Democrats Remain Panicked Over Ralph Northam’s Struggling Campaign

With less than 24 hours until Virginia voters go to the polls, Democrat panic continues as Ralph Northam’s campaign faces growing scandals, tightening poll numbers, and defections from key Democrat grassroots supporters. As Democrats continue to fume and lament over his lackluster campaign, Northam finds himself stumbling down the home stretch of a “must-win” race for his Party. Here are some highlights of recent coverage:

On “Meet The Press,” Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan said that Northam has “simply made some mistakes” and NBC political reporter Kasie Hunt compared the Northam campaign’s errors to those of Hillary Clinton in 2016:

PEGGY NOONAN: “I think the Democratic nominee has simply made some mistakes, those commercials you showed parts of, very much one of it… I don’t think he had a great campaign.”

KASIE HUNT: “If Northam loses I think they’re going to look back and realize we made the exact same mistakes in Virginia as we made in the presidential race in 2016…”

On MSNBC, host Joy-Ann Reid and The Root columnist Jason Johnson blasted Northam’s decision to remove his LG running mate from campaign fliers as well as his Eleventh-hour flip-flop on sanctuary cities, calling them “very serious mistakes:”

JOY-ANN REID: “You’ve also had this weird thing happening where liberal groups have walked away from Northam because he has dropped support for sanctuary cities, where Ralph Northam apparently put out campaign fliers that don’t have his black running mate on them. What is going on in Virginia?”

JASON JOHNSON: “…Ralph Northam has made some very serious mistakes, leaving Justin Fairfax off of campaign literature and then turning around and saying that Fairfax had actually signed off on it, that angered a lot of the enthusiastic supporters of Justin Fairfax… Northam has allowed Gillespie to sort of control the narrative and respond and that hasn’t been smart.”

On FOX News, National Journal reporter Josh Kraushaar noted that “Democrats are getting nervous” about Northam’s chances in Virginia as he’s fallen out of favor with progressives in the Commonwealth:

JOSH KRAUSHAAR: “We have a big governor’s election in Virginia that a lot of Democrats thought was theirs to win, lieutenant governor Ralph Northam is running next Tuesday and was the favorite for quite some time, but now Democrats are getting nervous, there’s some progressives in Virginia that don’t like the nominee, they think he’s being too moderate and these divisions in the party are taking place across the country and they’re jeopardizing their ability to take advantage of all the energy that’s been accumulating since President Trump got elected.”

The Hill also reported on growing anger from Democrat grassroots groups toward Northam, noting Democracy For America’s decision to end “direct aid” to him, citing what it called “racist” actions by his campaign, stoking fears from Democrats that Northam is “fumbling Tuesday’s must-win race:”

“Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) surprise decision Wednesday to say that he’d sign a bill outlawing sanctuary cities has triggered outrage from some Democrats, who fear Northam is fumbling Tuesday’s must-win race.

Democracy for America (DFA) announced that it’s pulling ‘direct aid’ for Northam following his sanctuary city comments, although the group never officially endorsed his campaign. The progressive group called his campaign ‘racist,’ accusing Northam’s camp of prioritizing swing voters over the party base…

Republicans seized on Northam’s latest comments on sanctuary cities, characterizing them as a flip-flop. Northam voted against a similar bill in the state legislature, but he’s called that bill a “political game” and argued that he hasn’t changed his position on sanctuary cities and has been clear about his opposition. Northam said in a recent interview that he’d sign a bill banning sanctuary cities ‘if that bill comes to my desk…’

The fallout from Northam’s sanctuary cities remark comes on the heels of a Democratic outside group pulling its controversial ad that earned heavy criticism. Northam’s campaign said it didn’t coordinate with Latino Victory Fund, but it took some heat for never disavowing the ad that featured minority children running away from a truck sporting a Confederate flag and Gillespie campaign bumper sticker chasing them down the street.”

And former Virginia Democrat congressional candidate Krystal Ball also ripped Northam’s campaign on MSNBC, claiming that people “don’t know where he stands on anything” and that there is a “tremendous lack of enthusiasm” for his candidacy:

KRYSTAL BALL: “…You know the problem with Ralph Northam isn’t that he’s racist or that he doesn’t know where he stands on sanctuary cities. It’s that people don’t know where he stands on anything. He has tried to reinvent himself for this moment and it has led to tremendous lack of enthusiasm. So yeah, the Gillespie playbook has really worked in this case and I just hope that we can hold on.”