Political Note #220 Mary Cotter Smasal VA SD 08
2019 General Election
Make Virginia’s Senate Democratic
Mary Cotter Smasal https://www.missyforsenate.com is running to be the Senator from Virginia Senate District 08. That’s Virginia Beach.
Remember Virginia Beach. Near the end of May, a city employee, for mysterious reasons, resigned from his job, shot up the office where he worked, and killed twelve people.
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? A few days ago, about another candidate, I noted 538’s analysis. States with Democratic trifectas raise the minimum wage. They legalize or decriminalize marijuana. They ban gay conversion therapy. They mandate that the state members of the electoral college votes vote for the presidential candidate who gets the most votes. Not in 538’s analysis: States with Democratic trifectas are also more likely to work on gun safety.
A net gain of one seat in Virginia’s state Senate gets Democrats a majority. The Democratic Lt. Governor votes to break a tie. Mary Cotter Smasel is a particularly good candidate to support.
Mary Cotter Smasal is a navy veteran. Like many in Virgina Beach. She went to Villanova on a NROTC scholarship. Served in the navy as a Surface Warfare Office, deployed during Operation Enduring Freedom (The second Iraq War.) on the USS Trenton, an amphibious transport dock. That’s a ship which transports and lands part of a landing force for expeditionary warfare.
She is running against Bill de Steph. De Steph is also a Navy veteran. He is running for his second full term, was elected in a special election in 2013. Each time, he won by about 4,000 votes. He describes himself as pro-business. If he has a signature accomplishment, it has to do with animals. He has opposed cruelty to animals and addressed animal adoptions. The latter attracted his focus when an adopted dog mauled its owner to death. He has not been particularly visible on other issues
Mary Cotter Smasal has been visible. As a businesswoman and an activist. After retiring from active military service, she opened a Rita’s Italian Ice and Custard franchise. A business and also a kind of community center for teenagers. Many have been employed there. More hang out there. The kids know her. She’s been a basketball and soccer coach in youth programs. The younger kids know her. Parents, too.
Mary Cotter Smasal also became known in the schools. As an advocate for safety. She was concerned that her daughter’s elementary school did not lock its doors during the day. She found the school and the district unresponsive when she expressed concern. She was not alone in her concern. She brought the district a petition with 2,500 signatures.
She’s become an icon of public safety in this military town well before the recent mass shooting. Through the public pressure she brought, the school district has taken the kind of safety measures most schools in the country have taken. Doors are locked and fitted with cameras. Once school is in session, someone enters the school only if buzzed in.
Mary Cotter Smasal https://www.missyforsenate.com could be that one victory. The district is winnable despite the incumbents previous victories. Governor Northam won the district in 2017. Help her out.
Mary Cotter Smasal could be one of many victories. Thanks to Daily Kos, I developed a better understanding of the situation in Virginia. The US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, decided in favor of Virginia’s new district map. Daily Kos reported that because Virginia is using the revised, court ordered, ungerrymandered map of districts, the Supreme Court would not interfere for the general election. It did not. In a decision written by Ruth Bader Ginsberg, supported by two other liberal justices and two conservative justices, the Court supported the map ordered by a lower federal court. The Court said the plaintiffs did not have standing. Republicans did not have standing.
In 2017, when Virginia Democrats flipped 15 Republican seats in the House of Delegates it was good for Virginia and a sign of what was coming in 2018. With a fair map, Virginia Democrats have a good chance to create their trifecta, to gain a majority in the Senate and the House of Delegates. Daily Kos says that it will be easier in the Senate than in the House of Delegates.
I continue to urge you to support Smasal and the others that I’ve written about. It would also be a good choice to support the state party or Blue Virginia. The websites are noted below. Victories in Virginia will still be seen as a good sign for 2020.
Flipping Virginia
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)
State Senate
Mary Cotter Smasel Elect to SD 08
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
