It’s an open question whether the establishment news media is terminally ignorant about how politics really works, or they have become so invested in the success of the Far Left that they will do and say anything to obfuscate what’s going on in American politics today.
Let’s start by rebutting the nonsense from some alleged “conservative” or Republican-leaning commentators and operatives that the election results in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia were some kind of failure and that winnable races were lost in the November 4 election.
See Craig Shirley’s “Shut Up Megyn!” for an excellent example of putting that kind ill-informed commentary in its place.
Taking the hard one first – Virginia. After the DOGE cuts decimated Northern Virginia’s do-nothing federal workers and Beltway consultant class there was no way Lt. Governor Winsome Sears was going to win. There was never a poll that showed her even close, despite the drag of the Jay Jones “kill Republicans and their children” text message scandal.
So, the outcome of the election was never in doubt – Democrats were going to win, the question was, “what kind of Democrats”?
It turns out that far from running as a “moderate” or “centrist” Democrat, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger ran as a pro-transgender ideology, pro-DEI, pro-Islamist, pro-illegal alien Far Left Democrat, virtually indistinguishable from the most radical wing of her Party.
Spanberger refused to say whether she would let boys in girls' bathrooms and locker rooms. She said one of her first acts if elected would be to undo Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s February directive requiring Virginia law enforcement to help carry out federal immigration crackdowns, “I would rescind his executive order, yes,” Spanberger told The Mercury in a lengthy policy interview, referring to Youngkin’s Executive Order 47 issued in February. Spanberger also said her priority as governor will be to create a cabinet-level DEI position.
None of that would have sold in a Virginia Democratic Party primary a few years ago, but now these positions that are wildly unpopular at the national level are the agenda of one of the Party’s rising stars.
So much to appealing to the old socially conservative Blue Dog Democrats that were once the backbone of the Democratic Party in Virginia.
And there was a similar dynamic in New Jersey.
Every four years New Jersey’s Republican political consultants breathlessly announce that “New Jersey is in play,” to pump-up fundraising and national media engagement for their candidates.
And more often than not, it turns out New Jersey is not in play.
And Mikie Sherrill, although she claimed to be a “centrist,” and the most bipartisan member of the New Jersey congressional delegation, is actually every bit as radical as Abigail Spanberger.
Sherrill said she would seek to ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces during enforcement operations if she’s elected. Sherrill said if needed, she’d be prepared to “fight it out in court.”
Sherrill vowed to promote LGBTQ education in New Jersey schools, “I would push an LGBTQ education into our schools. Parents have a right to opt out of a lot of things, but this is not an area where they should be opting out…” said the Governor-elect.
There are approximately 3.26 million Catholics in New Jersey, representing nearly 40 percent of the state's population. With the Catholic Church firmly opposed to normalizing homosexuality we wonder how that is going to play in the Garden State’s 242 Catholic schools and with the old socially conservative, family and church-oriented Catholics that were the long-time players in New Jersey politics.
Sherrill also held a rally with radical Leftists Ras Baraka and Chigozie Onyema. Baraka has been an avid supporter of Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader known for his hateful statements against Jews and white people. Baraka was caught on video applauding Farrakhan as he called white people "demons" and even referred to Farrakhan as a "role model."
Meanwhile, Onyema has been a vocal advocate for defunding the police. Onyema has repeatedly posted anti-police rhetoric on Instagram saying, “We’re going to talk about defunding the police” and using #DefundPolice, demonstrating the lack of support for law enforcement that puts her squarely in the Far Left of the new Democratic Party.
And, saving the best for last, just look at how Communist and Islamist Zorhan Mamdani vaporized the old Democratic Party establishment in New York.
Once again, as in New Jersey and Virginia, the numbers were clear – a Democrat was going to be the next Mayor of New York City, the question was “what kind of Democrat.”
Not only did Mamdani defeat former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, the ultimate establishment legacy Democratic candidate, but he did it with the help of the Far Left insurgents who have vowed to dismantle the old bedrock of New York City’s Democratic Party establishment.
Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former President Clinton, influential Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), and New York Reps. Adriano Espaillat, George Latimer, Tom Suozzi and Ritchie Torres were among the high-profile figures who endorsed Andrew Cuomo.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, progressive groups like the New York Working Families Party and New York City Democratic Socialists of America backed Mamdani, and won big, over the opposition of the old Tammany Hall coalition of city patronage, cops and firefighters.
The setback for the establishment wing of the Democratic Party comes amid a larger internal battle with progressives over the future of the party. Many Democrats have accused the party’s leaders of being out of touch and have pushed for a younger, more radical Leftist, generation of leadership.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, whose political career has been buoyed by Wall Street and New York’s large Jewish population, fears a primary election challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, yet he refused to support Mamdani. On the night of his win, Mamdani warned Schumer and the Democratic Party establishment: “Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party, and too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they’ve been left behind. We will leave mediocrity in our past.”
Of course, the “mediocrity” he was referring to was not Republicans, it was the Democratic Party establishment personified by Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and the hapless Cuomo.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com and is a veteran of over 300 political campaigns. A member of American MENSA, he served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
