The outcome of last week’s state legislative elections in Virginia was a major disappointment for Republicans. Not only did Democrats maintain control of the Senate; they also took control of the House of Delegates, effectively stymying GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s conservative agenda for the remainder of his term.
Despite last week’s electoral defeats, there was, however, one significant development that Republicans throughout the country should take heed of if they want to remain competitive in future elections.
In the months leading up to the Nov. 7 contest, Youngkin, along with organizations such as the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) and Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), made a major push for GOP voters to cast their ballots early prior to Election Day. RPV Chair Rich Anderson previously told The Federalist that the initiative represented a “cultural shift for us as a party” and emphasized how Republicans can’t afford to “go into our elections down thousands of votes.”
While Virginia Republicans ultimately didn’t come out on top in last week’s elections, their emphasis on absentee and in-person early voting (AB/EV) appears to have won them several pivotal races and limited what could have been much larger Democrat majorities in the General Assembly.
According to a Nov. 9 press release, the RSLC and Virginia Republicans’ push for EV/AB “secured 26% of [the former’s] target universe turnout goal heading into Election Day and converted twice as many low-propensity voters as [it] had set out to do.” Overall, these efforts “increased
