Voters to Democrats: Drop Dead
Deroy Murdock /
No means no.
From the White House to school boards across America, voters on Tuesday screamed at Democrats: “No!” to reckless spending, meddlesome bureaucrats, bear hugs for criminals, racial fetishism in classrooms and beyond, soaring energy prices, a monthly average of 179,779 illegal aliens invading the southern “border” on President Joe Biden’s watch, and much more.
More concisely, voters to Democrats: Drop dead.
Tuesday’s biggest prize, of course, was Virginia, where first-time candidate Republican Glenn Youngkin soundly defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the commonwealth’s last governor, 50.9% to 48.4%.
“Racism still works in Virginia,” shrieked ex-Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat, via Twitter. The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill declared, “This country simply loves white supremacy.”
Evidently, the same white supremists who elected Youngkin also picked Republican Winsome Sears as lieutenant governor. She is a black, Jamaican-born Marine Corps veteran. They also elected Republican Jason Miyares, a Hispanic, as their next attorney general. Bonus: Virginia’s House of Delegates flipped Democrat to Republican.
According to exit polls, Youngkin won 13% of blacks (versus Donald Trump’s 10% in 2020) and 55% of Hispanics (versus Trump’s 36% in 2020).
In New Jersey, Republican Jack Ciattarelli led Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy by a breathtaking 61 votes early Wednesday morning. The race stands at Ciattarelli 50.8% to Murphy’s 48.5%, with the Republican not conceding amid ballots yet uncounted and reported anomalies in Bergen County. Whatever happens, a former GOP state assemblyman was not supposed to get this close to a Democrat governor of a state that Biden won by 16 points.
Democrat Steve Sweeney, the Garden State’s Senate president since 2010, fell to Ed Durr, a truck driver and Republican newcomer. Sweeney spent $490,726. Durr’s campaign war chest was just $153. Final score: Sweeney 48.2%, Durr 51.8%.
In New York, Republicans will boost their City Council caucus from three, possibly to six. On nearby Long Island, Republicans will become Nassau County executive and district attorneys of Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Statewide, liberal proposals to include illegal aliens in redistricting, inflict same-day voter registration, and expand no-excuse absentee voting all went up in smoke.
In yet another act of GOP white nationalism, Hispanic Republican John Lujan won a Texas State House special election in a 78% Hispanic district near San Antonio that Biden carried by 14 points. Lujan’s platform: border security.
In Minneapolis, birthplace of the “defund the police” movement, one of the left’s ugliest babies was strangled in its crib. A ballot measure to “reimagine” the 70% Democrat city’s police force into a touchy-feely Department of Public Safety crashed and burned—57% “no,” 43% “yes.”
In Democrat-clogged Seattle, voters choose law-and-order GOP candidate Ann Davison as city attorney, a first in 32 years.
New York-based Ryan Girdusky, founder of the 1776 Project PAC, focused on school boards, where social justice warriors have plotted the left-wing indoctrination of America’s children. He raised $135,000 and channeled digital ads, mailers, and grassroots campaign materials into seven states. Among Girdusky’s 58 conservative candidates, 44 prevailed, yielding a powerful 76% win rate.
If Democrats were smart, they would remember that HillaryCare and other leftist excesses cost them the House in 1994. President Bill Clinton “triangulated,” steered sharply toward the center, and helped House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., reduce capital gains taxes and reform welfare.
Alas, too many Democrats are dumb. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appears hellbent on pushing Biden’s $1.75 trillion (per Penn Wharton: $3.98 trillion) Build Back Better tax-hike, welfare, and red-tape colossus. She and other socialists argue that Democrats got clocked Tuesday for not being leftist enough. Will Pelosi and her party wise up or will they keep torturing the American people?
Stumping for McAuliffe in Norfolk, Vice President Kamala Harris said: “What happens in Virginia will, in large part, determine what happens in 2022, 2024, and on.” It would behoove Democrats to reimagine last week’s battle cry as a cautionary tale.
The Daily Signal publishes a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Heritage Foundation.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the URL or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state.