I planned on writing a detailed post about Tuesday's election results in Virginia with voter statistics, exit poll data, and more. While I still have a few notes about the results below, this tweet by Jerry Falwell Jr. deserves its own post.
There are certainly some cultural and economic differences between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state. The proximity to Washington gives Northern Virginia a much more diverse population with residents from all over the world, and, as my child care bills can prove, a higher cost of living than the rest of Virginia. For example, I think I once read that there are 70 languages spoken at home for kids at my son's public elementary school.
Although I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and will always consider myself a Pittsburgher, I've now lived in Virginia (specifically Northern Virginia) for 16 years, nearly as long as I lived in Pittsburgh. My children were all born in Virginia. I pay local and state taxes in Virginia. I have a (nominal) position on the PTA board and volunteer at Celebrate Fairfax each year. I also coached my son's community soccer team and been a referee for youth soccer across Northern Virginia for well over a decade. I am a member of a synagogue, root for the George Mason University basketball team, and have Virginia 529 plans for my kids. Sure, I would like to do more in the community, particularly volunteering, but I have limited time with three young kids and a job. My point is that I'm a Virginian and you have no right, Mr. Falwell, to think that I'm not based on the area of Virginia where I live.
So are people in Northern Virginia not Virginians because there may be differing political viewpoints? Falwell must know that the majority of money to fund and govern the state comes from Northern Virginia, right? Let's go back in history a bit. There have been 8 presidents from Virginia. Perhaps Falwell heard of one of them named George Washington who lived much of his life at Mount Vernon located in Alexandria, part of Northern Virginia.
You know what else is in Northern Virginia? Arlington National Cemetery, a hallowed place to honor and remember those who served our country. Falwell may have also forgotten that residents of Northern Virginia lost their lives on 9-11 at the Pentagon.
I guess in Falwell's mind, real Virginians need
millions of dollars to get their schools out of debt. And you're going to tell me that none of the contributions came from people in Northern Virginia? I'm sure real Virginians also get life insurance payouts of $34 million when their fathers pass away to save their school.
Maybe I'm being too hard on Falwell. As someone from a religious family, perhaps he was devastated by the recent Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooting and finally decided that there needs to be some gun control measures in this country. Due to this stance, maybe he wants the NRA, headquartered in Fairfax in Northern Virginia, to disassociate itself from the governance of Virginia. In that case, my apologies to Mr. Falwell.
Or maybe Falwell decided that it is unfair that nearly 680,000 residents of Washington DC have no representation in Congress and feels like the best way for this to occur is to have Northern Virginia merge with DC. It's not practical and there's no interest from either side to make this happen, but maybe Falwell is trying to bring some attention to this injustice.
Probably not. As someone from a religious family and the leader of an institute of higher education, Falwell should set an example of working together, not helping to spread divisiveness.
Two more election notes:
1. Arguably the biggest election result was Danica Roem becoming the
first openly transgender person elected and seated in a U.S. statehouse. She defeated incumbent Bob Marshall who once referred to himself as the Chief Homophobe. He also introduced a "bathroom bill" prohibiting transgender people from accessing spaces that don't match their biological sex at birth. Roem was asked to comment on Marshall after her win and had an awesome response. "I don't attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now."
While Roem out-fundraised Marshall, all politics is local. Roem canvassed neighborhoods, attended any community event she could, and focused on the most important topic in the community: traffic. Meanwhile, Marshall refused to debate Roem and referred to Roem as "he" or "him" throughout the campaign.
2. When I dropped off my oldest son at school, someone running for delegate was outside the school. I awkwardly told her good luck but that I couldn't vote for her since I live in a different district. When I picked up my son 10 hours later, she was still there. I commented on her dedication being out there all day in cold weather. I was happy to see she won.
Falwell photo from WSET; Roem photo from her Twitter page.
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