Random musings from the just concluded Democratic primary:
• The defeats of Chap Petersen in Northern Virginia and Joe Morrissey in the Richmond area will denude the state Senate of its last remaining free-thinking Democrats.
And it may well have been that free-thinking – and, in Morrissey’s case, too much personal drama through the years – that helped seal their fate.
Based on these and other Democratic-primary results, it appears that every single Democrat likely to be elected to the state Senate in November will be in 100-percent lockstep and profess near absolute fealty to the Democratic Party line on every single position.
That’s really just not healthy when it occurs in either party; both the commonwealth and the GOP suffered when Republicans in Richmond went too far right even as the voters were moving to the center.
• Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay’s victory over challenger Lisa Downing was by a margin large enough – 13 percent – to be considered healthy. But it also shows that voters in the primary were not necessarily enamored by the board chairman.
Was it policy differences, or was it McKay’s personality, that caused the bubbling discontent among some voters? On policy, he and Downing seemed to have platforms that, if not identical, certainly were close enough to suggest that wasn’t the reason for the many votes against the chairman.
Smart politicians (McKay is savvy) and politicians who aspire for bigger things (he most certainly does) would spend some time in quiet reflection about what message the broader electorate had sent, and adjust their behavior accordingly.
To borrow a phrase from a famous politician speaking of another, the Fairfax electorate seems to think McKay is “likable enough.” But he’s going to need more than that if his aspirations to rise further are to materialize.
• Our disdain for Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, both his policies and his personality, is hardly a secret, but a win is a win, and he won. And unlike four years ago, when one could argue that the voters swept him into office without understanding what they were getting, you can make no such argument this time around.
The same held true in Arlington and Loudoun counties, where the left-wing prosecutors emerged victorious in the primary and will have no trouble winning second terms.
As for Descano, we suspect he’s already plotting an attempt to move up the political food chain. There’s hardly a large-jurisdiction prosecutor in the country, Democrat or Republican, who doesn’t go to sleep at night believing their future trajectory is state attorney general, governor and then, well, perhaps it depends on the level of delusion involved.
That said, a win’s a win. You asked for him, Fairfax electorate, and you’ve got him for four more years – unless the voters in Virginia are loco enough to give him a promotion.
