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Hi Friend,
After 26 years, Virginia is finally blue! Last night, Democrats flipped
the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate, winning 53 and 21 seats
in each chamber, respectively.*
[ Our ]Today, we celebrate this monumental victory as well as 13 candidate
wins.** After months of knocking doors, participating in town halls, and
amplifying constituent voices, our candidates have ushered a new era of
government into Virginia. This feat comes two years after the Flippable
community helped eight candidates flip their House of Delegates seats.
Those flips, alongside the other seven seats grassroots organizations
worked to flip blue in 2017, contributed to last night’s victory.
Senator-elect John Bell and supporters celebrating his victory in SD 13.
So what does flipping Virginia blue mean?
This is a win for democracy. For far too long, Virginians’ ability to
fully participate in our democracy has been hindered by onerous voting
restrictions and racially gerrymandered maps. Now that Virginia has a
Democratic trifecta, the General Assembly can repeal the state’s strict
voter ID law; pass pro-democracy measures such as early voting,
vote-by-mail, and automatic voter registration; and implement an
independent redistricting commission.
This is a win for strategic investments in state legislative races. From
developing a two-cycle plan to identifying the most competitive races
where the marginal impact per dollar is higher, our focus has always
centered around targeting intelligently and spending efficiently. To that
end: in 2017, we focused on making inroads in the House of Delegates to
facilitate flipping the chamber—and General Assembly—blue in 2019. (Last
night’s results clearly validate that approach.) And nearly 89% of the
funds raised by the Flippable and Swing Left community for Virginia this
year went to races decided by single-digits margins.
This is a win for the grassroots. Together, the Flippable and Swing Left
community raised more than $863,000, knocked upwards of 88,000 doors, and
wrote over 200,000 get-out-the-vote letters. But we weren’t alone: Sister
District, New Virginia Majority, Progress VA, and countless organizations
worked tirelessly to flip Virginia, and all of our candidates—regardless
of electoral outcome—ran formidable people-powered campaigns.
[2]Swing Left volunteers canvassing for Ghazala Hashmi
Swing Left volunteers canvassing for Senator-elect Ghazala Hashmi last
weekend.
As the oldest continuously operating legislative body in North America,
the Virginia General Assembly occupies a unique space in our political
imagination. It has served as a blueprint for representative government
over the last 400 years, at times capturing the promise of democracy and,
at others, exposing its vulnerabilities. But in 2020, with a Democratic
majority at the helm, the Virginia General Assembly can serve as a model
for strengthening democracy by giving Virginians fair elections and fair
maps that are long overdue. The work is only beginning.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. We couldn’t have done this
without you.
In solidarity,
[3]Catherine Signature
Catherine Vaughan
Co-Founder, Flippable
Chief Strategy Officer, Swing Left
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^* As of 11:00 AM ET.
^** We’re still awaiting final tallies in HD-27 and HD-83.
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