Not much electoral drama in Warren County – not so statewide

Above, Tony Carter, right, may be looking for an opponent in first of these Royal Examiner file photos; below, Archie Fox, left, may be trying to develop a campaign strategy – oh wait, he doesn’t need one, he doesn’t have an opponent either. (additional candidate photos will be added as become available)

While there won’t be much drama attached to local elections in Warren County tomorrow – both the Happy Creek and Fork District board of supervisor (Tony Carter, Archie Fox, respectively) and school board (James Wells, Catherine Bower) incumbents are running unopposed with no write-in challenges mounted – statewide that is far from the case.

Running to succeed Terry McAuliffe as governor, Democratic Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and Republican Edward Gillespie have been running a neck and neck race according to pollsters.  Also highly contested are expected to be the Lieutenant Governor race between Justin Fairfax (D) and Jill Vogel (R) and the attorney general’s race between Republican challenger John Adams and incumbent Democrat Mark Herring.

Chris Collins, left, gets input on Town legislative priorities at a Front Royal Town Council work session in July.

As for Warren County’s trio of incumbent state house Republicans – only one of whom seems to know he represents a part of the county (Chris Collins) – two of three are facing Democratic challengers.  The northside 29^th’s Collins faces Casey Turben; the eastside 18^th’s Michael Webert is challenged by Democrat Tristan Shields and the Green Party’s Wilton King; while Todd Gilbert is unopposed in the western, Shenandoah County-based 15^th.  All 100 of Virginia’s House of Delegate seats are up for grabs.  With Republicans controlling the last state redistricting, Democrats currently hold only 34 of those 100 seats.

The nation’s eyes are on Virginia – particularly its governor’s and House races – as a potential indicator for the coming 2018 mid-term congressional elections.

With Democrats taking three of the last four governor’s races: Mark Warner (D, 2002-06), Tim Kaine (D-2006-10), Bob McDonnell (R-2010-14) and Terry McAuliffe (D-2014-18) and Virginia being the only southern state to go for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, ABC and other news outlets have reported large amounts of money being funneled into the Gillespie campaign from out of state in an attempt to turn that tide in the run up to the 2018 mid-terms.

While President Trump hasn’t campaigned in the commonwealth for Gillespie, Vice President Pence has.  And Trump has tweeted his support of Gillespie, lauding his campaign stances against “the MS-13 killer gangs and sanctuary cities” concluding “Vote Ed Gillespie!”

Above, Ed Gillespie stumping in Warren County in September; below, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam, the current Lt. Governor.

The Northam-Gillespie race started off quietly but in its final weeks turned ugly as Gillespie ran attack ads claiming Northam went easy on criminals, particularly sex offenders in the restoration of their rights.  It was a charge the former Army doctor and VMI graduate Northam called false in his own response ads.  Northam’s campaign then responded with its own attack ad showing minority children being chased by a pickup truck with Gillespie and Confederate flag bumper stickers.  Attacked by Republicans, the Northam campaign defended the ad sponsored by the “Latino Victory Fund” as an indicator of the fear level in minority communities of a Gillespie/Republican governorship.

Batten down the hatches, it’s Election Day 2017.