2019 General Election
Flipping Virginia
Larry Barnett https://www.barnett4delegate.com/ is running to be the Delegate from Virginia District 27. This Note urges you to support him. The Note requires a detour.
If Democrats can win Virginia’s House of Delegates and State Senate in November, 2019, they will have a trifecta. A Democratic Governor. A Democratic legislature. Democrats will make Virginia’s laws. The Democratic Attorney General, will protect those laws. Life will be good.
What happens in states with Democratic trifectas? 538 did an analysis. These states raise the minimum wage . They legalize or decriminalize marijuana. They ban gay conversion therapy. They mandate that electoral college votes go to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. They work to reduce or eliminate tuition for the first two years of public college or for community colleges. Not in 538’s analysis: They also work to codify Roe v. Wade into state statutes. They expand Medicare under the Affordable Care Act (though Obamacare is popular enough so that Republicans do that, too, as Virginia did without a Democratic trifecta.).
Virginia’s House of Delegates has a two vote Republican majority. Virginia’s state Senate has a two vote Republican majority. A net gain of two seats in the House of Delegates gets Democrats a majority. A net gain of one seat in the state Senate gets Democrats a majority because the Democratic Lt. Governor votes to break a tie.
Virginia Democrats flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates in 2017. A few more Democratic votes would have gained a House of Delegates majority.
Virginia has a federal law suit (Thank you to a reader for pointing out that the law suit is federal.). A US District Court has found that 11 Virginia Districts were gerrymandered racially and must be redrawn. When the legislature couldn’t do it, the Court appointed a Master to create a new map to be in effect for the 2019 elections.
Will it happen? The US Supreme Court heard an appeal in March. Virginia Democrats (and all of us who prefer democracy to other forms of government) could lose there. That loss could happen notwithstanding the trove of information found recently in the estate of the Republican master map drawer. The Supreme Court may not look at that information at all. Virginia Democrats may need to win the House and Senate despite the gerrymanders.
While we wait for the US Supreme Court, let’s support Virginia Democrats who could retake the House of Delegates in its gerrymandered form.
I might not need to write about Virginia candidates if the US Supreme Court allows the new map. Barring a disaster, the no longer gerrymandered House of Delegates would have a Democratic majority after the 2019 election.
If the US Supreme Court requires the use of the old map, then Virginia Democrats have a greater challenge. They need to win seats like HD 10 and HD 92 about which I have already written. They need to win in toss up or lean Republican Districts. Like HD 27, which is southwest of Richmond and north of Pocahontas State Park. Governor Northam carried the district with the old map.
Larry Barnett could carry the district. He is a mental health professional. He lost his last political race – a run for HD 27 in 2017. By 124 votes.
Larry Barnett’s activism has been in his field of mental health. A licensed professional counselor, he obtained his Master’s for that from Virginia Commonwealth University. Formerly in the Coast Guard, he settled in Virginia and his lived in Midlothian for thirty years. As manager of the County’s Emergency Services for twelve years, he has worked with the police and other first responders, with schools, hospitals, and community agencies.
Larry Barnett is working on his candidacy. He has no primary opposition. His Congresswoman, Abigail Spanberger, is supporting him. He rejected any financial support from Dominion Power. He’s leading a troupe that is out knocking on doors. Connecting with voters. Raising money.
Larry Barnett is advocating for the Equal Rights Amendment. (The Equal the Rights Amendment? Even though Virginia would be 38th state to pass it, reaching the 75% threshold, there are deadlines that have passed, states that have rescinded ratification. Nice that it is an issue, though.)
Larry Barnett is managing the Democratic left/center divide pretty well. Interviewed in 2017, he described himself as a listener – by profession and by inclination. He supports increased pay for police and firemen; teachers, too. He has genuine expertise in medical, mental health, and drug dependence issues. He advocates treatment, opposes incarceration of drug offenders, and describes the war on drugs as a failure.
He has no skeletons; at least none that anyone has raised. He has been married to the same woman for decades. They have a grown daughter who still lives in Virginia. Changing maps or not, Larry Barnett is well positioned to defeat the incumbent – Roxann Robinson, an optician whose vision is ending as many regulations as possible.
Help Larry Barnett https://www.barnett4delegate.com/ win this time. Changing Virginia changes the country. Send him some support.
House of Delegates
Larry Barnett Elect to HD 27 (He lost by 124 votes in 2017)
Wendy Gooditis Re-elect to HD 10
Shelley Simonds Elect to HD 92 (She lost a coin flip in 2017)
Support these individual candidates or support Blue Virginia https://bluevirginia.us/contact-blue-virginia (a Group Blog that supports Virginia Democrats) or the Virginia Democratic Party https://vademocrats.org (The State Party organization).
I have been reluctant to urge support for the DNC or the DCCC. Steve Cohen, a reader and contributor and friend suggests support for Swing Left’s subdivision: Unite or Die. The money it collects will be used to support the eventual Democratic nominee. Send contributions to https://secure.actblue.com/donate/unify-or-die
