For months, Democrats were confident that Lt. Governor Ralph Northam would win an easy victory in Virginia, with polls showing him consistently ahead, and sometimes with a double-digit lead over Republican Ed Gillespie. The big money of the establishment was giving Northam a huge lead in fundraising. The Washington Post, the major newspaper for Northern Virginia, has been virtually a part of Northam’s campaign as it worked to drive up his vote margin in that crucial area. In a state that voted for Hillary Clinton, and with Democratic voters believed to be highly motivated by a hatred of Donald Trump to show up at the polls, Virginia looked like a sure thing.
Today, Democrats fear that the shocking defeat they suffered in 2016’s presidential race may be repeated in Virginia on November 7.
Trump voters are rallying to Gillespie, who has turned the race competitive by making it clear he wants their support and is ready to push a Trump-style platform as governor. Gillespie has called for a crackdown on gangs such as MS-13, opposed sanctuary cities, criticized the Democrats for the mass restoration of voting rights to convicted felons, rejected efforts to remove Confederate statues, and refused to endorse measures hostile to law-abiding gun owners.
Even criticism from Republican members of the establishment, calling on him to return to the “mainstream”, has not caused Gillespie to back down. He knows a winning strategy when he sees it.
The Washington Post has constantly and vigorously attacked Gillespie for reaching out to Trump voters, yet its own poll shows that Northam’s lead over Gillespie is disappearing (“not statistically significant” was how the Post described it). Even after a month in which Northam outspent Gillespie by more than $4 million, some polls show Gillespie pulling ahead while others have the lead narrowing to within the margin of error.
Murders by MS-13 and other gangs in Northern Virginia have voters even in that liberal part of the state taking another look at Gillespie, while Northam is trapped by the political correctness of his party, unable to take a strong position against immigrant gangs.
Democrats have also found that Hispanic and black voters are not all that terrified of Trump, and may not turn out to vote in large numbers. In a desperate effort to change that, one pro-Northam group ran a TV ad showing a white man driving a pickup truck (with a Confederate flag and a Gillespie bumper sticker) trying to run over Hispanic-looking children.
Will Trump voters turn out to be the decisive voting bloc in Virginia? Can they overcome the tens of millions of dollars spent to stop Gillespie, and the daily drumbeat of The Washington Post?
FedUp PAC believes it can be done, and has already begun independent expenditures to help Gillespie.
The FedUp PAC strategy is modeled on the one that was successful in helping Trump win key states last year. Carefully targeting swing voters, and giving them the information that they need but cannot get from the media, can provide the votes that make the difference.
Now FedUP PAC needs your donation of $25, $50, $100 or more to keep FedUp fighting for you against the Republican establishment, in Virginia and across the nation.
You can help FedUP PAC support Ed Gillespie and conservative challengers to establishment senators in the 2018 primaries. Our highly-targeted voter contact projects are efficient and relatively inexpensive, but there are costs.
Your donation of $25, $50, $100 or more could help make the difference. We can send a message on November 7 with a big win in Virginia.
That’s why your best donation, whether $25, $50, or more, will make a difference now and in 2018. Please support FedUp PAC today.
