No wonder the Commonwealth of Virginia turned more blue

It seems appropriate to pass on Diana Butler Bass' observations on what her Fairfax County suburban DC neighbors did yesterday. They have very good reason to hate the MAGA/Trump regime and they showed it.

Inside the tidy houses on my leafy street, they are ANGRY. They are hurt, furious, mad, distressed, and distraught. Because, in nearly every house on my street, Elon Musk, Russell Vought, Mike Johnson, and Donald Trump came calling — and destroyed their family’s sense of vocation, purpose, and well-being. These nice, middle-class families, committed to things like patriotism and service and the common good, had their work and incomes ripped from them in a fury of gleeful destruction. And the very government that once benefited from their labor, now laughs at their trauma.

The leafy suburbs have been, in effect, one more victim of political cruelty and a revenge crusade.

Some of my neighbors hang out signs. Some go to protests and “No Kings” rallies. But mostly, they are an introverted suburban lot. They protest by voting.

And on Tuesday, they turned out in droves to vote.

They voted against Donald Trump. They voted as if their lives and livelihoods — and those of their neighbors — depended on it. (Because they do.)

And they voted up and down tickets, in nearly every hamlet across the Commonwealth for Democrats. Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General (and yes, he had made some awful mistakes in his political career).

The really surprising thing? The people of Virginia handed the House of Delegates to the Democrats. Right now, it appears that Democrats will win 64 house seats, just shy of creating a Democratic supermajority in state government.

I don’t think the Democrats have won this many seats since the Jim Crow era — and things were very, very different back then (and those Jim Crow Democrats were definitely not good for democracy). 

Awaiting Virginia results (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)

The Washington DC suburbs are not the country. 

But Trump and his Republican enablers have another 12 months largely unhindered by effectual Democratic opposition to tear up the rest of the country as they have these suburbs. Most especially they'll gleefully harm the parts of the country which are the antithesis of MAGA -- racially and ethnically diverse, educated, serious people intent on building a serious future for themselves and their children. 

It will be a struggle. But most of us don't want what MAGA is doing to the country and we intend to take it back.