Virginia Special Election In January

All cycle long I've been marveling at how much more effective the DLCC-- the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee-- is that the DCCC, the DSCC or the DNC. They seemed to be able to win races and without all the typical bullshit and lies from the other committees. Well... that just ended. They sent out 4 mass mailings this weekend for a candidate in Virginia strongly implying-- absolutely trying to mislead donors-- that what was at stake was control of the Virginia state Senate. One of the e-mails started like this:

A snap special election has just been called in Virginia for January 8th, and it’s a BIG deal: Democrats are just ONE seat down from taking back control of the state Senate, which makes this race critical to our chances of winning back the chamber.

Two attempts to mislead recipients of the e-mail. First of all, it may sound dramatic and exciting, but the election was not "just called." In fact, the primary was held November 17. Still, not that serious of a lie. The real attempt at manipulation was in the next phrase, meant to make the reader think that this race would decide the fate of the state Senate. It will not.

The seat, for the 33rd district, which takes in portions of Faifax and Loudon counties in the DC suburbs is held by Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who was just elected to replace Republican Barbara Comstock in Congress. So, of course, Wexton is resigning. It's a pretty blue district and Wexton won it in 2014 in a 3 way contest:

• Jennifer Wexton (D)- 11,431 (52.7%)
• John Whitbeck (R)- 8,133 (37.5%)
• Joe May (I)- 2,117 (9.8%)

A little tangent here-- Joe May served in the House of Delegates, as a Republican, from 1994 to 2014. He quit the GOP in 2013 and became an Independent, after he was defeated in the primary by a more right-wing Dave LaRock. The next year he challenged both Wexton and the GOP candidate as an independent. He didn't get anywhere and... now he's back as a Republican and the reason I'm bringing this all up is because, he won the Republican firehouse primary on November 17, the same day that 2-term state Delegate Jennifer Boysko won the Democratic nomination.

The first time Boysko ran-- in 2013-- she challenged Republican incumbent Tom Rust. Rust defeated her by 54 votes-- 10,389 to 10,335. She decided to seek a rematch in 2015 and Rust figured out which way the wind was blowing and retired. She won the seat with 54.5% and was reelected in 2017 with a very healthy 68.64%.

Boysko's been a good member of the Assembly where she fought successfully to expand Medicare, to protect voting rights and has been working on effective gun safety legislation. She's a good contender to hold the state Senate seat which, like I said, will not change the numbers at all. The Democrats will still need one more seat to take over.

The DCCC is really hated by the Democratic grassroots. The DLCC isn't. But it won't take long if they pull a few more stunts like the bullshit they tried over the weekend. They have a good candidate. They don't have to lie to get people to support her.