An instructive session at the State Capital

by Gordon C. Morse

Tuesday’s Virginia Senate Commerce and Labor Committee meeting deserves watching. You can pull these things up on-line and watch them at your leisure. It offered some clarity on the divisions in this state.

The particulars of the debate — the cost of retail electricity — are less important than the regional dynamics. A Republican representative of Southwest Virginia sought to relieve economic pressure on his constitutents and the ruling, majority Democrats did not give a hoot.

There’s calculation here by Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell: He’s cutting rural Virginia loose. He would never say so in specific terms and may make occasional gestures in its direction, but that’s Trumpland down there and in fundamental disagreement with what his caucus believes and desires.

It’s jarring to watch. There were once many, many Democrats representing the rural reaches of Virginia. The influence of Northern Virginia, despite a stumble here and there, continues to grow and Surovell knows it. Why worry about the unattainable and, in his eyes, the unattractive?

I worked for the last Virginia governor from Southwest Virginia and that was nine governors ago. Jerry Baliles grew up in Patrick County. That’s not far Southwest Virginia, but far enough to qualify so far as Northern Virginia is concerned. We knew what Nothern Virginia represented, but rural Virginia never left our active interest. It mattered.

Northern Virginia blew past the Rappahannock River some time ago and will arrive on the banks of the James soon enough. It will then move east and west along the corridors of I-64 that extend from Richmond. Once that happens, rural Virginia will be on its own politically. It’s close to that now and, as I say, Surovell knows his own Democratic caucus, as he must.

What arrests that trend? Republican moderation. Republican courage. Republican integrity. The GOP should become what the Democrats once were: About Virginia – first, last and always. They must be “Virginia Republicans.”

The Democrats who I came up with were mostly “Virginia Democrats” – a thing apart, a blending of things not altogether given to blending.

People such as Doug Wilder choked on the phrase. Virginia Democrats? Wilder discovered what that was as a young man and never forgot.

Wilder – at least in my lifetime – was the single most talented person to take a political stroll through Virginia and, in the early stages, ran into one hurdle after another.

But the Virginia Democrats, as they evolved, still got Wilder to the top of the heap. He could not have done it without them and the doing of it made us proud to be Virginians. While Wilder’s choices after his election as governor were more mixed, he’s still a source of pride.

Say this about Wilder: You will get a critique of the world out of him, but he will always remain true to Virginia. He’s never flinched on that part.

As for the current crop of Democrats, you see ambivalence to the point of hostility on the subject of Virginia. It’s a more than a bit odd, given the circumstances.

Everything that comes out of Surovell’s mouth ends up an expression of national Democratic Party preferences. He justifies his politics on a negative: Defeat them. Defeat the Republicans. He resides in a simple world.

But does that end up with something useful to Virginia as a whole? Nope. It’s almost always too much.

Could the GOP moderate itself and become more attractive to those voters not committed to the extreme ends of ideology?

Theoretically, yes.

Practically? It would take some effort and expose moderation’s adherents to challenges. Trump has revealed Democratic Party vulnerabilities in Virginia, but in highly acerbic ways and, if Virginia Republicans try to swallow the whole Trump menu, it will keep the Democrats going.

So, yes, it’s not without political risk. You would have to be brave. And smart.

Gordon C. Morse has been writing commentary and speeches in Virginia since 1983. This column his republished with permission from his Substack account Heart’s Desire.