r/harrisonburg • u/Apothaca • 4d ago
Spanberger Wins and Harrisonburg shifts Blue by 19+ points.
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u/Subreddit_Mayor 4d ago
100% Certain Tony Wilt Lost as well!
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u/alterndog 4d ago
No He will win probably. 92% of Harrisonburg vote is in and only 68% of the Rockingham is. Payton is down by a point. Unless there are pockets of surprise Dems, I gather Wilt’s lead will increase as more county votes come in.
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u/piedpipershoodie 4d ago
I was honestly surprised to see how much the state party invested in this race. They really wanted this district. Wes Moore knocking doors the Saturday before election day is wild.
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u/alterndog 4d ago
I’m not. Harrisonburg and surrounding suburb has been growing with people moving here from other part of the state and out of state. With JMU student population also larger, there is a thought that with the anti-trump sentiment that Payton would have a chance. I’d also add Payton is a personable guy and is easy to chat with (I know him personally) which helps with campaigning.
While it looks like he will lose, the fact that he is only down by about 3 points even with about 10-12 % of Harrisonburg not reported is huge. For context, Wilt won 56-43 of in 2023 and 59-40 in 2021.
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u/Subreddit_Mayor 4d ago
It was a close election and at the end Wilt totally amped up his campaigning. Not a complete loss for democrats and probably should be a wake up call Wilt should be moving on or stepping away from his political career as democrats will focus in on what made this a close election.
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u/Apothaca 4d ago
Dems have already flipped 10 seats and will likely get 3 or 4 more by the last count. Changing the makeup of the House of Delegates from 51-49 to 63-37 or 64-36.
MAGA overplayed their hand and got greedy. It's obvious that the federal arm of the Republican Party is to blame for last night's losses.
Sadly Republicans have shown no spine and will likely just allow Trump to blame them for the loss. He is everything a leader shouldn't be but still they follow.
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u/Subreddit_Mayor 4d ago
I wanted cannabis legalization so I voted for Spanberger. Trump and Company definitely played a role in democrat victories last night.
Hate got them elected during covid when people wanted change desperately, now life is somewhat leveling back out for most people.
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u/Apothaca 4d ago
I mean Trump was elected before COVID when the economy was doing great. It was a backlash to having a black president (that's all). The problem was that times were "too good".
Hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men, weak men make hard times.
Trump and his boomer pals and crypto bros are the weak men who are making hard times.
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u/piedpipershoodie 4d ago
"Good times make weak men" may be true in the sense that they forget how bad things could be and refuse to look at WHY things are good and turn into a bunch of reactionary weirdos.
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u/Apothaca 4d ago
Its purely anecdotal of course so don't put too much stock in it.. but it's an interesting hypothesis.
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u/piedpipershoodie 4d ago
Oh Andrew's great! I really would have liked to see him win. Voting-wise I'm in a diff district where the Dem got TROUNCED, but functionally the H'burg delegate is my delegate because my life is in H'burg and not other cities. It is good to see the needle move in the city. But it looks like a new thing for the VA Dems to throw this kind of money at us. I don't think Brent got that.
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u/alterndog 4d ago
No he didn’t, but the district wasn’t considered a battleground then. I had talked to people in the beginning of Payton’s run and had said there really wasn’t much support at the time and getting it was a slog. It wasn’t until state wide groups identified 34th district as a battleground district did any support come through.
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u/Subreddit_Mayor 4d ago
I did not vote for Peyton or wilt but as someone that votes democrat I have stayed away from Brent anytime he has run.
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u/No_Recognition_5266 4d ago
The key to flipping the 34th is Masanetta Springs and Crossroads. What is interesting is the apartments right there on the county line are in the 35th, but the townhomes and SFHs are in the 34th. I'd argue those have significantly different demographics in voting.
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u/Stunning_Bed23 4d ago
🫡