November 6, 2019--VA & KY

The big takeaway from yesterday's elections in Virginia and Kentucky, especially KY, is that a goodly percentage of Trump voters were comfortable crossing party lines to vote for Democratic candidates.

Up to this point progressives and independent-minded voters wondered if that was possible. Many saw Trump people as a obdurate cult who would do anything their leader asked of them. In Kentucky yesterday this meant voting for the Republican who was unpopular. Trump made a special trip to KY the night before the election to fire up his followers.

But what did they do in a state that went for Trump in 2016 by 30 points? Enough voted for the Democrat, Andy Beshear, who, as a result, won in a squeaker.

A version of the same thing occurred in Virginia.

These results should not be taken for granted. To defeat Trump, particularly with admittedly weak presidential candidates, Democrats and independent voters will have to work hard, very hard.

But yesterday demonstrated, more voters than assumed are up for grabs.

My hope is that Mitch McConnell had a sleepless night. Wouldn't it be delicious if in 2020 Mitch . . . ?