As the 2025 Virginia campaign season winds to a close, not surprisingly we had rallies by Democratic and Republican candidates yesterday. The main Democratic rally, with somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 in attendance, was in Norfolk, starring former President Barack Obama – see here for video, highlights, etc. And, as you can see from that Norfolk rally, Democrats are focused on moving Virginia forward, making Virginians’ lives better, fighting back against the assault on democracy coming from Donald Trump and Republicans, working to realize – as former President Obama said – “this nation’s true revolutionary spirit…that ‘we the people’ means what we say…our commitment to a common creed…that’s what made us special.” Great stuff, in other words.
In SHARP contrast, see below for a couple video snippets from last night’s Republican rally in Purcellville. First, here’s VA GOP Lt. Governor nominee John Reid, who was a far-right/MAGA radio host (not just a generic “radio personality” or whatever the media whitewashes him as) for many years:
“And Ghazala, outside of her basement, I don’t know where she’s been. That’s why I had to do the world’s first artificial intelligence debate, which I hope you
watched. And the weird thing was the AI bot was kind of better than her in real life, I think. But she has beaten me up because she’s raised $8 million from the same people who are supporting Zohran Mamdani in New York. And you know, I’m a nice guy. I don’t like to be mean. But you know what that means? The socialists and the radical Islamists who are on the march in America are behind Zohran Mamdani in New York and they’re behind Ghazala Hashmi in Virginia. We cannot let that be successful in this state.”
Not subtle at all here; just blatant, nasty Islamophobia. Note the link that Reid draws between Ghazala Hashmi and Zohran Mamdani (exaggerated pronunciation, clearly to emphasize the “foreign” nature of Zoh-ran MAMDANI’s name), as well as the fear mongering about “socialists” and “‘radical Islamists who are on the march in America.” Of course, “radical Islamists” aren’t in any way/shape/form “on the march in America,” but even if that were the case – which, again, IT IS NOT – how on earth does that make a liberal Democrat (and super-nice person) like Ghazala Hashmi a “radical Islamist” – or a “socialist” for that matter? Anyway, you can see what Reid’s doing here, and it ain’t pretty.
Next, we’ve got Glenn Youngkin, who the media ASSURED us constantly in 2021 (and beyond) was a “nice guy in a sweater vest,” a “suburban dad” and a “moderate” – all of which was absurd at the time, but has gotten far more ridiculous as we’ve watched Youngkin’s inner MAGA/Trumpist/far-right-extremist side emerge over the past four years. And that hard-right transition is exemplified by Youngkin’s ugly speech last night. Check it out, below.
“…to demonstrate that we are going to reject political violence and we’re going to send Jay Jones back where he belongs, which possibly could be jail. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to reject Abigail Spanberger and send her back where she belongs, which is…how about back home? Just go back home! And we are gonna reject Ghazala Hashmi, because she is the most liberal leftist member of our General Assembly. And I got to tell you what folks, I don’t want her anywhere. I don’t even want her in the state. This is what we have to get done.”
Again, that is just UGLY – nativist, Islamophobic, xenophobic, authoritarian, you name it. Yet, disturbingly, THIS is what the party that used to be led by people who held out America as a beacon of liberty, a “shining city on the hill” which welcomed people from all over the world, etc. has morphed into. Implying that Ghazala Hashmi isn’t just as American as every other American because of her name? religion? ethnicity? To the contrary, as Hashmi said in her response to last night’s Republican viciousness (see her statement, below):
“I have lived in Virginia for over 30 years; my daughters were born and raised right here in Richmond. I am not surprised — but will not be deterred — by the bigotry from our Governor. Ghazala Hashmi is an American name. On Tuesday, we will show him what Virginia stands for.”
And as State Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg put it:
“Sad to see the @GovernorVA saying things like this. We can fight passionately about the issues without questioning how much we love (or belong) in Virginia. A campaign that knows it’s going to lose is resorting to rhetoric that is beneath them.”
True, but the sad thing is this is EXACTLY who Glenn Youngkin – and his role models like Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, etc. – are. In two days, Virginians have a GREAT opportunity to send a loud-and-clear message that we strongly, without equivocation, REJECT the unAmerican viciousness national and Virginia Republicans are spewing out there. So make sure you vote Democratic up and down the ballot, and remind everyone you know to do the same. As former President Obama said yesterday: “If nothing else, the last 9 months should have cured us of that idea [that elections don’t matter.]…elections DO matter – and they matter for you!”
P.S. As one sharp VA politico said this morning, the VA GOP’s closing argument is basically this: “Send the Black guy to jail, the blonde woman back to her home, the Muslim woman out of the state!”
UPDATE: Here’s video to the entire rally…from CSPAN
