The Republican fail in Virginia’s highly publicized redistricting vote was due in large part to a disinterested GOP, Blaze Media host Steve Deace said on American Family Radio Wednesday.
The state’s voters Tuesday narrowly approved a controversial referendum that now allows its Democrat-controlled legislature to bypass Virginia’s own 16-member bipartisan redistricting commission and redraw the voting map in advance of November’s midterm elections.
The “yes” vote carried the day with 51.5% of more than 3 million votes cast. The "no" vote, heavily outspent by the other side, lost by about 89,100 ballots.
Projections say redistricting will change Virginia from a Democrat edge of 6-5 in its voting districts to 10-1.
The fight now shifts from a political fight to the legal front.
Former Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, called the referendum an “egregious power grab” by newly elected Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other Democrats in the state.
“The race was much closer than the Left expected because Virginians know a 10-1 map is not Virginia. I urge the Virginia Supreme Court to rule against this unconstitutional process that will disenfranchise millions of Virginians,” Youngkin wrote late Tuesday.
But Youngkin’s voice — and President Donald Trump’s — were missing in the run-up to the referendum vote, Deace told show host Jenna Ellis.
Deace, based in Iowa, just returned from five days in Alexandria, Virginia, the Washington, D.C., suburb.
“I saw not a single message from Glenn Youngkin, not a single message from Donald Trump. I saw nothing formally from Republicans at all. It’s basically as if they were scared to throw their brand around thinking that might really turn out (Democrats’) base … as if their base already isn’t 1,000% motivated at this point.”
Democrats’ booming voices in Virginia
While Republicans were silent, Democrats brought out their biggest names, including a former president.
“Every podcast I listened to had a commercial from Barack Obama directed right at Virginia voters to go out and vote for this,” Deace said.
While Trump may be preoccupied with the war in Iran, he’s also spoken out more in the last six months on wanting to see Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) lose in a primary than he has on the Virginia redistricting question.
Virginia is the latest announce plans to redraw voting districts in advance of the November midterms as states — for and against Trump — position themselves for maximum impact on national politics.
In California, where Democrats hold 43 of 52 U.S. House seats, Democrats could pick up five more.
Republicans could add five seats in Texas, but other possible gains are far less. Projections show an additional seat in North Carolina, one more in Missouri, two in Ohio.
Trump’s lack of presence in Virginia was costly and underscores the president’s erratic decisions, Deace said.
“The president will post something that we all think is idolatrous and have to delete it, and then he'll be the first president to read the Bible aloud from the White House since … I don't even know when the last time that happened.”
As the leader goes, so goes the party.
“We will do things on a given day that are way more right-wing than anything the old Republican Party even contemplated, and then the next day you wake up, and you're like what in the world? Why are we doing this? Where did this come from?” Deace said.
Deace praised Trump’s overall performance as president, specifically in foreign policy, but the strength at the top shines a light on the weakness elsewhere in a party that, for now, controls both the U.S. House and Senate.
GOP and the ‘Strong Man Era’
The GOP exists with a strong leader in Trump, but if Trump isn’t engaged on key issues — like Virginia redistricting — no one grabs the baton, Deace says, citing the effects of Trump’s continuing rift with Massie as an example of overall weakness in the party.
“Trump does not like (politicians) trying to get to this right. He sees Thomas Massie as trying to get to his right. He’s very vicious to him. He’s much more pleasant, and kid gloves, going at (Senate Majority Leader) John Thune and (Sen.) Lindsey Graham to his left,” Deace said.
Republicans have reached the “strong man” era because of the weakness of the party for years to deliver on key social issues it was said to support, Deace said.
He cited former Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy who cast key individual votes, respectively, in support abortion rights and gay marriage.
“That’s why people turned from a party to a strong man. We didn’t come to this era from contrivance but organically. The Republican Party, between Reagan’s first term and Trump, largely failed America and failed its own voters.”
