I share everyone’s pain, anger, disappointment, and grief over Vice President Harris’ loss to now President-elect Trump. What hurts me the most is that 51 percent of Americans knew who they were voting for this time, and it didn’t matter.
The good news is that Harris won 52 percent of Virginia’s popular vote and our 13 electoral votes. Sen. Tim Kaine was elected for a third term in the Senate. I’m grateful that he and Sen. Mark Warner will be there defending us against the Republican majority. The 7th Congressional District remained in Democratic hands by electing Eugene Vindman to succeed Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
Remember 2017? Democrats came together and elected Ralph Northam as Governor, Justin Fairfax as Lt. Governor, and re-elected Mark Herring as Attorney General. To everyone in Virginia and the country’s amazement, Democrats flipped 15 seats in the House of Delegates. We’re going to do it again in 2025 with Abigail Spanberger for Governor, and right now, one of five candidates for Lt. Governor, and one of two candidates for Attorney General. We’re also going to expand our slim majority in the House of Delegates by working as hard as we can to elect Sara Ratcliffe to represent us in House District 62 and send Nick Freitas permanently to podcast land.
When I became Chair in January 2023, I had three goals: grow our membership, recruit and support our Democratic candidates, and most of all, to let our Democratic friends and neighbors in Madison County know that there are more of us than they realize and not to be afraid. Before we left for our last round of door knocking on Saturday, November 2, a man drove up, rolled down his window, and said, “Wow, I didn’t know we had any Democrats in Madison!” I introduced myself, handed him my card, and invited him to come to our meeting.
The headline for Washington Post Opinion Writer Dana Milbank’s (now a Rappahannock County resident) Friday column was “Retreat Is Not An Option.” It’s not. Rest, reflect, and regroup. We fight on.