The elections will determine whether Democrats can hold on in the state’s increasingly conservative rural pockets, and whether the GOP can regain any ground in places where opposition to Donald Trump drove Republicans from office.
RICHMOND, Va. — Most of the battleground districts in this fall's critical elections for the Virginia House of Delegates are in the state's cities and suburbs, but Republicans are also targeting something of a rare breed in Virginia politics: Democrats who represent mostly rural districts.
Democrats hold a 55-45 majority in the House, but Republicans are going after the seats of 13 potentially vulnerable Democrats, including some in rural districts and others in the suburbs of northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. Republicans cite Tyler's membership in the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which called for numerous police reforms after Floyd's death, including “divesting from large law enforcement budgets & investing more in communities,” which the GOP committee PAC says amounts to defunding the police.
Wachsmann says the “extreme liberal agenda” of the Democratic Party threatens the rural way of life in Southside Virginia, an area that stretches from south of Richmond to the North Carolina border and includes expansive tracts of open land, but also encompasses the cities of Emporia and Franklin. “He essentially was vilifying our police officers, and I just thought that it was so wrong,” Ballard said.