the senator, with Moore capturing 44 percent of the county’s ballots: 1,408 votes to Obenshain’s 1,768.
“We were delighted to see such high voter turnout this Election Day, some 50 percent participation in an off-year election,” Rappahannock Democratic Party leader Mary-Sherman Willis told the News. “In Rappahannock, we put a lot of energy in getting out the vote, which paid off in now-solid blue towns like Flint Hill and Sperryville that went for Laura Galante… In the Senate race, the city of Harrisonburg went two-to-one for April Moore over Mark Obenshain.
“Otherwise, rural Virginia is holding on to its strong Republican identity politics. Nothing new about that,” Willis said. “But we’re really excited to see the commonwealth as a whole go all-blue, and can’t wait to get to work in Richmond to bring policy into alignment with the majority of Virginians. And let’s see how Obenshain and Mike Webert adjust to being in the minority party.”
Webert told this newspaper that he’s “ecstatic that the margin of victory was what it was” for his race against Galante, although like in the Senate race his
re-election was far more competitive in Rappahannock County than in the rest of the district.
In all of House District 18, the GOP delegate won 16,640 votes (60 percent) to Galante’s 10,720 (39 percent), while here in Rappahannock the Democrat took 46 percent of the ballots (1,463 votes) to Webert’s 54 percent (1,722).
Said Webert: “I consider it an approval of the job we [Republicans] are doing and I’m glad to be hired for another session.”