The Midterm elections were a disaster for Democrats - and by extension LGBT citizens and other minorities. Thankfully, Virginia Senator Mark Warner squeaked by GOP lobbyist Ed Gillespie with slightly under 17,000 votes (1,067,342 v. 1,050,534). Elsewhere, the GOP used a combination of hatred for Barack Obama and hatred for gays and minorities to turn out its base of angry whites. As Democrats, I suspect voter turnout figures will prove that many just stayed home and by default, voted for Republicans. Hate it seems is a far stronger motivator than belief in progressive policies and believing that the nation benefits through the common good. What is perhaps most frightening is the extremism of some of the new Republican senators who, delusional as they are, will see yesterday's results as a mandate to enact all kinds of batshitery. For blacks who stayed home, brace yourselves for more measures to disenfranchise minorities. For gays who stayed home, expect legislation granting special rights to discriminate against us. The Washington Post looks at Mark Warner's close win. Here are excerpts:
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D) declared victory over Ed Gillespie (R) late Tuesday in a remarkably close contest for a second term that is likely to tarnish the Democrat’s image as an untouchable force in Virginia politics.
The contest was so close that Warner’s opponent declined to concede, but the Democrat promised to serve a second term working across the aisle with a new Republican majority in the Senate.
The outcome represented a shocking reversal of Warner’s sweeping victory in 2008, which first propelled the former governor into the Senate. A recount is possible, and Gillespie didn’t rule out requesting one in remarks to supporters late Tuesday.
The race came against a national backdrop that was expected to be bad for Democrats, especially for incumbents with close ties with President Obama and his trouble-plagued health-care law. But Warner had been expected to escape that fate, with polls giving him an increasingly narrow but consistent lead through the final days of the race.
This year, the senator saw his support in rural Virginia drop off sharply. He had forged ties to Southside and Southwest even before he ran for governor, earning goodwill in the economically depressed regions as a job-creating entrepreneur.
“It breaks my heart to say it, because these are my people, but racism was a huge factor in this,” he said. “I think in many areas of rural Virginia, racism is still prevalent, and they dislike Obama more than they like Mark Warner.”
Gillespie’s chief line of attack was that Warner’s moderate image was just that — one that did not match reality. He said Warner had voted with the president 97 percent of the time, most notably for the Affordable Care Act.
Election night results showed an electorate of over 2 million, about even with the 2010 election but far below the 3.8 million who came out to vote in 2012, the Department of Elections said.
There's more in the article. Note that 1.8 million fewer Virginians voted than in 2012. Besides chiding Democrats who stayed home, let me make one thing clear, rural Virginia - especially Southwest Virginia - is VERY racists. And it seems to be getting worse. As is the far right hysteria over gay marriage being legal in Virginia. I can only wonder when tourists from the Northeast are going to start avoiding the backwards areas all together. You won't find the husband and me visiting rural Virginia outside the areas around Charlottesville or to visit my daughter and her family.
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