Column By Stephen J. Farnsworth
August is a month for packing up the belongings of young adults and moving them into apartments and dorm rooms, for back-to-school sales and maybe for squeezing one more out-of-town trip into the summer calendar. A time for holding Republican primaries in Virginia? Well, not so much.
“Certainly, if Republicans are going to take one seat now held by a Democrat in Virginia, the 7th [District] is the most likely scenario,” University of Mary Washington political science professor Stephen Farnsworth said.
But Farnsworth said negative evaluations of President Trump are undermining the prospects for Republican candidates in purple districts like the Seventh. For Farnsworth, the economy — including prices, gasoline, housing, and groceries — is more likely to determine how voters cast their ballots in November.
Stephen Farnsworth, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Mary Washington, said that Gov. Moore’s re-election might boost his presidential prospects in what is likely to be a crowded Democratic field in 2028.
“You are looking at a lot of people who want to run and a lot of people who have been in politics longer than he has,” Farnsworth said.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth was quoted in a WTOP article titled “Virginia Primary Sets Stage for Competitive Midterm Elections.”
In the article, Farnsworth discussed the outlook for Virginia’s congressional races following the primary, noting that the political environment could create opportunities for Democrats in competitive districts. “Even though Democrats were thwarted in their plans to come up with a net gain of four seats in Virginia, the difficult environment for Republicans this cycle, because of the president, does create the possibility that there may be two seats, particularly Congressional District 1 and 2 … could be pickups anyway,” he said. Read the article from WTOP.
Other media mentions for Farnsworth include:
“President Trump is a very effective advocate for boosting Democratic turnout in some districts,” said Steve Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington.
“There’s no doubt that when government saves money and identifies fraud, that’s going to be popular with voters,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “The problem in the current environment, though, is that that narrative may very well be drowned out by the huge public concern over the economy.”
