Graphic: Virginia House of Delegates Democratic Candidates Are Highly Diverse; Republicans Lagging Waaaaayyy Behind

Check out the following graphic by VPAP showing the diversity – or lack thereof – among the Democratic and Republican candidates (incumbents and non-incumbents) running for Virginia House of Delegates this year.

• Among incumbent House of Delegates members, 45% of Democrats, but just 13% of Republicans, are female – Democrats ahead by greater than 3:1. Also note that Democrats are very close to half the population being female, while Republicans aren’t even close to that. It’s very, very telling.
• Among incumbent House of Delegates members, 44% of Democrats are non-White, compared to just 2% (!) of Republicans. In other words, the Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates look like the diversity of Virginia, while Republicans are overwhelmingly White men. Also, seriously, think about the fact that a major political party in this day and age has 98% of its House of Delegates members being White. How is that even possible? Just spitballing here, but perhaps being the party of Trumpist White nationalism, suppression of minority voting rights, etc. might – just MIGHT – not appear attractive to most Black and Brown people?
• Among incumbent House of Delegates members, 22% of Democrats are under age 40, compared to just 7% of Republicans. In sum, Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates are overwhelmingly older White guys, while Democrats are relatively young and diverse.
• As for House of Delegates non-incumbents, Republicans still lag far behind Democrats in percentage of women (58% for Dems, 29% for Republicans) and non-White candidates (27% for Dems, 14% for Republicans), and are close to even on the percentage under age 40.

Now, it would be one thing if the Republicans’ lack of diversity still somehow resulted in  them advocating for policies that moved Virginia forward. Instead, it’s the exact opposite, with the old White guys in the VA GOP pushing for policies that would harm almost everybody except possibly for wealthy White men. You think those two things (the lack of diversity and the godawful policies) might be connected in some way? Hmmm…