"If you go back a week, the Democrats were incredibly optimistic about their future in Virginia," says Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington's Center for Leadership and Media Studies in Virginia. "That enthusiasm has just evaporated."
One of the Democrats' central messages -- that Donald Trump lacks the character to lead the country -- has now been diluted by these scandals, says Farnsworth. "That argument is a much harder one to make when the top three elected Democrats in state government are all facing major scandals."
