The upcoming election for state governor in Virginia – The Republican candidates – New lawsuits against Powell and Trump – Plans to see relatives – Evening statistics
We will be seeing a gubernatorial election in Virginia this coming November. Virginia for a long time has been accounted a “red” state, but in recent elections the Republicans appear to have believed that Virginia was more-or-less a shoe-in and that any old candidate would do. They have paid heavily for such an assumption. Of the past 10 governors of Virginia, seven have been Democratic. I still have memories of the 2001 election, when Mark Warner had launched his campaign; and the rival whom the Republicans had put forward was Mark Earley. It would have been rank flattery to call Earley a “nonentity.” He was simply a hole in the air. I tended to vote Republican most of the time at that stage; but, even so, I hesitated to cast my ballot for him, and in the end I decided to opt out of voting that year. After the election a friend worriedly asked me whether I had voted for a rabid anti-abortionist, which was a revelation to me – this being the first indication I had received that such a robot-like mediocrity was capable of having any opinions at all.
At all events there will be no shortage of opinions in the upcoming election. The leader among the seven Republican hopefuls is Amanda Chase, who has openly cheered the January 6th insurrectionists as “patriots.” If she indeed becomes the gubernatorial candidate, the Democrats will almost certainly win again. The leaders among the Republican Party here would do well to remember that a significant number of Virginians live in proximity of Washington DC, many of them commuting there; and Trump and the narrative of the “stolen election” does not sit well with them. Chase is the one most openly aligned with the seditionists, but at least three other contenders – Glenn Youngkin, Pete Snyder, and Peter Doran – are all using “voter fraud” as one of the planks on their platforms.
The state government of Wisconsin has filed a suit against Sidney Powell to recover more than $100,000 in legal fees as a result of her failed lawsuit that sought to overturn the state’s presidential results. Governor Tony Evers has filed a similar lawsuit against Donald Trump himself. Whatever the results of these may be, they will at the very least bedevil Powell and Trump while they are struggling with numerous other lawsuits. There is poetic justice that the judicial system that they abused for months on end is now being directed against them.
Tomorrow I go to New York to visit my relatives for the first time in a year. At long last we can gather for my aunt’s 90th birthday, more than eight months past its actual date. The fact that we have all been vaccinated makes this meeting possible. I am still being relatively cautious, driving up rather than using the train and I will be wearing a facemask in public places.
Today’s statistics as of 9:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 130,150,894; # of deaths worldwide: 2,839,510; # of cases U.S.: 31,244,639; # of deaths; U.S.: 566,611.