This Is What Democracy Looks Like
Today’s paper has a number of interesting stories, but I want to write about this story about the upcoming session of the Virginia General Assembly. In this month’s statewide elections, Virginians voted against an increasingly repressive and unrepresentative GOP and instead elected Democrats to lead both houses of the state legislature. Last session, the Democratic Party led only the State Senate but was able to act as the “brick wall caucus” that prevented the fleece-wearing GOP Governor, Glenn Youngkin, and his allies in the state House from Florida-izing Virginia. Now Democrats will control both houses, and the brick wall will be stronger. But the Democrats are not interested only in stopping Youngkin; they are setting the stage for the 2025 election cycle in the state when they hope to keep both state houses and win the governorship. In 2020-2021, the last time the Democrats held all three offices, Virginia took tremendous strides in the areas of criminal justice, voting rights, and health care. The Democrats won this year on issues of voting rights, same-sex marriage, and reproductive freedom, and they are focused on moving toward their goals in the face of a Governor who is likely to oppose all of them.
The Democrats’ slim majority will not allow them to overcome a gubernatorial veto, but they are working on ways to move their agenda in the face of Youngkin’s objections. This article talks about three issues that they are likely to move as amendments to the Virginia state Constitution:
Removing the so-called marriage amendment from the Constitution – a statement that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Amending the constitution to provide for the automatic restoration of rights for people who’ve paid their debts to society
Amending the constitution to protect women’s reproductive rights
The process of amending the constitution will take several years, but it has the benefit of not including the governor. In Virginia, Constitutional amendments must pass the General Assembly during two legislative sessions with an election in between. The amendments then need approval from Virginia voters to take effect. This means that if both houses pass an amendment this year, they will have to wait until after the statewide 2025 elections to bring it up again. Then it has to go to the voters in the next general election, which will be in 2026. We all know that a lot will happen politically before 2026, but Democrats think that they can ride a continuing Blue Wave to achieve their goals.
The most recent amendment to the state constitution established an independent commission to draw legislative boundaries after the decennial census. This amendment was passed for the first time in 2019 (when the Republicans controlled the legislature) and in 2020 (when the Democrats took over). Then the measure went before the voters in November of 2020, where it was approved. The new redistricting commission drew the new boundaries after the 2020 census, and the resulting maps were given an “A” rating by the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. In the first election based on these new maps, Virginians elected Democrats to the General Assembly.
I want to give credit to the Democrats in the General Assembly for their determination to move this amendment forward even after they won control of both houses for the 2020 session and, now that they controlled the legislature, could have gerrymandered districts in their own favor. They didn’t do that, but stuck to principle and continued to push for this amendment. Imagine that!
The first place I heard the chant “This is what democracy looks like” was at the Women’s March on January 21, 2021. I attended this march with some friends, and it was eye-opening. I know that many of you were there in spirit if not in person, and that others of you participated in sister marches in other cities. The GOP is right to be afraid of voters, I think: they know they are on the wrong side of many issues, and it is hurting them in elections.
Think about this: Republican presidential candidates have received the most popular votes in an election only one time since 1988 – in 2004, when Bush II rode the public unity wave to victory after 9/11.
1992 – Clinton defeated Bush
1996 – Clinton defeated Dole
2000 – Gore received more popular votes than Bush II, but the Supreme Court handed the election victory to Bush while the vote-counting was still going on. Gore conceded defeat for the “good of the country.” Just sayin’.
2004 – Bush II defeated Kerry
2008 – Obama defeated McCain
2012 – Obama defeated Romney
2016 – Clinton received more popular votes that #PO1135809, but lost in the Electoral College
2020 – Biden defeated #PO1135809. No, he really did.
Democrats have not had equal success in the House of Representatives only because of gerrymandering — check out the GOP “Red Map” project if you don’t believe me.
The GOP knows this as well as anyone. But they don’t know how to appeal to the increasingly young, minority, urban, and educated electorate without losing their vaunted “base” of older, white, rural, and less-educated voters. News flash – they won’t be able to win without cheating, as the next few years will see an increase in the numbers of all of the groups that oppose them and a decrease in the number of their supporters.
This is why the GOP is focusing on restricting access to the ballot. This is why they oppose campaign finance reform. They can’t win if more people can vote, and they can’t win unless legislatures (and executives) are in the pockets of their wealthy enablers. That is fundamentally NOT what democracy looks like.
Unfortunately, national politics sucks up all the oxygen in the room. People pay little attention to their state government elections, and even less to local government. But democracy is endangered up and down the ballot, and we have seen the effects of GOP control in the states. Virginia was among several states that continued to turn the tide earlier this month, including the protection of reproductive freedom in Ohio.
We may have worn p***y hats in 2017, but we are not p*****s. We are roaring and will continue. The GOP had best watch out.