The TAKE with Rick Klein
It’s a race that’s had everything.
The Virginia governor’s contest is testing the volatile politics of immigration, race, security, and Trumpism’s appeal in a big battleground state – livened up by imagery that’s ranged from torches in Charlottesville to Confederate monuments to athletes taking a knee.
For Democrats in particular, everything seems to be on the line. It’s the kind of race in the kind of state with the kind of candidate that the Democrats simply need to win, both to show that they can and to govern through the next round of redistricting.
And yet...
While Democrats seem assured of an easy victory today in New Jersey, Virginia has proven problematic for reasons that are achingly familiar to a party still looking to get past the battles that defined the last election cycle.
Democrat Ralph Northam has faced a restless left, worries about minority turnout, and an aggressive rival in Republican Ed Gillespie, who’s trying to thread an establishment needle in the Trump-era. If Northam falls short, it will be said that Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s lieutenant governor ran a Clinton-era playbook and lost.
In terms of motivation for the midterms, this week’s ABC News/Washington Post poll should be a wakeup call for Democrats.
Only 27 percent of Americans say they have confidence in Democrats to make the right decisions for the country.
Trump may have dismally low approval ratings, but his number on that same measure is 34.
The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks
While the reaction from national lawmakers to the tragic mass murder in Sutherland Springs, Texas has sounded rather rote, the terrible shooting perhaps highlights the potential impact of the many state legislature seats also up for grabs today.
With Washington's growing intransigence on the gun control issue, violence prevention activists have largely turned their attention to local politics and have found some success.
Jessica Post, the executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national organization that supports state candidates, points to a number of issues, in fact, where Democrats in particular have seen an opening and a reason to rally on the state level in the era of Trump.
“There is increased national focus on state legislative races as people understand that they are obviously very impactful for things like re-districting, climate change, access to birth control, and voting rights. Those are all the things defined in the states,” she told ABC News in an interview. “The first firewall against Trump right now is actually in the states.”
A few local races to watch:
A special election for a state Senate seat in Washington could flip that state’s legislature from red to blue and give Democrats full control of the state’s government.
In Georgia, a special election for a state Senate seat could decide if Republicans hold a super-majority in that state.
And in Virginia, two candidates are vying to perhaps be the state’s first Latina legislators. Danica Roem has gained national attention as an openly transgender candidate in that state.
The TIP with Jack Date
Rick Gates, who is under house arrest following his indictment, has been granted permission to leave his home to vote in today's Virginia election.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Gates can leave his home as long as he notifies pretrial services of when and where he plans to vote.
If convicted, Gates could lose his right to vote in future elections.
Gates and President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, were indicted on charges including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering and working as unregistered foreign agents.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY:
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Ultimately, it will all work out. It always works out. It has to work out.” -- President Trump on the diplomatic crisis with North Korea.
NEED TO READ
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