Consolidated VA Elections Thread

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

It’s a juvenile take.

Please explain your use of the word "juvenile" to describe this situation. I have kids in schools. I want them IN school, and I don't want them fed CRT garbage. How is that "juvenile," in your esteemed estimation?

You essentially said well Sally who lives one town over kids are in school, but my kids can’t be in school. Foot stamp. Not noticing that maybe it was not in the kids best interest to be there at all last year. It’s an adult temper tantrum. We have elementary students as well.

And the CRT issue is not a real thing. Teach accurate history and critical thinking skills. Give our children an opportunity to form their own opinions. It’s long past time to include the full story.

DP but, you're minimizing serious concerns as if it's just an illogical adult temper tantrum, and it's not. You think it wasn't in the kids' best interest to be in school, and I (and many others) think it was in their best interest to be in school. And seeing Sally in school while my kids weren't really drove that point home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

And add RI and Philly suburbs (i.e. back before). Basically it was just CA, DC, MoCo and NoVa out at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need these swing voters to come back to the Dems in 2022 and 2024, so what is insulting them accomplishing?

So the key to winning elections is to coddle voters and just tell them what they want to hear?

Are you kidding?? Yes. I see we have a very succinct illustration of why Democrats always shoot themselves in the foot.

They just don’t get it. It’s not coddling to refrain from labeling every person who agrees with some Republican ideas as a racist or uneducated.

Disagreeing doesn't mean you're uneducated, no. However, when given specific, cited examples of how your disagreeing idea is untrue and still believing it anyway... well, that's being uneducated in my book.

I wouldn't say "uneducated", but I would say "uninformed" if you are not hearing facts or "irrational" if you are hearing them but choosing not to apply them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

“I don’t think parents should be telling the schools what they should teach.”

- Terry McAuliffe 2021.


I learned in school that the US has a government for, of, and by the people.

Terry, maybe you need to find a foreign country with a type of government more in line with your views.

I agree that statement did McAuliffe in, but I agree that parents should NOT be telling the schools what they should teach. People want to bring in religion and ban any conversation that may be unpleasant for the patriarchy.

Though, if you really believed in government for, of, and by the people you would support abortion rights, a Supreme Court without Justice Kavanaugh, etc. Both have majority in favor. You would be very vocal about minority rule.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

And I had friends in MA, CT, CA, and NY who all went back after our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

And add RI and Philly suburbs (i.e. back before). Basically it was just CA, DC, MoCo and NoVa out at some point.

Marin beat us back.

[Anonymous]

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IMO they shot themselves in the foot by closing school. What an impact they made on so many people day in and day out for a year. I certainly hope it is a case study for the future.

They made informed, reasonable decisions based on the info we had and resources available. You think we have staffing issues now? Imagine if you forced teachers in last fall before the vaccine and as numbers were skyrocketing.

Our schools (local, not state) didn’t just say F it and send kids back in.

Sorry that pisses you off so much that you had to vote for a Trump Republican.

I voted D like I always do but your attitude is exactly why the Rs won and I’ve been saying that.
I also remember that Northam allowed schools to open hybrid in August 2020 and Fairfax had some of the best corona numbers in the state - not the worst - such that we should have considered being more conservative than he allowed with school reopening. And I also didn’t forget that the Dept of Health approved of the hybrid plan as well.

So you’re pissed at FCPS?

I am just telling you where the people are so the Ds don’t miss the mark next time.

Most of the parents don't remember the nuance of what the governor approved vs. what happened. All they saw is that public schools weren't open for most of 2020-2021, while private schools did open full time.

I agree.

Agree too (Dem voter). This wasn’t the only issue, but one of the big ones. I fear my party is getting a set of alternative facts (like all the PPs set on arguing that Nova schools were opening just as early as the rest of the country??) Voting Youngkin may have been a stupid way to “punish” school boards, but it still was a strong motivation IMHO.

+1 the “CRT” stuff wasn’t important to NoVa voters (it was just a bone for the R base in the rest of the state), but the closures and the perception that the curriculum was being “dumbed down” by the Democrats in the state DoE WAS important here. All it takes is a few percentage points of people who usually vote D switching to the other side.

And no, NoVa schools didn’t open at the same time as other schools. Anyone with functioning eyes and access to social media could have seen that. The closures killed Democrats and people took out their frustrations on the first election they could.

Yes, to this. I think it was much more bread-n-butter educational issues that motivated (or didn't motivate) NoVa voters. And Terry had to win big there. And now Democrats are going to respond to those concerns by calling everyone uneducated Karens, which wrong or right, is going to further drive the suburbs away. Ugh.

This. I know it’s next day bitterness, but the response that the swing voters who voted Youngkin are uneducated Karens is a terrible look. You will need these swing voters to come back to the Dems in 2022 and 2024, so what is insulting them accomplishing?

So the key to winning elections is to coddle voters and just tell them what they want to hear?

Are you kidding?? Yes. I see we have a very succinct illustration of why Democrats always shoot themselves in the foot.

They just don’t get it. It’s not coddling to refrain from labeling every person who agrees with some Republican ideas as a racist or uneducated.

But there definitely seems to be a moral outrage when the mirror is turned. It’s one of the biggest complaints in this thread. Which seems, well, childish.

Keep on keepin on I guess and see where the current attitude of the Democratic Party gets you. You cannot say you weren’t warned, so don’t act shocked when there’s a Republican president in 2024. What each party is fighting for is the people in the middle, who don’t care about AOC and her squad and think Trump is repugnant, we would like a return to centrist political leadership, center right or center left it really doesn’t matter as long as these ridiculous culture wars stop. I wish to God the Republican Party could get out of their own way and nominate a Larry Hogan as their presidential candidate, someone like him would cruise to victory in a national election if the Democrats don’t pull their heads out of their asses and fix their message.

Blah blah blah.

We don't care about actual policies, but we will 100% vote out of spite because of some anonymous posters on a mommy website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

And add RI and Philly suburbs (i.e. back before). Basically it was just CA, DC, MoCo and NoVa out at some point.

My Philly suburb friends' kids were going back at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What was the differential between Biden 2020 and McAuliffe yesterday in the relevant NOVA areas?

Anyone have that off hand? That is the key to how much the schools mattered.

I believe Youngkin was running around 3-5 percentage points ahead of Biden 2020 in most of NoVa. All it takes is a few percentage points in a close race. People are pissed about the school issues.

And it’s misplaced. The issue was National response to a pandemic, and the virus itself. But let’s blame the schools.

It's easy to blame the schools when friends and relatives in other states (including deep blue ones) have kids in school

Which states? Some of my friends' kids didn't go back until AFTER our kids went back.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Upstate NY, Maine, Vermont

And I had friends in MA, CT, CA, and NY who all went back after our kids.

The school district I graduated from in Upstate NY sent elementary kids back five days a week in September 2020. Hybrid for middle and high school for the first half of the year and then five days a week for them as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“I said it once before, I’ll say it again - Youngkin won because people can’t afford to feed and care for themselves or their families thanks to the crazy inflation, high gas prices and food shortages.”

And what did Youngkin say he would do about these things?

Ugh. You still don’t get it. The swing was a call to Dems to what is important to people, not what Youngkin did or did not say. Hard to believe in party that claims to be woke when it asleep on the issues people care about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


IMO they shot themselves in the foot by closing school. What an impact they made on so many people day in and day out for a year. I certainly hope it is a case study for the future.

They made informed, reasonable decisions based on the info we had and resources available. You think we have staffing issues now? Imagine if you forced teachers in last fall before the vaccine and as numbers were skyrocketing.

Our schools (local, not state) didn’t just say F it and send kids back in.

Sorry that pisses you off so much that you had to vote for a Trump Republican.

I voted D like I always do but your attitude is exactly why the Rs won and I’ve been saying that.
I also remember that Northam allowed schools to open hybrid in August 2020 and Fairfax had some of the best corona numbers in the state - not the worst - such that we should have considered being more conservative than he allowed with school reopening. And I also didn’t forget that the Dept of Health approved of the hybrid plan as well.

So you’re pissed at FCPS?

I am just telling you where the people are so the Ds don’t miss the mark next time.

Most of the parents don't remember the nuance of what the governor approved vs. what happened. All they saw is that public schools weren't open for most of 2020-2021, while private schools did open full time.

I agree.

Agree too (Dem voter). This wasn’t the only issue, but one of the big ones. I fear my party is getting a set of alternative facts (like all the PPs set on arguing that Nova schools were opening just as early as the rest of the country??) Voting Youngkin may have been a stupid way to “punish” school boards, but it still was a strong motivation IMHO.

Here you go. Facts.

Post about this from Feb 2020:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/105/951009.page
“Actually, based on the Burbio methodology, this says that *at most* ~40% of US student are in-person right now. Obviously, it's less than that since 100% of families are not choosing in-person.

https://about.burbio.com/methodology/
"• Burbio assigns a learning mode to a school district based on the most in-person option available to the general student population. Thus if a district offers both traditional and virtual options, the district is categorized as Traditional. " “

Hey out of state political activist.

We are talking about Virginia public schools, which were closed, vs Virginia private schools which were open.

Not 40% of schools in the US.

I’m a VA parent who saw this all go down. Don’t try to rewrite history.

DC areas schools sent kids back to the classroom around the same time as many other schools in the country. We weren’t an outlier.

Private schools had many more resources available to help them open. Mandates for testing, masking, traveling, etc. Plus, smaller classes and tons more space.

You are not being accurate or truthful.

Which part is inaccurate?

DP. All the stuff about private schools, for one.

Private schools absolutely had more resources. It’s much easier to control the variables and mitigate risk when you are small and can mandate anything you want.

Private schools could open full time with smaller numbers. But Va schools should have been open hybrid in August 2020 - not no in person option for one full year.

Most parents weren't going to send their kids to summer school in 2020 - everyone was pushing to be done with school.

It's misleading to say it was "one full year".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You will need these swing voters to come back to the Dems in 2022 and 2024, so what is insulting them accomplishing?

So the key to winning elections is to coddle voters and just tell them what they want to hear?

Are you kidding?? Yes. I see we have a very succinct illustration of why Democrats always shoot themselves in the foot.

They just don’t get it. It’s not coddling to refrain from labeling every person who agrees with some Republican ideas as a racist or uneducated.

Disagreeing doesn't mean you're uneducated, no. However, when given specific, cited examples of how your disagreeing idea is untrue and still believing it anyway... well, that's being uneducated in my book.

I wouldn't say "uneducated", but I would say "uninformed" if you are not hearing facts or "irrational" if you are hearing them but choosing not to apply them.

Toots, I'm extremely well informed. I just think you're wrong. How about that? Can you stand the idea that people actually disagree with you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The easiest way to bring down food inflation is to stop the monthly child tax credits and pull back expanded SNAP benefits. Less money chasing the same product means a lower price. I'm not sure the rural R voters would appreciate that though.

It may lower food prices, but low-income families will have less money to buy food, so how does that help them?

So which problem do you want to solve? Do you want to lower food prices or do you want to make sure families and children eat enough?

This is such a bizarre question. The price of food means nothing on its own, it’s all about how it compares to purchasing power. If people cannot afford to eat enough, then that is a problem. Making sure everyone has enough to eat should be the goal. Do you really think the answer should be to make food cheaper for wealthy people while the poor starve to death?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So, so happy this morning, for the people of Virginia and all of us as Americans.

We are back.

Biden and Kamala are toast. That is the real story now.

And make no mistake about it: This was a Culture Wars win. This election was about CRT. Next up is the trans agenda in our public schools. Yes, we're coming for you too. Enough is Enough.

Well, at least one person is willing to say it out loud.

We should all say this aloud. I vote Dem and we are losing because of our smug take on the culture war.

We won on LGBT rights with same sex marriage and anti discrimination laws, but then waaaaay too far with the neopronouns, XY people in womens sports, “men will never take advantage of new bathroom laws!” crap.

BLM galvanized the country and opened even my very conservative family’s eyes, but then no one was able to turn this into any actual change for the better and instead Dems just focus on shaming white “Karens” with no goal in sight.

Dems have been saying “follow the science” on vaccines, but then go overboard with school closures when the science says the risk of the virus to children is minuscule.

People want affordable healthcare, parental leave, and good infrastructure, but instead all the Dems offer is endless cultural shaming because talk is cheap and legislation is hard. You’re handing the country to the GOP on a platter. (They don’t have any brilliant solutions either, but the Dems are being so annoying no one even blames them for that.)

+1 The most sensible post on the thread. Thank you.

NP and I would take this one step further.

Democrats wage these cultural wars so earnestly because they fundamentally don’t threaten the real entrenched interests in this country: corporations and the rich. This is why they are having so much trouble legislating when policies like, having the government negotiate prescription drug prices are a no brainer. Paid family leave is a no brainer. Reversing the Trump tax cuts is a no brainer. But no, they threaten corporations and the rich, so the Democrats fail. And what do they have to fall back on? Rainbow pins and “loving” cheap illegal immigrant labor.

Where is Bernie when you need him?

All of the fat billionaires are sitting back enjoying the billions they've made during the pandemic while the rest of us duke it out over that last cookie.