Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Virginia and New Jersey Voters Like Their Trumpism Without Trump

While holding the former president at arm’s length, candidates won support by parroting his anti-institutional, us-versus-them message.

November 4, 2021 at 11:00 AM UTC

By Timothy L. O'Brien

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

Trumpism loomed over the New Jersey governor’s race.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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Surprise! Trumpism doesn’t need Donald Trump as its ambassador in order to thrive. Voters in in Virginia and New Jersey have just made that abundantly clear.

Republican gubernatorial candidates in both states kept the former president at a distance, while making use of his political playbook to score a victory in blue-ish Virginia and engineer a nail-biter in deep blue New Jersey. By giving Trumpism a gentler guise, they’ve taught Republicans everywhere powerful, divisive strategies to road-test in next year’s midterm elections — and to perfect in time for the 2024 presidential race.