Like the rest of the community I have been sickened and outraged over what happened in Charlottesville. A mixture of that and an insanely busy week at work have prevented me from posting my normal election diaries. But don’t worry, I will be returning to my normal diaries soon. But I do want to focus not just on Charlottesville but how it might play a role in the upcoming Governor’s race in Virginia. First off, I want to praise this:
Lt. Gov. Ralph S. Northam, the Democratic nominee for governor, said in a statement on Wednesday that Confederate statues "should be taken down and moved into museums."
"I support city of Charlottesville's decision to remove the Robert E. Lee statue. I believe these statues should be taken down and moved into museums," Northam said.
"As governor, I am going to be a vocal advocate for that approach and work with localities on this issue.
"We should also do more to elevate the parts of our history that have all too often been underrepresented. That means memorializing civil rights advocates like Barbara Johns and Oliver Hill, who helped move our commonwealth closer towards equality."
Northam released his statement following a memorial service in Charlottesville for Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman struck and killed Saturday by a car that plowed into counterprotesters at the white nationalist rally.
Jeff Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a great article out about how the events Charlottesville are more likely to be significant drag on Ed Gillespie’s (R. VA) chances of defeating Lt. Governor Ralph Northam (D. VA) in November. Schapiro already notes that Trump was already complicating things for Gillespie’s campaign but Charlottesville was the last thing Gillespie needed:
For Gillespie — facing Democrat Ralph Northam, whom pre-Charlottesville polls showed leading by about 5 percentage points — this past weekend’s events complicate the already-complicated arithmetic of his candidacy.
His near-loss in the June primary for the Republican nomination to Corey Stewart, a Trump-soundalike, spotlighted Gillespie’s narrow path to the governorship — one that may now be even narrower.
Gillespie must assemble an unlikely coalition from the dwindling number of Main Street Republicans, independents and the GOP’s ascendant neo-Confederates and nativists — an element he sharply criticized after the turmoil in Charlottesville — a clear gamble for swing voters rattled by the disturbing images out of the leafy university town.
But it’s not just Stewart Gillespie has to worry about. It’s also the fact that Gillespie is to blame for the direction the Republican party that gave us Trump:
Denunciations notwithstanding, Gillespie may be faulted by Democrats with empowering the far right in his past roles as a strategist, chairman of the Republican National Committee, presidential adviser, and leader of the push for GOP legislative and congressional majorities through gerrymandering that gives narrow bands of conservative voters disproportionate influence.
Quentin Kidd, political analyst at Christopher Newport University, said that having helped create the contemporary Republican coalition, Gillespie will be closely scrutinized for “any wink or nod” that might align him with individuals or organizations defined by their intolerance.
This is why Stewart, Republican operatives said privately, is a nagging problem for Gillespie. Stewart, who has refused to formally endorse Gillespie, is a conduit to Trump voters whom the nominee will need against Northam but who may conclude that they are being taken for granted.
Indeed, Gillespie does deserve blame for courting the party to go to the extreme right. That’s why he’s been going further to the right not just on taxes but also on Planned Parenthood and sanctuary cities to win over Stewart’s base. Not to mention there’s the whole Confederate Statue issue at hand:
One day before the primary election, his campaign published a post on Gillepsie’s website titled: “No, Ed Gillespie Doesn’t Support Removing Confederate Statues.” The post said “Ed does not support removing any statues—including Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue.” Gillespie reaffirmed his support for keeping Civil War monuments after winning the primary.
Following this weekend’s violence, Gillespie, once again, condemned white supremacists’ hate speech and violence. “I agree with Governor McAuliffe; they need to go home,” he said in an interview posted on his Twitter account. “And they need to take that vile hatred with them. It does not belong here in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
But Gillespie’s office has not responded to requests for comment from Mother Jones,as well as BuzzFeed, about whether he still supports keeping the Lee sculpture in place.
And don’t expect Gillespie to really take any bold moves for the mess he helped create within his own party:
A Gillespie version of a “Buckley moment,” emulating William F. Buckley’s casting the toxic John Birch Society out of the conservative movement in the early 1960s, wouldn’t just cleanse the Virginia Republican ranks of a creeping cancer, it also would elevate him in the eyes of all sensible Virginians.
So far, he doesn’t appear ready to make the effort.
In an interview with Charlottesville’s WVIR television, Gillespie rightly called out the hatred and vileness of the neo-Nazis. He said such hatred is not what he sees on his campaign stops in Virginia and agrees with Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) that these hate-mongers need to take their shields and go home.
That’s fine as far as it goes.
But the hate wasn’t entirely imported, and the vile views are hardly alien to the Virginia landscape.
Let’s show Trump and his White Supremacist, Confederate-defending base that we are not going to tolerate their bull shit. Click below to donate and get involved with not only Northam’s campaign but also Justin Fairfax’s (D VA) Lt. Governor campaign, Attorney General Mark Herring’s (D. VA) re-election campaign, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s (D. VA) re-election campaign and the Virginia Democratic Party to make big gains in the House of Delegates:
Ralph Northam
Justin Fairfax
Mark Herring
Tim Kaine
Virginia Democratic Party