Virginia Democrats Rethink Defund Police Rhetoric

While it is the surprisingly close gubernatorial race that has raised Republican hopes in Virginia and garnered national media attention, the fight for control of the Virginia General Assembly is an equally important — if less discussed — component of the 2021 election cycle in Old Dominion.

Among the most salient issues in races across the state will be crime and Democratic incumbents’ record of either supporting or demonizing law enforcement. The murder rate spiked to a 20-year high in Virginia in 2020, eclipsing six-per-100,000 residents for the first time since 1998 and notching a notable absolute increase from the previous year — from 455 to 537.

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Isaac Schorr

Isaac Schorr is an editor at Mediaite and a 2023–2024 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.

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While it is the surprisingly close gubernatorial race that has raised Republican hopes in Virginia and garnered national media attention, the fight for control of the Virginia General Assembly is an equally important — if less discussed — component of the 2021 election cycle in Old Dominion.

Among the most salient issues in races across the state will be crime and Democratic incumbents’ record of either supporting or demonizing law enforcement. The murder rate spiked to a 20-year high in Virginia in 2020, eclipsing six-per-100,000 residents for the first time since 1998 and notching a notable absolute increase from the previous year — from 455 to 537.