Hurricane Reid downgraded to tropical storm. The tempest over Glenn Youngkin and John Reid is still gusting and squalling but seems to petering out. We see headlines today like CNN proclaiming, “Virginia Republicans reel from party infighting over nominee for lieutenant governor,” and a WTOP article highlighting the fact that Governor Youngkin did not consult GOP party chairman Mark Peake before asking John Reid to step down as a candidate for lieutenant governor.

It’s been a pretty dull electoral season, so expect media to prolong the drama as long as it can. But the story is losing energy. The real news today comes from Virginia Scope publisher Brandon Jarvis who reports that Attorney General Jason Miyares said, “sure,” when asked if he would appear with Reid on the campaign trail. To ensure party unity, gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears has little choice but to fall in line. And if Youngkin wants to keep his political ambitions alive, he will, too. At the end of the day, Republicans will embrace the first gay candidate for statewide office, and conservative evangelicals will decide that Reid, a culture-war conservative, is vastly preferable to any Democrat running against him.

Zounds, Rs and Ds still can cooperate. Virginia shows persistent signs of derangement, but we’re not ready to declare the state clinically insane. Occasional outbreaks of lucidity encourage hope. Youngkin has signed a bill allowing prosecutors to charge fentanyl dealers with involuntary manslaughter if the drugs they sell lead to an overdose death. The stiffer charge is fully justified. Anyone selling fentanyl — especially those lacing other drugs with the super-opioid — know full well the risks of overdoses but sell it anyway. They are murderous scum. Amazingly, there was bipartisan support for the measure. A Democrat, Delegate Josh Thomas, D-Prince William, wrote the House version of the bill. Youngkin signed another bipartisan bill putting restrictions on medical debt collectors. The collectors buy portfolios of debt owed to hospitals and are said to sue people aggressively and indiscriminately. Wonders never cease.

Girls in the boys’ locker room. But then there’s this. Conservative activists have made a huge issue of trans girls (born with penises) appearing in girls’ locker rooms. How about this for a turnaround? A controversy in Loudoun County is now raging over a trans boy (born with a vagina) appearing in the boys’ locker room in a Loudoun County high school. It could be an almost humorous man-bites-dog story but for one fact: Loudoun County Public Schools has opened a Title IX investigation into the three high school boys who said they were made uncomfortable by the presence of the trans student. (WJLA’s account of this controversy is as good as any.) Every traditional indicator flashes in favor of Democrats in the fall election, but then stories like this remind the electorate that not only do Dems favor revolutionizing sex and gender roles, they want to crush anyone who fails to fall in line.