It was an off year election, but in one key state liberals lined up behind a Clintonista governor and spent heavily to try and flip the legislature in favor of gun control Democrats. It appears they failed miserably:
Virginia Republicans managed to keep the majority of the state senate Tuesday night.
Despite tons of money flowing to Democratic candidates from outside gun control organizations funded by Michael Bloomberg, Virginia Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe may have to put his plans of pushing firearm restrictions through the legislature on the back burner.
Virginia Republicans also held onto the state’s lower chamber, the House of Delegates.
“I need one seat to get control of the Senate and we can pass common sense gun laws,” McAuliffe pleaded to Virginia voters Monday night on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”
Additionally, McAuliffe hoped to have more leverage to push his plans to expand Medicaid across the state under the Affordable Care Act.
One particular race for Bloomberg focused his efforts on was Virginia’s 10th district Senate race. The campaign was between Republican Glen H. Sturtevant and Democrat Daniel A. Gecker.
According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, the largest advertising buy was purchased by “Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund.” Bloomberg heads up this gun-control organization, and the group bought $700,000 of ad time on the Gecker’s behalf. However, Sturtevant defeated Gecker.
Stories like this are why Democrats are increasingly disillusioned in the gun debate. Many, like Hillary Clinton, paint the NRA as some sort of invincible cadre of snake charming hyper lobbyists capable of hypnotizing the American people to vote against their own interests. Yet gun control measures frequently fail in liberal states like Vermont and where big monied liberal groups like Bloomberg spend heavily. This, combined with their seeming aversion to engaging with and gaining a broader understanding of gun culture, is why the party seems to have shifted to policy platforms centered around executive action. This is a win for the gun lobby in the short term, as such actions are likely to be found unconstitutional. But conservatives, and anyone interested in the right to bear arms should bear in mind that their grip on the Supreme Court could change at any time, and it is highly conceivable that the 5-4 conservative split could become a 6-3 liberal one in the very near future.
AAN Staff
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