Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Virginia Win Soothes Democrats and Makes GOP Sweat

Trumpist tactics weren't enough to overcome disapproval of the president in the Washington suburbs.

November 8, 2017 at 3:25 AM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Sighs of relief.
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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A centrist Democrat's comfortable victory Tuesday in the Virginia gubernatorial election means a lot to a down-and-out party struggling to regain national power after a disastrous 2016. And it should throw a scare into Republicans worried that public disapproval of President Donald Trump could foil efforts to hold on to control of both houses of Congress next year.

The victory of Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam overcame a Republican challenge modeled on Trump's race-baiting tactics during his 2016 presidential run. Northam defeated Ed Gillespie, a Republican lobbyist and former national party chairman who adopted Trump’s anti-immigrant nationalism in an effort to excite Republican stalwarts unmoved by his establishment background and message. Gillespie defended Confederate monuments in the state that has more of them than any other, and assailed professional football players who kneel during the national anthem.