Trump-Supporting, Concern-Trolling Former VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) Claims That Bobby Scott Would Be “DEMOCRATS WORST NIGHTMARE” for Governor Next Year, Would Give Winsome Sears a Shot at Winning

See below for some “analysis” (in air quotes, because really, it’s more “concern trolling”) by Trump-supporting conservative Republican, former Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling.  Recall that Bolling back in August wrote that he didn’t think Winsome Sears could be competitive against Rep. Abigail Spanberger, and that back in April, he wrote that Spanberger “is an outstanding candidate” who “none of the prospective Republican candidates will be able to compete with.”

So now, Bolling’s arguing that if Spanberger – who he says is “viewed as a more moderate Democrat” isn’t the nominee, but that if Rep. Bobby Scott – who Bolling claims is a “true liberal believer” with appeal to the “far left wing of the Democratic Party” – IS the nominee, that Winsome Sears would be the “true winner,” as the governor’s race would be “more competitive” with Bobby Scott as the Democratic nominee as opposed to Abigail Spanberger.

Is there any truth to any of this?  First of all, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, it turns out that both Spanberger and Scott have a 100% “Biden Score” (how often the member votes in line with Biden’s position). And according to Progressive Punch,  Abigail Spanberger has a lifetime 88.5% progressive score, compared to Bobby Scott’s 92.89% (although on “crucial votes,” Abigail Spanberger’s at 74.1% compared to Scott’s 87.0%, so Bobby Scott’s definitely more progressive by that measure). So…yes, Bobby Scott does appear to be more progressive than Abigail Spanberger in terms of their voting records, but not by a huge amount, and also consider that Bobby Scott’s district is deep-blue, while Spanberger’s is purple.

Second, Bolling’s claim that Spanberger “does not sit well with the far left wing of the Democratic Party” seems kinda odd for a number of reasons. For starters, is there even a significant “far left wing of the Democratic Party” in Virginia? Like, what are we talking about here, communists or something? If so, there are basically none of those. The fact is, of the two major parties in America, only ONE of them – the Republican Party – is an extremist party (far-right in the Republicans’ case), while the other – the Democratic Party – is overwhelmingly in the center or center-left, if you look at polling on where the parties stand on the issues, etc.

But more to the point, the main people (e.g., State Sen. Louise Lucas) advocating for Bobby Scott don’t seem to be claiming that he’s far left at all (and of course he isn’t!), but that Spanberger supposedly hasn’t had sufficient “outreach to the Black community,” and also worries about electability (e.g., in this Punchbowl News story the other day, it claims that “Several senior Virginia Democrats expressed concerns with Spanberger’s ability to excite Black voters in the state” and that “Sears could peel off Black voters from Democrats.” So it doesn’t seem to be about ideology, particularly, but about electability and ability to excite the Democratic “base,” particularly African-American votes. So it’s fascinating – and revealing – that Bolling conflates all this, basically arguing that appealing to Black voters means going to the “far left wing.” Kinda like how when Barack Obama – a moderate/centrist Democrat to his core – was president, Republicans kept claiming he was a Marxist, etc. Gee, wonder why???

Anyway, what do you think of Bolling’s argument that nominating Rep. Bobby Scott for governor would be “DEMOCRATS WORST NIGHTMARE” in 2025? For the record, I think we can have a legitimate, serious argument/discussion about whether Abigail Spanberger or Bobby Scott would be the strongest Democratic candidate next year (for the record, I lean heavily towards Abigail Spanberger as the strongest candidate, simply based on the fact that she’s won multiple VERY tough elections, raised tons of money, etc. while Bobby Scott hasn’t had to run a competitive race in his deep-blue district in many years, if ever), would make the best governor (either Spanberger or Scott would be excellent, IMHO), etc., but Bolling’s Facebook post definitely is NOT a serious argument/discussion – just “concern trolling” by a Trump-supporting conservative Republican.