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What Kamala Did Before VA Race Now Going Viral: Does This Video Seal the Deal for 2022 and 2024?

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If history is any guide, Vice President Kamala Harris was on to something when she warned at a Terry McAuliffe campaign rally over weekend that what happens in Virginia elections does not stay in Virginia.

In fact, two of the biggest Republican congressional midterm landslides came in circumstances very similar to now.

“What happens in Virginia will in large part determine what happens in 2022, 2024, and on,” Harris told her audience at a McAuliffe rally in Norfolk on Saturday.

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Well, what took place in the Old Dominion appears to have been a clean Republican sweep.

Republican Glenn Youngkin came from behind to upset McAuliffe in the governor’s race.

But Youngkin wasn’t the only GOP candidate to win — the first statewide GOP victories in Virginia in over a decade.

Marine veteran Winsome Sears took the lieutenant governor’s race, becoming the first African-American woman elected to statewide office in the commonwealth’s history.

And GOP candidate Jason Miyares won the attorney general’s contest over Democrat Mark Herring, who was seeking a third term in the top law enforcement job.

Miyares is the son of a Cuban immigrant and will be the first Latino to hold statewide office in Virginia.

The Associated Press exit polling found that Youngkin carried 55 percent of the Latino vote in the commonwealth.  Presumably, down-ballot Republican candidates won similar margins.

In addition to the statewide offices, the GOP is also poised to take back control of the House of Delegates, where the party has already secured 50 seats, with four races still undecided.

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Democrats held a 55 to 45 majority going into the election.

Taken altogether, the GOP had a very good night on Tuesday.

There have been two other times in relatively recent history in which GOP wins in Virginia’s off-year elections preceded a nationwide red wave in the congressional midterms the following year.

In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president giving the Democrats control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.

Democrats proceeded to try to ram through universal, government-controlled health care, which failed.

The 1993 election in Virginia saw Republican George Allen defeat Democrat former state attorney general Mary Sue Terry by nearly 18 percentage points. Both were running to succeed Democratic Gov. Doug Wilder.

Then, as now, it had been over a decade since a GOP candidate had won the governor’s office, The New York Times reported.

What happened the next year in the 1994 midterms was the Republican Revolution, when the GOP took back both the House and the Senate for the first time since the 1950s.

In the House, Republicans netted 54 seats.

Fast forward to 2008. Barack Obama won the presidency, once again giving the Democrats full control in Washington.

They proceeded to pass a nearly $800 billion stimulus bill and geared up to pass Obamacare.

Do. you think Republicans will take back the House and Senate in 2022?

In 2009, Republican Bob McDonnell defeated Democrat Creigh Deeds to become Virginia’s 71st governor, with over 58 percent of the vote.

As with Allen, McDonnell replaced a Democratic governor —  now-Sen. Tim Kaine — who had succeeded now-Democratic Sen. Mark Warner.

In other words, it was not like Virginia was some solid red state that had been electing Republican governors one after the other. The opposite was true. Most have been Democrats over the years.

In fact, McDonnell had been the last Republican elected to lead the commonwealth before Youngkin.

You can guess what happened the year following McDonnell’s win: a Tea Party-fueled rout of Democrats in the midterms with the GOP picking up 63 seats in the House.

Harris was definitely on to something when she observed that what happens in Virginia does not tend to stay in Virginia.

Let’s hope history repeats itself.

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Randy DeSoto has written more than 2,000 articles for The Western Journal since he joined the company in 2015. He is a graduate of West Point and Regent University School of Law. He is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths" and screenwriter of the political documentary "I Want Your Money."
Randy DeSoto is the senior staff writer for The Western Journal. He wrote and was the assistant producer of the documentary film "I Want Your Money" about the perils of Big Government, comparing the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Randy is the author of the book "We Hold These Truths," which addresses how leaders have appealed to beliefs found in the Declaration of Independence at defining moments in our nation's history. He has been published in several political sites and newspapers.

Randy graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a BS in political science and Regent University School of Law with a juris doctorate.
Birthplace
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated dean's list from West Point
Education
United States Military Academy at West Point, Regent University School of Law
Books Written
We Hold These Truths
Professional Memberships
Virginia and Pennsylvania state bars
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Entertainment, Faith




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