What a Sanders Nomination Would Mean for Virginia Democrats

Virginia will play an important role in choosing who the Democrats nominate to take on Donald Trump. And with the right person at the top of the ticket, Virginia Democrats could win the commonwealth’s 13 Electoral College votes and expand on recent gains in U.S. House races. That candidate is not Bernie Sanders, whose self-described “democratic socialist” ideas could move Virginia from a safely Democratic state back onto the battleground map. Sanders has not only promoted, but actually introduced legislation that would ban certain industries and eliminate thousands of Virginians’ jobs. There’s a reason why Donald Trump calls Sanders his “ideal Democratic opponent.”

Sanders’ Socialism Will Lose to Trump

Sanders self-identifies as a democratic socialist. He has said on camera, “Of course, I’m a socialist.”

• Socialism is viewed unfavorably by 58% of Americans.
• 53% of voters said they would not vote for a socialist candidate for President, which was the only characteristic that a majority of Americans said they would oppose in a candidate for President.
• His far-left plans would double the size of the government. Last month, he refused to say how he’d raise taxes to pay for it, and his recent plans fall trillions and trillions of dollars short.

Sanders’ Health Care Plan is Bad for Virginia and Will Lose to Trump

Sanders introduced legislation that would ban all private health insurance.

• 58% of Americans would oppose a national Medicare for All plan if it eliminated private health insurance.
• 9,904 Virginians were employed in private health insurance jobs in 2018.

Sixty percent of Americans would oppose a national Medicare for All plan if it required most Americans to pay more in taxes.

• Sanders’ plan would require at least a 7.5% increase in payroll taxes.
• Sanders’ announced tax increases fall $13.4 trillion short of paying for his health care plan.

Sanders’ Energy Plan is Bad for Virginia and Will Cost Jobs

Sanders has called carbon-free nuclear power a “false solution” and plans to ban all nuclear energy.

• Virginia’s North Anna and Surry nuclear power plants are carbon-free and provide more than 30% of the state’s energy.
• North Anna and Surry nuclear power plants employ 1,800 Virginians and well-paying jobs.

Virginia’s Open Primary Means Republicans Can Vote for Sanders on Super Tuesday

State Republican officials in South Carolina and elsewhere have urged their voters to vote in Democrats’ primaries in an effort to throw the nomination to Bernie Sanders.

Because Virginia has open presidential primaries, Republican voters can vote for Sanders in the Democratic primary here and sabotage the vote.

• Conservative media personality and Virginia voter Hugh Hewitt is choosing to do just that and suggesting others will as well, saying last week on Meet the Press “[B]ecause it’s Virginia, I get to vote in the Democratic primary . . . I’m voting for Bernie Sanders."

Sanders and Down-Ballot Races

Groups aligned with Bernie Sanders, like Our Revolution and Justice Democrats, ran candidates on his playbook in the midterms, and they failed to flip a single U.S. House district from Republican to Democratic in 2018. This is true even in a cycle in which Democrats flipped 43 such seats overall including three in Virginia (net 41 cycle, net 40 election night).

• A 2019 University of Virginia study found that supporting Sanders’ signature Medicare for All policy cost candidates 5-points of support in the 2018 elections.

In 2020, Virginia Democrats should run the playbook that helped them gain seats in 2018: focusing on kitchen table issues that matter to voters, not revolution. Having Sanders at the top of the ticket will make it harder to appeal to the coalition that delivered a blue wave in the midterms.

Conclusion

Sanders’ extremist policies could move Virginia from a safely Democratic state back onto the battleground map. If Democrats want to beat Trump in Virginia and across the country, and build on the successes they saw in the 2018 election, they must think wisely about who is representing them at the top of the ticket.