“This was a lot of combat, lots of personal attacks, and in many cases, a policy-thin conversation,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “In fact, you could barely hear at some points what Congresswoman Spanberger was trying to say because of the constant interruptions.”
Following the 7 p.m. debate, 7News’ Scott Thuman sat down with Dr. Stephen J. Farnsworth, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, to analyze the controlled yet chaotic event.
“When you add up all those people who have directly or indirectly some downstream effect of federal employment, it is a very, very damaging environment for Republicans,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.
“The success or failure of the debate was going to depend to a large degree on whether the candidates themselves are willing to engage on policy issues,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.
“I can imagine that the Republicans will want to talk about this at every opportunity. This in may ways is the best issue that Republicans have had in months in this campaign.” said Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington in response to a question about the impact of the text messaging scandal involving candidate, Jay Jones.
Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, told Newsweek that the fallout will likely have long-term consequences. “I expect that some Democrats will leave the AG line blank, which reduces the chances that Jones will win,” he said. “Even if he does win this time, Virginia Democrats are unlikely to forget his reckless behavior.”
