Republicans are trying to test a new message in VA with a supposedly “moderate” stance on abortion.
But they’re not marketing it. The GOP PAC for VA, the “Move VA Forward” PAC has 6 mil in the bank…and they’re not touching it for some reason.
Dems are pouring money in hand over fist, but the Reps are sitting on theirs.
Last minute ad blitzes do not work that well. Sure, they can drive up the tallies in close races, but generally voting attitudes crystallize about 3-4 weeks out for most people. Prime spending time is mid September through mid October, with the last week’s being get-out-the-vote efforts.
Especially in VA where we, since 2020, have near universal mail in voting. While early voting isn’t blockbuster this year, it’s still pretty strong, standing currently at 246,608 from the last record release on Friday.
Youngkin, to his credit, is trying to motivate Republicans to vote early. But they’re encountering some lingering resistance.
One insider I still have a connection too said that Republicans are worried that the speakership fight is going to hurt them in the NOVA metro area, where Republicans made inroads in 2021. The newr brush with a shutdown is still fresh in a lot of NOVA voters minds. Youngkins school policies also proved unpopular in the NOVA suburbs, which is where his orginal “parental choice” message managed to gain traction. So there’s some worry amoung the camp that independent voters in the area are wanting to check on Youngkin, and keep at least the state Senate blue.
