Can Anyone Even Imagine Virginia Republicans Breaking Ranks Like Montana’s “Nasty Nine” Republican State Senators?

There was a time, not that long ago, when you’d see stuff like this in Virginia.

So yeah, in Montana, Republicans control the State Senate by a near supermajority of 32-18, since “nine Republican state senators began breaking with their caucus on key votes, siding with the 18 Democrats in the 50-person chamber,” the results has been “a 27-person majority that has all but locked Republican leaders out of power.” The results?

“Some or all of the Nine, as the Republican defectors are known, have voted with Democrats to reauthorize a Medicaid expansion, establish a child tax credit, increase access to maternal health care and pass the state budget. They have helped block bills that would have weakened labor unions, made state judicial elections more partisan and established an unlimited hunting season on wolves.

On Wednesday, the session’s final day, they again broke with their party, pushing through a property tax cut to assist residents struggling with soaring home values.”

Amazing. And really almost unthinkable at this point, in the far-right-extremist, MAGA/Trumpified Republican Party. The thing is, though, it’s important to remember that it hasn’t always been like this. Instead, it wasn’t that long ago that we saw – both nationally and in the states, including Virginia – Republicans voting with Democrats for major legislation. For instance:

• Here in Virginia, in 2004, Republican State Sen. John H. Chichester was busy “teaming up with Democratic Gov. Mark Warner to hike taxes $1.2 billion,” “shepherding the first major tax increase in Virginia in nearly 40 years.” But it wasn’t just Chichester (whose own bill was actually “much more ambitious than Warner’s, seeking $3.8 billion in new revenues over two years (as opposed to the governor’s $1.1 billion)”), as there were “14 other GOP senators and 19 GOP delegates who voted for the tax package,” which among other things ” bumped up the state’s sales tax by half a penny, put the brakes on a rollback of a celebrated car tax, and removed the state’s distinction as having the lowest cigarette tax in the country at 2.5 cents a pack.” This was, of course, a major accomplishment, with Virginia “enjoy[ing] a $1 billion surplus” and “maintaining its cherished AAA bond rating from Wall Street,” and with Mark Warner leaving office with approval ratings in the stratosphere (70%-80%). In the end, “Republican leaders and the entire Democratic [State Senate] minority joined forces to pass the tax bill by 31 to 8,” and 52-45 in the overwhelmingly (61-37) Republican-controlled House of Delegates. Can anyone even IMAGINE such a thing happening today?!? I mean, would ANY Republicans vote for such a bill, let alone a slew of Republicans? Nope.
• Nationally, in 2013, the US Senate passed the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, “to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes,” by whopping 68-32 margin. Believe it or not, this bill was supported by Republicans like Lindsey Graham (once a Never Trumper, now a Trump lapdog), Marco Rubio (now supporting and promoting Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant policies, including lawless deportations to an El Salvadoran torture prison). In stark contrast, last year – under pressure from Trump – Senate Republicans overwhelmingly voted against a very tough immigration bill, because the Trump campaign wanted to keep this as an issue for the campaign, rather than actually work to solve the problem. Pre-Trump, of course, there was still the “Tea Party” keeping the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill from passing the US House, but at least it passed the US Senate (by a more-than-2:1 margin), something almost inconceivable today.
• Here in Virginia, as recently as 2018, the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and State Senate voted to expand Medicaid, with the House voting 67-31 in favor and with “four [Senate] Republicans — Ben Chafin, Senate Finance Committee co-Chair Emmett Hanger, Frank Wagner and Jill Vogel — join[ing] all 19 Democrats to back the deal between Hanger and House Appropriations Chairman Chris Jones.” It’s really amazing to see a bunch of conservative Republicans voting for this, but…yep, it actually happened. Anyway, can you imagine something like this happening NOW, when pretty much zero Virginia Republicans are showing any willingness to break with MAGA orthodoxy on *anything*?

There are many more examples over the years, but those are three big ones fairly recently. In stark contrast, since Glenn Youngkin became governor in January 2022, he has vetoed – and his vetoes couldn’t be overriidden thanks to House and Senate Republicans’ lockstep loyalty – a record number of bills, including just about anything even remotely viewed by MAGA as “progressive,” pro-environment, etc. So much for the supposed “Virginia Way,” in which supposedly Virginia’s legislature wasn’t like Congress, in that Democrats and Republicans would actually work in a bipartisan fashion/across-the-aisle, for the good of Virginians. But now, in the Trump/MAGA era, and with basically zero Virginia Republicans having the cojones (or desire) to break with Trump (in Youngkin’s case, he desperately wants/needs Trump’s favor, or at least not condemnation, given Youngkin’s burning political ambitions – including to be president someday). Which makes the Montana situation even more amazing, and even more of a contrast to what’s happening in Congress – and right here in Virginia. Very, very unfortunate…