It’s evident that 2021 is an electoral year in Virginia, as you drive down this beautiful stretch of Crestwood Drive. However, an uninformed visitor could believe Election Day is still a few months away…or maybe it was a few months ago.
It doesn’t appear a razor-thin race for governorship in an election with major national significance is down to the wire.
Who knows where this will go?
Here are a handful of lawn signs for Terry McAuliffe, a liberal. There are a few placards for Republican Glenn Youngkin over there. However, no declared choice is currently leading the turf war on this block by a significant margin.
If McAuliffe, a candidate seeking re-election, loses in a county that President Biden carried by ten points a year ago — and that appears to be a strong possibility — the communal shoulder shrug of Crestwood Drive will be one hint as to what went wrong.
The story of one modest suburban block can help us understand the story of an increasingly huge and diversified state.
This election isn’t about the career politicians. It’s about us.
This is our moment, Virginia. pic.twitter.com/roFxwPi2pW
— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) October 29, 2021
This is because this section of Crestwood Drive isn’t like any other. Former White House Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf owns one of the homes.
His dissatisfied neighbors set the street on fire in a riotous display of progressive action a year ago. Many homes had multiple enormous posters promoting Joe Biden, Black Lives Matter, and a variety of liberal issues.
Opposite Wolf’s house, there was a neighborhood procession and gathering to protest Trump and the Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to repress social disturbance in Portland, Oregon.
Political sidewalk theater in a neighborhood where the elementary theater is the norm was unusual enough to warrant a piece in the Washington Post (no small effort given the Post’s scant and generally unresponsive metro reporting).
Democrats can’t spark any passion for their cause
There is little indication McAuliffe’s efforts to rekindle the aroused emotions of 2020 by casting Youngkin as Donald Trump 2.0 is working a year later. Many residents appear to be exhausted and yearning to return to a time when politics was not so preoccupied.
Republicans in Virginia better not let the Dems go into the night on election night for this governor’s race “counting” votes at 3 am like they did to Trump.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) October 28, 2021
Let’s be honest about anecdotal reporting’s limitations. A few days of door-knocking in one area in a city where Democrats normally win handily isn’t very scientific.
The somber atmosphere on Crestwood, on the other hand, is compatible with other data that indicates why Democrats are concerned. McAuliffe’s lead has reduced to a virtual tie, according to state surveys.
Biden’s weakening popularity in the state (combined with partisan fighting in Washington) has created a disadvantage for him, according to the Democrat, who recently warned leaders in both parties to “get their act straight.”
Virginia is still a competitive purple state, as seen by this year’s governor election.
