With Denver Riggleman and Scott Taylor looking forward to defining victories on Tuesday, all eyes seem to be on Virginia’s 7th District, where incumbent Republican Dave Brat is squaring off against former CIA analyst Abigail Spanberger in a fight to the finish.
Yet the most amazing story of the evening may not be in Henrico, but rather in Loudoun — where Republican Barbara Comstock is looking well poised to shock outsiders and deal a serious blow to the “blue wave” narrative on Tuesday.
Let’s take a solid look at a few numbers.
Absentee balloting has long been deemed a Democratic strength, where not only volume should translate into some evidence that women are coming out in numbers. Yet in the AB split, the number of ballots filed by women? 52%.
Women as a percentage of the electorate? You guessed it — 52%.
There is an underreported surge in Republican voters that is largely being missed by the media, ostensibly because they have bought the Democratic narrative of a 60+ seat surge in the U.S. House of Representatives. But as DCCC begins to hedge on their own numbers towards a more modest 15-25 seat pickup, it is clear that they too are starting to see a shift.
On this point, the Democrats cannot have it both ways on VA-10. Either there is a Democratic surge that has been matched by old white males, or the surge never materialized in VA-10 (or fizzled out after Kavanaugh).
Need further proof? Democrat Jennifer Wexton’s bloody primary win seems to have come home to roost, as Wexton has proven to be every bit the lazy campaigner that her detractors claim her to be.
Not only is Wexton oddly absent from campaigning, her messaging thus far has been oddly defensive over the $40 “Terry Tolls” along I-66, as she actively switcher her campaign themes in the final days of the campaign to respond in defense.
Meanwhile, Comstock has deployed thousands of activists and volunteers in the district, with a campaign that was clearly everywhere (if social media is any measurement). Momentum is on Comstock’s side, and what’s more? The district knows it.
Here’s something else to consider as well. Virginia’s 10th District is a seat where Comstock outpolled Trump by 11 points in 2016. The district enjoys the highest percentage of college-educated voters in the country, and while drowning in the Washington media market — does anyone really think college-educated voters are going to blame Comstock for all of Washington when she has been on the forefront of pushing back against sexual assault on Capitol Hill?
Virginia’s “Iron Lady” is well poised to emerge as the winner in VA-10 this Tuesday, and while most prognosticators are suggesting that there is no possible means of predicting the outcome? Comstock has shown every bit of fight and no signs of letting down, while Wexton has shifted her messaging in the final seconds of the game and is notably absent from the campaign trail.
Which one sounds like they are riding the wave to you?