Since the beginning of the 2018 midterm election cycle, Virginia’s Tenth Congressional District has been said by many to be a national bellwether for political races that have been underscored by the Democrats’ hopes and wishes to take back the House of Representatives as a referendum on President Donald Trump. The New York Times and The Washington Post have consistently reported that incumbent Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (VA-10) has trailed her opponent Jennifer Wexton between seven and 12 points, showing that the Northern Virginia district is much less competitive and much more Democratic leaning as the area’s demographics reflect a changing electorate.
In a poll published by The Washington Free Beacon, the results do not show the lopsided, Democratic-dominated race that many in the mainstream media continuously regurgitate on nightly news cycles. In fact, Comstock and Wexton are locked in a dead heat, with each candidate pulling in 47 percent.
Comstock’s seat is one of the 25 GOP-held seats that was carried by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during her 2016 loss, and is at the top of the list as a target by the minority party in Congress in their hunt to flip 23 of those seats to reclaim the House. The Northern Virginia Republican won her district in 2016 by six percentage points while Clinton carried it by 10. Although Governor Ralph Northam (D) won the district handily one year later over Republican challenger Ed Gillespie, Comstock has defied the odds in every race she has started, and has proven herself as a bulwark of political acumen and relentless work ethic.
One issue Wexton has with Comstock is her voting record with President Trump. The Democratic challenger said, “She’s voted with him 98 percent of the time, so that doesn’t seem to be much of a check,” referencing a FiveThirtyEight analysis of Comstock’s voting compared to the President’s agenda.
In a recent interview, when asked about this issue, Comstock argued that the majority of her votes have been for bipartisan bills like opioid legislation and measures to fund the government — adding that she was the “only member of Congress” in the region to vote against shutting down the government, ABC News reports.
Furthermore, she has pushed through sexual assault legislation, gang violence bills, and been one of the biggest proponents of women in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.
Although hardcore Trump supporters rail against any member of their party that breaks with the President’s agenda, Comstock has toed the line in putting her constituents first and keeping out of the national political narrative. She has cemented her own profile by distancing herself from the divisiveness inside the Beltway while supporting key planks of the GOP agenda that help the capital area district.
“This is a record to embrace,” Comstock said. “I am my own woman and I fight for the priorities of my district.”
In the run-up to Election Day, it is key to understand that although many media types believe VA-10 is a national bellwether, it really isn’t. The district is unlike any other in the country.
In the east, the district has the hustle and bustle, diversity, and income qualifications of a large metropolitan area, whereas in the west, the district has the rolling hills of rural America tied together by tradition and hard work. While these seemingly completely opposite electorates would, on the surface, have absolutely nothing in common, they have a lot, indeed.
The district is somewhat apolitical, wherein the constituency does not follow the traditional national political narrative. After all, they live next to Washington, D.C., and hear about it on the local news every day. What the district cares about most is the ability to provide and produce, not Supreme Court confirmation hearings and the resistance narrative. This district is smart, in fact, it is one of the most educated political districts in the country, with well over half of voters holding college degrees. Of course, there are Republicans and Democrats, but all are independent-minded and choose who they like carefully.
A progressive charlatan is not what the district needs. Barbara Comstock has served her district well, breaking with the national agenda when it’s warranted. She does not represent voters in Texas, or Maine, or Tennessee, or Minnesota, she represents those in Northern Virginia, and nothing can shake that, not even an agenda of resistance.
The fact is that the constituents want results not resistance, and the choice could not be more clear.
