Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard: "Virginia Won't Be Safe With Four More Years of McAuliffe"
Virginia law enforcement knows who has their backs, and it's not the politicians who take the side of law-breakers and rioters.
Top news of the day? Two new polls are out, with Monmouth University showing Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe up by 5 over Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin, and Trafalgar showing the race practically tied with a 0.3% divide between the two contenders.
TRAFALGAR: McAuliffe +0.3 Over Youngkin
Trafalgar has been trying reeeeeely hard to bend the numbers in Youngkin’s favor, which is a disservice to say the least. Frankly, I want honest polling and not “here’s what could be if you’d only take our advice” polling.
The other side of this? Someone is going to have a hard time explaining to me how only 5% of the electorate is undecided before September. Maybe that’s just me… but that seems rather odd.
If you like polls that come with a pack of crayons, click here.
MONMOUTH: McAuliffe Leads; Democratic Enthusiasm Is In The Basement
So here’s where the numbers get interesting:
So that’s a five point lead. Ready for some interesting numbers? Both former Delegate Winsome Sears and Delegate Jason Miyares are within a razor’s edge, outpolling Youngkin and in the challenger’s seat with 15% undecided.
Democrat Hala Ayala will have the baggage of being the de facto incumbent against Sears, meaning that if undecideds traditionally break 2:1 to the challenger? Sears is in a great spot.
As for Miyares running against Attorney General Mark “Blackface” Herring? Same dynamic, with Herring facing much more serious problems:
Again, those undecideds should break 2:1 in a conventional format. But with the actual incumbent being Mark Herring? Democrats cannot be terribly enthused about their chances.
Which brings us back to McAuliffe and Youngkin. Even with a 2:1 break among undecideds, that is going to put McAuliffe just ahead — a replay of the Warner-Gillespie ‘14 US Senate contest.
The catch for Republicans is whether opposition to McAuliffe is going to be enough to put Youngkin over the top — at least in the sense that it will rock Democrats to sleep in November. From our friends at POLITICO:
Monmouth ran a series of turnout scenarios and found that Youngkin did better when more irregular voters were included. And broadly, the Republican overperformed the former governor among voters who described themselves as “more enthusiastic” about this race compared to past gubernatorial contests, roughly a quarter of the electorate.
“Republicans are a little more excited than Democrats this year. The question is whether this enthusiasm turns out enough low-propensity Youngkin supporters to close the gap,” Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a release.
That means McAuliffe is going to have to do either one of two — or arguably both — things:
Up the stakes and get the progressive voters he told to go pound sand re-engaged.
Absolutely savage Glenn Youngkin’s reputation and get him into the mud where McAuliffe loves to play.
Previous to the debacle in Afghanistan? McAuliffe could have done that by simply using the moniker Glenn Trumpkin. Which makes T-Mac sound like a six-year old on a playground.
An improvement, perhaps.
Monmouth suggests that Biden and Trump are equally unpopular with each other’s camps at this rate, which means in theory that the namecalling isn’t going to work.
Which means the Democrats will need to hang Youngkin on either a character flaw (good luck) or a divisive and polarizing issue.
Now the good news here is that despite Terry’s machinations and all the Clinton bag money, Youngkin and the Republicans will get a vote in this as well — meaning that if we can define the race early as a referendum on the Northam/McAuliffe era? We can set the table in just such a way as to put McAuliffe on his back foot and explaining.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much of that — perhaps because the Youngkin team is trying to dampen voter enthusiasm. Or perhaps, some of the internal problems have yet to be ironed out.
Fully Funding Law Enforcement? GOOD IDEA.
Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard knows the difference between a platitude and commitment.
Make no mistake, unlike other institutions possessed by the left — when our law enforcement community makes mistakes, people get hurt or worse. Calls aren’t answered, seconds count, lives are at stake when it comes to the Thin Blue Line — and no LEO should be asked to gamble with their lives in the enforcement of our laws.
This is going to be a hammer against the Virginia Democrats for a long time. Whether it is Defunding The Police (TM) or critical race theory pushed on our children, to Virginia’s right to work laws or the economic shutdowns that treat us like infants rather than as adults — it’s time we were proud to be Virginians again.
More than that, it’s not just law enforcement. Firefighters, first responders, dispatchers — all those tactile first function of government that enable us to have safe schools and safe roads — they are the ones who bear the brunt of the lawlessness Democrats see as a positive good, while the rest of us see a mortal threat to our children and our families.
These people talk to one another. They know their own.
Add that to the mix of what just happened in Afghanistan and the sentiment — the simmering resentment — of our military and our veterans?
The adolescents have had their turn burning, looting and rioting. Now the adults are speaking — and we will be heard.
With Sears and Miyares within inches of becoming frontrunners and the Virginia House of Delegates targeting at least 12 seats to regain the majority? Youngkin’s coattails are important — and McAuliffe is no pushover.
All the more reason to get everyone across the line.
Shaun Kenney is the editor of The Republican Standard, former chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Fluvanna County, and a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia.