Thanks to that royal D-bag, Phillip Puckett.
RICHMOND — Republican A. Benton Chafin Jr. won a state Senate seat Tuesday that secured GOP control of the General Assembly, dimming Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s legislative prospects and erasing the last vestige of blue from Southwest Virginia.
Chafin, a freshman state delegate, easily defeated Democrat Mike Hymes to fill the Senate seat that Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell) abruptly resigned in June. The nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) called the race shortly before 8 p.m.
The race — potentially the most expensive state Senate contest in Virginia history — was one of four special elections statewide Tuesday. Voters in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads chose Democratic delegates for two empty House seats. And in central Virginia, a town council race put the commonwealth’s new voter identification rules to their first test.
The Senate election was the most important of the day given its impact on Richmond’s upper chamber. Republicans already dominate the House, so the GOP victory in the Senate put the General Assembly fully in the hands of a party that opposes the Democratic governor’s top policy aims.
Time to start counting the anti-abortion bills. Terry McAuliffe, get your veto pen out. Rocky roads ahead.
Little attention was paid up here in Northern Virginia to this critical special election. The state Democrats sure didn’t do their job on this one. I didn’t see one ad, I didn’t get one piece of mail regarding this election. Are the Democrats broke?
The only hope the Democrats have is to pick up a couple of seats in the election Nov. 2015 election. Think that will happen? If I were a betting kind of lady, I would say no.
Just curious, but if the special elections were in SWVA, Hampton, and Arlington, why would you expect to get mailers, and which VA Senate and HOD seats do you think will switch parties this November, especially when the next state general election isn’t until 2015?
does D-bag stand for Democrat-bag?
Want to explain what one of those is?
@Steve Thomas
To pour money into the election?????
Steve, you are right. I have to go fix that re Nov. 4. Sometimes it all runs together.
Hell, I get mail over elections in Wisconsin….
Moon,
Did you see the article about a woman in Ireland that was denied an abortion even though she was dealing with serious psychiatric problems, she then went on a hunger strike, was force fed, then forced to undergo a c/section at 25 weeks.
Yeah, let’s see how denying abortion to women works out.
Elena,
Did you see the articles about Assyrian and Chaldean Christians being forced to convert to Islam, or face beheading? Did you see the articles about young women and girls having their genitals mutilated, and being forced to marry Jihadi’s?
Yeah, let’s see how the Federal government denying religious freedom to employers works out.
I lost the segue here. Afraid I don’t see the connection between people being forced into Islam.
I also don’t know of a single corporation that goes to church or has a religion. Perhaps I just don’t run in large enough circles.
“Did you see the article about a woman in Ireland that was denied an abortion ”
“Ireland”
“Ireland”
I used my example of events going on in the Middle East as a comparison to Elena’s example of something going on in Ireland. Ireland…a country that has outlawed abortion except in the most narrow of circumstances. How this is germane to a discussion regarding the current make-up of the Virginia State Senate… is about as relevant as is the price of eggs in Taiwan, or the case of religious genocide in the middle east.
That’s my segue. I don’t see a connection between the electoral results in Virginia, and the state of abortion rights in Ireland…
Thank you for spelling it out. I hadn’t seen the article. I believe Elena and I both see the last hold out of protecting abortion rights in Virginia to be in the Senate. Past tense. Of course, Colgan pretty much gave that all away.
I perhaps segued in my brain.
I also don’t see having to provide contraception as a violation of religious freedom. Now, if someone were required to USE contraception, I would agree 100%. Provide and use are 2 different things.
I am still rather surprised that there wasn’t more outreach across the state over the special election. Usually eevery special interest in the world is emailing me or direct mailing for $$$$. Perhaps its because I never send $$$$ and I have been removed.
“I also don’t see having to provide contraception as a violation of religious freedom.”
As we saw in the Hobby Lobby case, SCOTUS seemed to think forcing a company to pay for contraception via the employer contribution was, in certain circumstances, a violation of the religious freedoms of the owners of “closely held” companies. Now I won’t try to argue the infallibility of the wisdom of the SCOTUS, as I disagree with many of the decisions, such as upholding the ACA mandate…as a “tax”. You win some, and you lose some. Regardless, I don’t think the abortion restrictions will all of a sudden start flying out of the legislature. The governor has a veto, and GOP control of the Senate is not such that vetoes can easily be overridden. Sure, the pro-life segments will try, but I doubt there will be much change in the current status quo. One thing I am quite happy about: while I don’t see a huge expansion of gun-rights, any new gun-control is pretty much finished, and Medicaid expansion is D.O.A.
I m not happy about the Medicaid expansion being DOA. I know people who need it and it isn’t there. Healthy Virginians saves the Commonwealth money in the long run.
I hope you are right about the abortion restrictions. I would love a year where we could not have to deal with that. I think many of us would prefer to look at issues that Virginians face every day.
“I hope you are right about the abortion restrictions. I would love a year where we could not have to deal with that.”
I think we are at or near the point, with regard to the abortion issue, where the restrictions have hit the maximum of public support, and expansion has also. Sort of a policy equilibrium. Same on gun-rights.
“I think many of us would prefer to look at issues that Virginians face every day.”
Well, there’s still those pesky Irish to contend with. We could focus on them.
The idea of assigning religious beliefs to corporations obviously defies common sense and is only possible because of the extremist majority on the Supreme Court. Besides, the corporations are paying for contraception no matter what, because compensation covers the costs. Whether that compensation is in the form of health benefits or pay, the money comes from the companies. Maybe the extremists on the court can legislate from the bench again and require women to prove that the money to pay for contraception or abortion doesn’t come from their paycheck!
I’m still waiting to hear a viable argument for not expanding Medicaid in Virginia. It’s unconscionable that many Virginians have to wait for a truck to come by once a year for health care. People are dying because they don’t get preventative care, and only politics and resistance to anything Obama promotes are standing in the way of them getting help. It’s disgusting.
It IS disgusting.
The only reason I have heard is “you can’t count on the feds to pay for what they said they would pay for.”
Of course, I can’t think of a time when they haven’t paid as promised.
@middleman
I gave you one.
You don’t find it to be “viable.”
@Moon-howler
No…the reason is that the feds have stated that they will only pay for most of the increase for a limited amount of time. After that, the state has to take up the costs.
We cannot afford it.
Also, the GOP delegates and senators have requested an audit of the program and have been refused.
If we can’t account for the money now….why give it MORE money.
We can’t account for the money? What does THAT mean?
We can’t afford not to do it. When you have 400,000 uninsured Virginians, do you really think that saves money? Get serious.
Yes, the feds pay for 2-3 years at 100% then they pay at 90% after that. Hopefully we can save the money to pay the 10% from what we aren’t paying in the first years.
You are applying bozo economics to this.
The delegates have requested an audit of the federal program? Were they going to pay for it? What is their point?
Cargo, the reason I don’t find your “argument” to be viable is because it isn’t viable by any reasonable standard, as Moon details above. You got nuthin, buddy.
There actually HAS been an audit of Medicaid in Virginia- 63 of them since 2002 to be exact. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission just did an audit in 2012, recommending a number of changes. I didn’t see the R’s jump on any effort then to “account for the money.”
As for “affording” it, I wonder if the state would be in a billion-dollar hole right now if we had taken the free federal money. I doubt it.
Again, we have not heard ANY reasonable argument against expanding Medicaid in Virginia and helping our long-suffering fellow Virginians. There’s just nowhere to hide.
Standing ovation.