Ralph Northam wins Virginia governor's race, boosting Democrats

Source: Washington Examiner | November 7, 2017 | Laura Barrón-López

After stumbling in the final stretch of the campaign, Democrat Ralph Northam narrowly defeated Republican Ed Gillespie Tuesday in Virginia’s gubernatorial election.

Hit by the right for being lax on crime, and by the left for making a politically questionable vow to ban sanctuary cities with just days to go before election day, Northam eked out a critical win for Democrats.

The nation turned its attention to Virginia as Democrats called on voters to reject hate, bigotry, and racism, slamming Gillespie for running a racially divisive campaign, in which he pledged to crack down on undocumented immigrants and Hispanic gangs, and protect Confederate statues. Gillespie once urged Republicans to be more welcoming to minorities but in an ad released in September he attacked Northam for protecting sanctuary cities and letting “dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street,” claims detractors described as misleading at best.

Early on in the campaign, Northam called President Trump a “narcissistic maniac” but scaled back his rhetoric as the general election approached. Feeling pressure to appeal to more centrist Democrats and Trump voters with just six days to go, Northam said he’d support legislation banning sanctuary cities.

That prompted outrage from progressive group Democracy for America, which said it would end “any work to directly aid” Northam’s campaign. The left-leaning group’s executive director called Northam “gutless” and “racist” for his remarks. Howard Dean, who founded DFA, called its move against Northam “incredibly stupid.” And less than one week out, fresh allegations from a former interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee that the 2016 presidential primary was “unethical” forced Democrats into damage-control mode.

Heading into Tuesday, Northam’s lead in the race dropped to roughly a 3-point edge, worrying Democrats that once again they’d lose a race they were positive they had all sewn up just months ago. Virginia was the one Southern state Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, winning the state by 5 points. Trump’s unpopularity in the state was also a boon to Democrats. Still, without leaning on the president’s name, Gillespie came close to upsetting Northam by embracing the themes of Trump’s presidential campaign.

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