Dr. Jason Johnson discusses the political situation regarding VA’s line of succession for governor. Other panel members are Mike Viqueira (NBC News), and host, Joy Reid.
Professor of Political Science. Politics Editor for The Root. Latest Book: Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell
Dr. Jason Johnson discusses the political situation regarding VA’s line of succession for governor. Other panel members are Mike Viqueira (NBC News), and host, Joy Reid.
Original article posted on theRoot.com on 10/09/17 9:32am
State Sen. Jill Vogel (right), Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Virginia, gestures during a debate with Democratic candidate Justin Fairfax at the University of Richmond in Virginia on Oct. 5, 2017. (Steve Helber/AP Images)
It really doesn’t take much to trigger a Donald Trump supporter. Mention Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Russia or George Soros and they’re off, screaming about “pizzagate” and wiretapped microwaves.
Sometimes it doesn’t even take that much; sometimes all you have to do is be black on a sunny day to trigger a deplorable’s “T-Gene” (similar to the mutant X-Gene but lacking all of the humility, altruism and superpowers), transforming him or her into a snarling, racial-grievance-spewing, “alt-right” anger Muppet.
That’s what happened during Thursday night’s lieutenant gubernatorial debate in Virginia between lawyer Justin Fairfax and Virginia state Sen. Jill Vogel. It was a master’s course in conservative white female racial rage in the age of Trump.
The 2017 Virginia elections in November are a preview of the 2018 midterms. Either the polls are correct, and Democrats will win the governor’s race and pick up some state legislative seats, or the polls are wrong and America will have four more years of political winter.
While the top of the ticket has been relatively stable (Democrat Ralph Northam has a comfortable lead over Republican Ed Gillespie), the real action is the lieutenant governor’s race. The Democrat Fairfax is on his way to becoming only the second African-American lieutenant governor in Virginia history, and his Trump-supporting Republican opponent, Vogel, does not want to see that happen.
Political science research into campaign debates and messages shows that white candidates often have trouble staying on message when they’re debating black candidates. They just can’t seem to help themselves and often end up blurting out whatever pre-existing racial tic they’ve got going in their heads no matter the actual subject at hand.
The question could be about school funding, and the white candidate will mention “violence in Chicago”; the question could be about tax levies for a local river cleanup, and the white candidate talks about Black Lives Matter. Sometimes this is subconscious and accidental, sometimes it’s intentional, and sometimes it’s just the rage of a wealthy, white conservative woman who can’t believe she’s losing to a black guy.
On Thursday the moderator of their debate asked Fairfax and Vogel to comment on Vogel’s “transvaginal ultrasound” bill from 2012.
Nevertheless, when her African-American opponent brought up how the bill showed Vogel’s poor record on women’s health issues, she lost it and went full Beckzilla with a slight garnish of Tracy Flick. Watch the short clip below:
You can almost pinpoint the exact moment when Vogel lost it (I’d say it was about the 14-second mark as she leans in), when she just couldn’t bear being outsmarted and outmaneuvered by a black man.
The expression on Vogel’s face was pretty familiar to any African American who has ever crossed a conservative white woman who felt that she should be thanked for tolerating his or her presence. It was the look of a white middle school teacher when a 12-year-old black prodigy corrects her spelling. It was the look of a white cop when a black woman pulls out her cellphone and asks, “Name and badge number.” It’s the look Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama when she realized that he wasn’t going to just roll over and let her win the nomination. That look.
Vogel pulled out her angry air guitar and played a greatest hits of racial and gender innuendo. She accused Fairfax of attacking her “personally” (translation: This black brute is threatening me), then she sought praise for being “gracious and polite” (translation: He should be thankful I don’t go all Paula Deen on him) and then she went hard in the white paint.
“He brings this [ultrasound bill] up every chance he gets because there are other issues that he could talk about, but I clearly think he is not informed enough on those issues to talk intelligently about them. I just have to put that out there.”
We have officially hit “triggered.” To suggest that Fairfax isn’t smart enough to debate policy is just this side of calling him an unfit n-word, but Vogel couldn’t help herself. According to her, she “just had to put that out there.” Well, she didn’t, but she wanted to because she couldn’t handle a debate on the merits without relying on trite racial tropes.
Vogel tried to backtrack after the debate, but everybody had seen her rant for what it was. From Virginia state Rep. Sam Rasoul:
Virginia Democratic Party leader Susan Swecker said:
To question his ability to ‘talk intelligently’ is more like something from 1957 than 2017. I can’t speak to what was inside Jill Vogel’s head. But the optics of a white woman saying that a black man—with extraordinary credentials who last night spoke with substance and with great command of the issues—those optics aren’t good. As we say in Highland County, if it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck it’s probably a duck.
Of course, Vogel denied that there was any racial animus in what she said, and to be honest, she may really believe that on some level. Which doesn’t make her attack on a Columbia- and Duke-educated lawyer any less racist. It’s just par for the course in American politics, where questioning a black man’s credentials, citizenship and even his intelligence is somehow nonracial, even if the attacker can’t come up with any other motivation or explanation.
Should Fairfax actually win the lieutenant governor’s office (and the numbers look good now), I’m sure he’ll have at least four years to intelligently explain policy to Vogel as she remains in the state Legislature. Assuming she doesn’t take such an overture too personally.
Justin Fairfax is one of only a handful of African Americans seeking statewide office in the 2017 election cycle, but after Tuesday’s primary, he’s managed to leap over his first major hurdle.
Fairfax trounced his primary competitor Susan Platt 49 percent to 39 percent to secure the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
It was not an easy race for Fairfax, an attorney who hails from Pittsburgh but grew up in the rough parts of Washington, D.C., in the ’80s and ’90s. He had run and lost a close election for Virginia attorney general back in 2013. This time he went bigger, seeking the lieutenant governorship, and had to face off against Susan Platt, a well-funded lobbyist many believed to be the preferred lieutenant gubernatorial candidate of incumbent Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
In addition, the “conventional wisdom,” also known as Southern Democrats, didn’t believe that a young African-American man like Fairfax would be able to win across the southern, western and more conservative parts of Virginia, and that a white woman would be able to win by securing the white female vote. How’d that work out for Hillary Clinton? It turns out that a candidate with a solid background and a long history in the state who doesn’t get caught faking endorsements from the American Civil Liberties Union can win a primary during a year of “resistance.”
But this wasn’t just any primary. Enthusiasm among Virginia Democrats was so high, turnout jumped from 319,000 in 2009 to more than 500,000 Tuesday night, with votes for Fairfax still being counted as of this writing (total GOP primary turnout Tuesday was about 350,000). As part of our ongoing On the Run: Campaign 2017 series focusing on African Americans running in 2017, we caught up with Fairfax at his victory party Tuesday night.
The Root: Congratulations, Mr. Fairfax. What put you over the top against a candidate many believed was the preferred establishment pick of the sitting governor?
Justin Fairfax: I think it was our message, really. It always focused on Virginians, making sure more people can afford their homes without taking on crushing debt, helping people with student loan debt, making high-quality vocational and technical training available for everyone, expanding Medicaid for over 400,000 people in Virginia. Just giving people the elements that allow so many families to thrive in this state.
The message of resisting the divisive hatred, xenophobia, racism and misogyny out there is what we’re about. This campaign isn’t about me, or politicians, it’s about everyone out there in Virginia getting a chance.
TR: How does it feel to be a part of history?
JF: Well, I do stand on the shoulders of giants. Doug Wilder and the barriers he broke down, I couldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for [Wilder,] who was elected the first black lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1985, then went on to get elected governor in 1990. I definitely keep that a part of my perspective, but I really have always been focused more on the future than history.
TR: You may reach that historic level if one day as lieutenant governor you officially pardon a future Hall of Fame NBA player like Doug Wilder did.
JF: [Laughter.] Yes, I know Iverson. Well, there is that! [Laughter.] This is a special night, though; we covered over 40,000 miles during the campaign, and I’m always oriented towards giving people a bigger, better and brighter future.
TR: One last question: You are from Pittsburgh even though you grew up in D.C. and Virginia. Are you happy about the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup?
JF: [Laughter.] Well, you know, I’m happy when my mom is happy. And she’s happy the Pens won, so that’s good enough for me!
Justin Fairfax will face off against Republican nominee for lieutenant governor Jill Vogel in the general election this November.
This article originally appeared online at The Root.
Tired of punching at the sky, yelling at the television and unfriending folks from high school because of politics? Of course you are! The current administration’s steady commitment to incompetence, corruption and white nationalists has gotten the American people, especially African Americans, riled up in ways not seen since Chaka Khan performed at the Republican National Convention (yes, that happened). We at The Root really feel for you, and offer a solution to your pain: our new ongoing series, On the Run: 2017 Campaign Edition.
Several times a month, we’ll be taking you on a tour throughout the U.S., focusing on African-American candidates running for local office, the statehouse and Senate, mayor or governor … in other words, the people who have just as much to do with your health care and security as the golf-playing, TV-watching retiree in the White House. These are local races where you can volunteer, give money, support and vent your Donald Trump-induced frustrations at the ballot box this fall. We also want you to participate in the process; this is an ongoing interactive story, so if you’re running for local office or know someone who is, tweet us here or here and we may reach out to you.
Our first feature takes us to Virginia, which, according to the state’s motto, “is for lovers” (of all kinds, legally). Justin Fairfax is a 38-year-old attorney and graduate of Duke University running for the Democratic nomination June 13 to be lieutenant governor of Virginia. He is currently leading in some straw polls, and if successful this fall, he would be one of only a handful of African Americans ever to serve as lieutenant governor in the United States, not to mention the only African American to hold statewide office in Virginia this year. We talked to Fairfax about his upbringing, his view on politics and why he just can’t stay loyal to one major league team.
The Root: Justin, I think you were made in a lab by Democratic scientists looking to make the perfect black candidate for the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia metro area). You come from the Midwest (Pittsburgh), but you grew up in Northeast D.C. during the worst part of the crack epidemic in the late ’80s and ’90s. You were raised by a single mom who managed to send four kids to college, and you graduated from Duke undergrad, then Columbia Law School. And your last name is Fairfax, which just happens to be the most populous and diverse county in the state. How do we know you’re for real?!
Justin Fairfax: [Laughter.] Well, I’m real. [Laughter.] I mean, my motivation for running for office is to pay back a spiritual debt. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. People gave us hope and faith and optimism and a high-quality education. No matter how dark things seemed, that spiritual wealth kept us going. I have a spiritual debt to pay to all those people—my mom, grandparents, neighbors—who poured so much into me. I have to make that story possible for other people.
TR: You grew up in Northeast D.C., which used to be a poor and working-class black neighborhood. Now almost nobody can afford to live there. The same thing is happening in Northern Virginia, where the Great Recession and the housing crisis wiped out so much black wealth that almost nobody can afford to buy Grandma’s old row house and flip it for a million dollars. What is your stance on gentrification?
JF: It is a huge challenge, and one thing that I’m passionate about. My mom saved up enough money to buy the house across the street from my grandparents, and she still lives there today in Northeast D.C. These homes are going to sell; they sell for a huge profit, and that can increase the intergenerational wealth people have.
For 90 percent of American families, a home is the largest investment they’re ever going to make. You only have so many chances to change the trajectory of your family. One of the things that inspired me to run for attorney general four years ago was I saw the housing crisis. I’m passionate about protecting homeowners.
TR: What do you think of the Republican House’s new revision of the Affordable Care Act? What can you do in Virginia to assure millions that they won’t lose their health care?
JF: I think this bill is a complete moral travesty and reckless fiscal policy. Utah, Kentucky, Ohio—red states have expanded Medicaid, but we can’t. Until we get our districts to reflect our voters, we’re gonna be stuck, and we’re not gonna be able to do the things we need to do.
Just to reflect on the gerrymandering thing and policy, all five of Virginia’s statewide officeholders are Democrats. Democrats have won Virginia in the last three presidential elections. Yet in the House of Delegates, 66 out of 100 members are Republican. That’s a supermajority. In our congressional delegation, 7 out of 11 members of Congress are Republican. All this shows you the power gerrymandering can have on policy. As lieutenant governor, I want to fight for nonpartisan redistricting; it might be one of the most important issues of our time.
TR: You live in Virginia, you grew up in D.C., but came from Pittsburgh. Who’s your team?
JF: [Laughter.] Basketball team is certainly the Wizards. Since I went to Duke, Jordan is the only Tarheel I like, plus we have the same birthday. I’m existentially torn between the Caps and the Penguins.
TR: What is your position on the racist name of Washington’s football team?
JF: Speaking personally, I personally don’t like the name. But I think we need to keep things in perspective. I think we’re often diverted by issues like this—but I don’t want that to take away from existential threats to our community: health care, criminal justice, mass incarceration. I want to stay laser-focused on people having economic opportunity. With that said, if I owned the team, I’d change the name.
TR: Last question: What’s on your phone? What are you listening to right now; what are you watching?
JF: My favorite song right now is from the musical Hamilton. It’s called “My Shot,” and that’s our campaign theme. We don’t want people to give away their shot on June 13. I haven’t had much time for TV lately; I’ve spent over 35,000 miles in a car, but I read a lot. I’m usually reading multiple books at once. On my reading list right now is The Warmth of Other Suns, The New Jim Crow, True Compass by Ted Kennedy and Team of Rivals.
TR: Are you serious? That’s like a college syllabus in political science. You really were made in a lab!
JF: [Laughter.] I’m almost done. My favorite is When Hell Froze Over; it’s about Doug Wilder’s 1985 run for lieutenant governor of Virginia [Doug Wilder was the first African-American governor since Reconstruction], and A Reason to Believe by Deval Patrick [who was only the second African American to be elected governor in the United States].
TR: Any last words for our readers, and potential voters, out there?
JF: We’re the first major election since Donald Trump’s inauguration. In 2017, Virginia is going to be the place that sparks a progressive wildfire that spreads across the country. I want everyone to be a part of it.
This article originally appeared online at The Root.
Dr. Jason Johnson is a professor, political analyst and public speaker. Fresh, unflappable, objective, he is known for his ability to break down stories with wit and candor. Johnson is the author the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell, a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and Politics Editor at TheRoot.com. Dr. Johnson has an extensive public speaking and media background ranging from … [Read More...] about About Jason Johnson