3 reasons to #flipVAblue
This November, all 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates will be up for grabs. Our community is working hard to win key districts and flip Virginia blue. But if you’re from New York or Colorado or Hawaii, you might be thinking: how will flipping Virginia affect my life? Why should I put my money and time here, instead of somewhere closer to home? Does my $5 even make a difference? Why should I flip Virginia?
Below, we give you some answers.
Why should I flip Virginia?
1. Because we’re all interconnected.
Virginia has some of the loosest gun laws in the country — and those hundreds of thousands of easily purchased handguns and semiautomatic weapons don’t just stay in Virginia. They cross state borders. They end up in New York and Illinois and California, where they endanger all of us.
Coal ash from Virginia’s coal-burning power plants has been found to contaminate drinking water and air with toxic chemicals like lead, arsenic, and mercury. Air and water don’t recognize borders — so those same chemicals could make their way to other states and regions.
Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order to reduce carbon emissions and promote clean energy in Virginia, but Republicans promise to fight his plan in the courts and the state legislature. We can’t rely on Trump and the EPA to protect our planet’s climate, so we need to look to the states.
Bad laws passed by Virginia’s Republican state legislature affect our entire country.
2. Because state politics create the foundation for national politics.
The decisions that state politicians make can change the outcomes of presidential and Congressional elections.
State governments control voting laws, and this gives them tremendous power to protect our democracy, or to undermine it. Republican state legislators use two tools — voter suppression and gerrymandering — to swing elections in their own favor.
Virginia’s strict photo ID law may have affected as many as 200,000 voters in the 2014 elections. Laws of this kind suppress turnout among minority and low-income voters, who typically vote for Democrats.
Virginia also offers a prime example of Republican gerrymandering. Over the last 15 years, its district lines have been drawn to benefit Republicans — even though Virginia’s citizens increasingly vote Democrat. (In 2016, Virginians voted for Hillary Clinton by a margin of 5%.)
This corrupt practice helps explain why the House of Delegates is 66% Republican, while a majority of Virginia voters support blue candidates.
Gerrymandering deprives citizens of their electoral voice — and it influences national politics. According to a recent study, Virginia’s gerrymandering has already cost Democrats one US Congressional seat.
We all know how important the 2018 and 2020 elections will be. Our rights, our economy, our climate, our national security are all at risk. Your work in Virginia will directly influence the midterm and general elections. By flipping Virginia and repealing its partisan voting laws, we can pave the way to a smarter, safer, more humane national government.
3. Because it’s the right thing to do.
Virginia deserves a state government that represents its citizens’ interests. A gerrymandered government isn’t democratic, isn’t fair, and isn’t moral. It’s time to make Virginia’s state legislature accountable to the people.
Currently, Virginia has one of the nation’s highest rates of intimate partner gun murders. More people in Virginia are killed by gunfire than by car accidents each year. Virginia has witnessed many mass shootings — including the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. 1 in every 20 people killed in a mass shooting in the US between 2006 and 2015 was killed in Virginia.
86% of Virginians support background checks for all gun purchases — yet the state legislature won’t pass that law. When it comes to gun safety, the NRA has more influence over Virginia’s state government than Virginia’s people do.
Thanks to restrictions passed by the state legislature, women in Virginia have a hard time exercising their reproductive rights—even under circumstances that put their health at risk.
The state legislature has proposed dozens of bills that would further restrict access to reproductive care, including a bill that would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks. Yet the majority of Virginians, like the majority of Americans, oppose banning abortions after 20 weeks.
We can see in Virginia that democracy is truly a matter of life and death. Your work to flip Virginia’s state legislature is urgently, deeply important.
But is it even possible?
Yes. We may not be able to flip Virginia all at once — but we can make meaningful progress during the 2017 elections.
There are 17 state legislative districts in Virginia that voted for Hillary Clinton but still have Republican representatives. These districts are ripe for flipping.
In the past, Democrats haven’t even tried to win in most of Virginia’s districts. 56 out of 100 districts went uncontested by Democrats in the 2015 elections — which means that Republicans won without a fight in the majority of districts.
Things won’t be so easy for the GOP this year. Energized and qualified Democrats are running in 88 districts. Teachers and social workers, veterans and business owners, pastors and nurses, mothers and fathers and community members are throwing themselves into the fight for true political change. Every Democratic candidate has a powerful reason for entering politics — from love of a minority community that’s been targeted by Trump’s hateful policies, to love of foster children who’ve been underserved by the system. Their hearts are in this race. With our support, they can win.
How will we #flipVAblue?
With your help — and the help of all your progressive friends.
In the 17 districts that voted for Hillary, the Democratic voters we need exist — they just don’t know about local elections, or don’t know why they matter. Our challenge is to get out the vote, block by block, voter by voter.
Local elections are cost-effective for donors. Small amounts of money go a long way. Your $5 — or $25, or $100 — helps the candidate spend more time knocking on doors and talking to voters, instead of constantly fundraising. It helps the candidate hire staff who can reach out to voters on social media, by phone, via mailers, and in person.
Most people don’t vote in state and local elections, which means that margins of victory are small. The most organized, most passionate party has a huge advantage.
We can be that most organized, most passionate party — but we need your passionate leadership.
Donate to our priority candidates. Help them hire experienced staff and campaign managers, so they can run efficient campaigns and energize their local communities.
Volunteer for a candidate. You can phone bank remotely, or volunteer in person.
Make Virginia’s elections national news. Educate your network about gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the impact of state politics.
Get your friends involved in the fight to flip Virginia blue. This is our first big opportunity to repair our battered democracy — and your friends won’t want to miss out. Share our Virginia page, our donation page, and this blog post.
We have passion, courage, the love of democracy, and justice on our side. We have excellent candidates who will govern with hope, on behalf of Virginia’s people. All we need now is your strong voice. Join us and flip Virginia.
