Feel a little bad for the Republican guy who lost in my district. According to 538, where I live has a +1 Republican lean. And he got smoked 55-45.
Traditionally this is a classically suburban, mainstream GOP district. Ex-Majority leader Eric Cantor before he went insane was a typical candidate. Local kid, went to school at William and Mary, moderate guy, pretty quiet, his wife is a Democrat (and really nice). The last GOP delegate was this guy Loupassi, another local kid, went to St. Christopher then Washington & Lee. Parents own a local restaurant, he is a local attorney. One of the nicer dudes in the GA voted against his party in some LGBTQ issues.
This is the kind of district everyone is watching to see if it will turn against Trump. The last election, Loupassi was unseated by a Dem. THAT wa a big deal. Like I knew people who went to school with Loupassi, their families have always attended the same church. And they voted against him just because he was GOP, even though they still liked him.
So normally, this is a situation of a typical near-urban area becoming increasingly liberal as new people move in and one that rejects the knd of far right shit Trump brought to the table.
Except that the person that unseated him was Dawn Adams, who has proven to be both incompetent and corrupt. She is not that much liked. And she barely won last time.
So what happened? How did she go from barely winning to absolutely crushing her challenger in just two years despite a scandal ridden first term?
Yes, the Dems poured in money and yes she is an incumbent, and yes the area is getting bluer. But that is not what I think happened.
I think what happened is that my district contains a couple of country club area. Like, you don’t see too many places like this anymore. Lots of stone and carefully shaped box woods, every house done up in English manor style, most over $1m. Even young rich lawyer Republicans din’rpt want to live in places like that anymore. Like no one there is under 60, and they all dress like Judge Smails in 2020. Needless to say, those areas are the reddest of red.
I am fairly certain the GOP vote was low because none of those people will vote for a black man. Even if the alternative is a lesbian. We’re talking about a district with a country club that did not admit a black member until 1992. “Sure,” you say, “That’s bad but that was still nearly 30 years ago.” Right, but those same fuckers are still living there, voted for Nixon there, and will die there, probably very soon.
He was a good candidate. Pretty moderate, ran on traditional issues like lowering taxes and helping small business. Ran a positive campaign without any immigration or “They are coming to take your guns” crap.
He got boned because he is black. I feel bad about the racism. But I mean, that’s what he gets for running as a Republican I guess. There are no black Republicans in the General Assembly, and there have not been for 20 years. There have only been two ever. So, I mean, he chose that path. Maybe he learns now that his party is beyond reforming. Honestly, he could have run as a centrist Democrat on that same platform and quite possibly have primaried the incumbent and then cruised to a bipartisan victory.
