Through the evergoing combustion of political news that society often finds itself drowning in, it is almost never surprising when an unexpected change occurs inside the political realm. For the first time in nearly two decades, Virginia not only flipped its state Senate, but also the House of Delegates, changing it’s previous pattern of being controlled by the Republican Party to now falling under the rule of the Democratic Party.
“It’s important that Virginia flipped their house because the role the people that are in control of state politics do play in, especially with the fact that we have a census approaching in 2020 and it’s state legislatures that sign off on commercial districts and congressional district mapping,”said Government teacher Erin Wise. “So potentially, Virginia, in terms of how they are districted, all the house members and how many house members they get to serve them in the U.S House of Representatives could change and their representation could change at a federal level due to the local vote.”
There are multiple explanations as to how and why Virginia’s house was flipped; however, government teacher Stacy Selle explains that the strategy behind the victory was based off of issues affecting the suburban community.
“A majority of the focus in Virginia was on suburban areas that the Democrats believed they were able to win. The “Washington Post” suggests that national Democratic organizations focused the money on specific issues of gun control and women’s rights in key suburban races that Democrats believed they could win. Many also suggest that even though President Trump was not on the ballot, his policies were,” Selle said.
Changes in politics may have the potential to change the lives of those who live under their burden. Wise argues that it’s important to keep a watchful eye over adjustments that are made politically in order to understand changes made that will come to their community.
“It’s important to pay attention to political changes because even if it’s not local, sometimes it can be a reflection of how the country is responding to the government as a whole, especially if there’s a change in a legislature from Democrat to Republican or vice versa, it could be a response to what’s happening in D.C. The people’s vote is a reflection of that,” Wise said.
The Democratic win in Virginia may have the ability to predict other changes that will occur across the country as more elections are held. This season of political developments could yield some upsets if based off of the shift in Virginia’s housing.
“When you look at Virginia, it is a state that used to just be a “Republicans could win it,” and now when it comes to the presidential race, this shows that it could be even more of a battle than it has been in the past,” Wise said. “It could potentially be a state that becomes a win for Democrats. It’s a question of if this will be reflective of other states that were primarily red states. Are different issues going to be a focus for the suburbs than they have been in the past?,”
Despite the fact that the changes made in Virginia’s representation was in their House of Representatives, it also holds the potential to affect the presidential campaign and election. It is necessary that presidential candidates observe other state’s representatives in order to evolve their campaign strategy in order to reign victorious.
“President Trump and his campaign advisors will need to look at states such as Virginia and Kentucky to better understand the issues and positions voters are focused on for 2020,” Selle said.