Democrat Gerry Connolly (D-VA) has made an announcement in favor of impeachment this week, following the pronouncement of fellow Democratic representatives such as Don Beyer (D-VA) and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA).
All three of these announcements can be explained by looking at what happened in June in the Democrat primaries, where two mainstream Democrat Commonwealth Attorneys were ousted by left-wing so-called “Justice Democrat” candidates and where one senior State Senator — the gaffe-prone Dick Saslaw — narrowly managed a win against his progressive left-wing extreme.
The calculus here isn’t hard to decipher. All three stooges — Connolly, Beyer, and Wexton — are nervously looking over their shoulders worrying they might be next in the crosshairs of the “Justice Democrats” who think that socialism just doesn’t go far enough.
So what do they do? They have caved to the impeachment caucus even though Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-VA) is desperately trying to hold back the Jacobin left.
Who are the AOC-like threats to each?
Connolly: Either Delegate Guzman (who gave the Spanish State of the Union in 2018) or Delegate Danica Roem (sic) — the latter of whom is angling to become the first transgender woman in Congress from Virginia. Should the Democrats not take the House of Delegates as is increasingly becoming the reality, Minority Leader Eileen Filer-Corn is another possibility as is Delegate Hala Ayala, as relocating to the 11th District is not an insurmountable task (or a viable concern in a region as transient as northern Virginia).
Beyer: Beyer may be the single greatest mismatch for his district, moreso than either Connolly or Wexton. A legion of ambitious young delegates and senators are itching to get a hold of this seat where “a glass of water” would win (as Nancy Pelosi would say). Those already angling for the spot include State Senator Adam Ebbin and Delegates Patrick Hope and Charniele Herring — both of whom ran in 2014 in the primary where Beyer won. They along with delegates like Marcus Simon or others could get sick of waiting for the car dealer to move along…
Wexton: Wexton only won her primary with barely 42% of the vote, with Lindsey Stover Davis and Allison Friedman both making seriously strong showings. Given Wexton’s weakness in the district and her now flaunting of Pelosi’s directives to stay away from impeachment as an issue, rumors that a challenge from either (or an AOC-style renegade more faithful to the progressive cause) are quietly — but openly — being discussed.
What are we looking at here?
For Republicans eager for the days of Barbara Comstock in the 10th District and still remember when Tom Davis held court in the 11th District, indications that progressives are willing to eat their own and push their districts farther to the left are naturally music to conservative ears — especially the variant that does well in northern Virginia.
More to the point, there is a reason why Pelosi is allergic to any mention of impeachment hearings: impeachment is a loser. Most Americans do not want impeachment hearings, and the House Democrats are sensitive to the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton reversing Democratic fortunes as the effort wound down to its inevitable denouement in the US Senate.
That Virginia’s three Democratic representatives from northern Virginia are willing to flirt with such a notion translates into one fact — that they are more afraid of the progressive fringe than interested in representing mainstream Virginians back home.