Democrat's big electoral win

I saw a post going around a few weeks ago that reminded us that Democrats are very good at claiming moral victories, and much worse at claiming electoral victories, which is usually true. Last night they outperformed even the most optimistic predictions, sweeping the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races as well as possibly claiming a majority in Virginia's House of Delegates (the race is so close they are relying on absentee and provisional ballots, which could take days to count), and picking up two state senate seats in rural Georgia.

There are a few reasons for this, and it would be impossible to talk about without mentioning the liberal backlash to President Trump's administration and the various policy-based, ethical, and moral failures of that administration. However, I think it's also important to talk about how Democratic candidates responded to demagogic attacks and campaigns from Republican candidates. The Virginia governorship is especially notable here - Ed Gillespie (the Republican candidate) ran a ton of ads attacking Ralph Northam saying that his immigration policies would bring Mexican gangs in and that sanctuary cities are havens of crime (never mind that there are currently no sanctuary cities in Virginia). Northam did an excellent job of making the campaign about economic issues, and pointing out that his opponent was relying so heavily on racial and cultural attacks because he didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Northam's election would improve the economy and healthcare, consistently ranked as the two most important issues for Virginians. It appears economic messaging worked for Northam.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/07/democrats-virginia-new-jersey-election-results-244674