Republicans won the governor’s race in Virginia, and turned New Jersey into a nail-biter, by surging in the suburbs. That’s already become the conventional wisdom of the 2021 cycle, and in this case it’s wise to follow the convention. If you compare how the Virginia and New Jersey suburbs performed this year to how they voted for president last year, the shift is unmistakable. Royal-blue inner suburbs became light-blue. Violet neighborhoods shaded into purple. Light-red exurbs turned bright crimson.
Because Virginia and New Jersey hold their gubernatorial races in odd-numbered years, and conveniently close to the nation’s political and media capitals, they often get outsized media coverage. Given the current political moment, the victorious Glenn Youngkin will get even more coverage than usual — fawning from right-leaning media rooting for his success, hostile from left-leaning media rooting for his failure.
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