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Republican Ed Gillespie would tie with either of the Democrats vying for their partys nomination in this years gubernatorial contest, according to new survey results released Wednesday.

Gillespie, a longtime GOP strategist and former counselor to George W. Bush, drew 40 percent of registered voters to Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northams 39 percent in the poll by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. In a head to head matchup with former congressman Tom Perriello, who is competing with Northam for the Democratic nomination, Gillespie and Perriello tied at 39 percent each. A fifth of voters were undecided in both match-ups.

The poll found that Gillespie performed best against either Democrat compared with his two rivals for the GOP nomination, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart and state Sen. Frank W. Wagner (Virginia Beach).

Both parties will select their nominees in a June 13 primary.

Results from the same Wason Center poll that were released Tuesday showed a tied race for the Democratic nomination and Gillespie far ahead in the Republican primary. Gillespie is backed by 38 percent of Republican-leaning voters, compared to Stewarts 11 percent and Wagners 10 percent.

The early polling suggests President Trumps deep unpopularity in the commonwealth isnt necessarily boosting Democrats in the governors race. Just 37 percent of voters polled approve of the presidents performance while 59 percent disapprove.

[McAuliffe blasts Trump budget as the craziest]

I cant see evidence yet that voters views on Trump are dragging Gillespie down, said Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center. Voters can have a really negative view of Donald Trump right now and not be leaking their views to gubernatorial races that are months and months down the line.

Kidd said that can quickly change as Democratic groups start airing ads tying Gillespie to Trump.

The national parties are expected to pour resources into Virginia, one of just two states holding gubernatorial contests this year in what is shaping up to be a first test of electoral politics in the Trump era. Virginia and New Jersey are the only states with gubernatorial contests this year, and Virginia doesnt cap campaign contributions or spending.

Gillespie is the best known of the five gubernatorial candidates, coming off a statewide campaign in 2014 when he nearly unseated U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D). He is favored by nearly a quarter of voters, aiding him in head-to-head match-ups against Democrats.

The Wason Center poll also found Gillespie benefits in the general election from an edge among independent voters and a statistical tie with Democrats in voter-rich northern Virginia.

Gillespie is ahead of both Northam and Perriello among independents by a margin of 40 percent to 30 percent, according to the survey. Northam showed more strength in his home region of Hampton Roads, with a 14 point lead over Gillespie.

In head to head match-ups, each Democrat beats Stewart, Northam by eight points and Perriello by six. The two Democrats also beat Wagner, Northam by six points and Perriello by three.

In addition to the governors race, all 100 House of Delegates seats are on Novembers ballot. In an attempt to regain control of that chamber, Democrats are fielding candidates in all 17 districts that Hillary Clinton won in the presidential election but are currently held by Republicans.

The Wason Center poll found that 48 percent of voters preferred a generic Democratic candidate for their district, compared to 41 percent who preferred a Republican.

Pollsters surveyed 831 registered Virginia voters between March 16 and Sunday, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7percentage points.

A February poll by Quinnipiac University found either Democratic gubernatorial candidate beating any of the Republicans in head to head match-ups.

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Virginia governor's race poll: Ed Gillespie tied with Democrats in general election - Washington Post

Not long ago, Terri Hodge, the ex-con, was leading a breakout discussion at table No. 3 at a meeting hall in the Cedars. The strategy talk in early January was part of a biennial get-together to discuss tactics on how to empower Democrats in the North Texas region. Specifically, Hodge was giving advice on the art of Building Better Vote-by-Mail Results, according to the days agenda. What this political jargon means is that the former state representative was explaining to volunteers and activistsand, as it turns out, at least one molehow to get more votes in ways other than the party putting forth better candidates.

Remember, Hodge told the group, according to my mole, the elderly and the disabled are excellent sources of mail-in ballots. Dont overlook them.

In a post-Trump landscape, when Democrats all over the country are trying to harness progressive zeal, the Dallas County Dems still seem like a party that has no idea how to remake itself and take advantage of that enthusiasm.

There is nothing untrue or illegal about this statement. Everyone deserves a vote. Just because there have long been allegations in Dallas County of Democratic operatives filing mail-in ballots without the consent or full understanding of elderly or disabled voters, that doesnt make statements like Hodges suspicious. Nor does the fact shes an ex-con, since she was convicted of tax evasion, not voter fraud. Nor does the fact that allegations of mail-in deception have long followed her. Nor does the fact that her old assistant was once indicted for helping a blind person fill out a ballot. The charges were dropped, after all.

Highlighting Hodge, someone with what you could at best call a checkered past, is not illegal, but it is indicative of a fundamental flaw in the Dallas County Democratic Party. The partys inclusion of Hodgeand, worse, its blundering, cornered-animal defense of herillustrates the partys slavish devotion to old-school Democrats who have strutted and fretted their hours upon the stage, and from whom we should hear no more. In a post-Trump landscape, when Democrats all over the country are trying to harness progressive zeal, the Dallas County Dems still seem like a party that has no idea how to remake itself and take advantage of that enthusiasm.

Case in point: Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Carol Donovan thinking it necessary to defend Hodges role as a party-supported strategist when her inclusion became public. (More on that mess in a minute.) And that was followed by several party loyalists taking to social media or comments sections to point out that Hodge pleaded guilty to tax problems, not to anything unlawful regarding mail-in ballots or political chicanery.

That is a lawyers argument, though. As the feds noted when Hodge pleaded guilty in 2010, the U.S. District Court sentenced her at the high end of the sentencing guidelines because the judge noted that while Hodge pleaded guilty to a tax offense, the Court did not view this solely as a tax matter. The Court further noted that Hodge was in a position of trust and her actions constituted an abuse of that trust. When youre trying to galvanize your party after a stinging national defeat, thats not the sort of person you turn to when training your troops.

The Dallas Democratic Party is the same as its counterparts in many big cities around the country, but it seems particularly bad here, says someone who has worked extensively in Democratic political circles in Dallas for over a decade. They rode the Obama wave, the city became very blue, and the party didnt have to work hard to win elections. Thats one reason it didnt develop a system to vet talent. Now all the talent is young and hungry and wants to respond to the post-Trump world with smart, grass-roots action. Meanwhile, Dallas County Democrats are defending people like Hodge. Its going to be ugly until it gets worked out.

That was an opportunity for a forward-looking Dallas County Democratic Party to step up, cancel Hodges appearance, and profess to be as concerned with doing the right thing as are its volunteers, activists, and supporters.

The background for this is playing out in the newspapers right now, headlined by the John Wiley Price trial. Jim Schutze, the Dallas Observer columnist and longest-tenured chronicler of Dallas politics, predicted this six years ago with a column titled Democrats! Are You Going to Let John Wiley Price Run Your Party? Really? Now Price is on trial, and the same dynamic Schutze mentionedlocal Dems enabling the old and weak southern Dallas political machine, ignoring the smart, sophisticated black and Hispanic people who could be brought along into leadershipcontinues.

Schutze updated this take with a look in February at the new minority faces of Dallas politics. The article focused heavily on District 100 State Representative Eric Johnson, the whip-smart West Dallas politician recently named to co-chair the Dallas County Democratic legislative delegation, replacing the old guarder Helen Giddings. Schutze mentioned that Price and his Democratic leadership were dying, while Johnson and a slew of young Turks should be considered the face of the partys future in North Texas.

Schutze is not wrong about the should. But he made it sound like its inevitable. I would say there is still too much stubborn resistance to those young, smart Dems taking overmostly because it threatens the livelihood of party hacks. At least I hope thats the reason, because at least that one makes sense. Worse would be if they really cant see how much the party needs to change to be successful.

Consider this story:

After D Magazines FrontBurner blog broke the news (by linking to the agenda) about Hodges inclusion in the daylong gathering, State Representative Johnson shared the blog post on his Facebook page, and Johnson in turn called out party leadership, saying Hodge shouldnt be representing the party. Granted, Johnson took Hodges seat. He has an interest in making sure she looks bad. He was also right to be offended.

That was an opportunity for a forward-looking Dallas County Democratic Party to step up, cancel her appearance, and profess to be as concerned with doing the right thing as are its volunteers, activists, and supporters. At worst, the party should have kept its mouth shut and taken the public scolding. Instead, Donovan, the party chair and a lawyer, sent an email to Johnson threatening, in my reading, to sue him if he didnt delete his Facebook post.

Please understand that I am a huge supporter of the First Amendment, Donovan wrote. However, as a fellow lawyer, I know you agree that misleading and/or incorrect information should not be distributed. If the post is not deleted this week, I will understand that you elected to deny my request, and I will be required to take whatever action is necessary to protect and defend the DCDP.

Theres no need to belabor the ham-fisted idiocy of such a request. Lets just agree it was ham-fisted and idiotic. Johnsons response, on that same Facebook page, was pretty straightforward and appropriate: I will not be threatened or bullied by anyone, and certainly not by my own local party chair. Well see what the politburo tries next since I didnt relent.

Look, this sort of asinine behavior by the local partydefending the indefensible, attacking smart new leaders, covering for their croniesisnt exclusive to the partys elders or to southern Dallas. The hacks and consultants whove sucked at the Dallas County Dem teat for decades respond this way all the time. Example: after I wrote last year about the great work the Latino Center for Leadership Development was doing in grooming smart, young politicians such as State Representative Victoria Neave and Dallas ISD school board trustee Jaime Resendez, the old guard Latino Democrats made sure to register their strong disapproval. They were smart enough not to do so in writing, however.

Its tempting to dismiss such contretemps as insignificant. Dont. These skirmishes are the death rattle of a broken machine that cant compete in a world filled with younger, better-educated blacks, Latinos, and women who demand accountability from their political party as they fight for progressive policies.

So how does the party save itself? It would be a long, slow, tough process, one that demands the party take a hard look at itself. Democrats I talked to are of course reluctant to speak out, but there was one primary suggestion they all mentioned: new leadership. When the next party chair election is held next year, they believe the Dems must elect a young progressive, preferably someone of color, someone with no ties to well-known political families, someone who would look at the speaker list for a party-sponsored event and say, Lets start by crossing off the ex-cons.

Write to [emailprotected]

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How Dallas Democrats Are Destroying Themselves - D Magazine

Associated Press 9:53 a.m. PT March 29, 2017

Washington State Capitol building in Olympia(Photo: Contributed photo)

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) In a role reversal Democrats in Olympia want to halt tuition increases at the state's colleges and universities, while Republicans are proposing modest increases of about 2 percent a year.

The News Tribune reportsthat GOP leaders who control the state Senate with the aid of conservative Democrat Tim Sheldon, of Potlatch say Washington state's tuition policy has finally stabilized after years of double-digit tuition hikes under Democrats. The budget Republicans have proposed for the next two years focuses on adding more slots for students, while continuing a plan lawmakers approved in 2015 to tie tuition increases to growth in the state's median wage.

Democrats say they want to keep tuition costs down for the next two years. The budget plan House Democrats released this week would spend $56.3 million over two years to freeze undergraduate resident tuition, along with $72.7 million to extend state financial aid to 6,000 additional students.

The policy flip has not gone unnoticed by lawmakers, especially Senate Republicans. GOP leaders were the first to propose freezing tuition in 2013, as well as cutting tuition in 2015 policies that ultimately won the approval of the full Legislature and became law.

"I think they're two years late for the party," said Sen. John Braun, the lead Senate budget writer, about Democrats' embrace of the tuition freeze.

"We've now got a clear policy in law that gives parents and students predictability," said Braun, R-Centralia, referencing the 2015 plan to tie tuition increases to wage growth.

In 2015, lawmakers voted to cut tuition at Washington State University and the University of Washington by 15 percent over two years, while cutting tuition at other four-year universities by 20 percent over the same period. Students at community colleges got a 5 percent tuition cut.

State Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane and the lead House budget writer, said he still thinks too many students can't attend college because of cost, and that's the primary issue he and his colleagues are working to address this year by freezing tuition.

"They may have moved on, but we've stepped up," Ormsby said of Senate Republicans. "We're trying to make college more accessible and affordable, so more students have the opportunity to succeed."

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GOP, Democrats push differing tuition proposals - Kitsap Sun

By David Weigel, (c) 2017, The Washington Post

COVENTRY, R.I. At their first town meeting since the Republicans surprise surrender on the Affordable Care Act, progressives in blue America celebrated then asked for more. Rhode Islands two Democratic senators, joined by Rep. Jim Langevin, told several hundred happy constituents that the next step in health reform had to mean expanded coverage, provided by the government.

We have to look harder at a single-payer system, said Langevin, D-R.I., using a term for universal coverage.

The very best market-based solution is to have a public option, said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.

Progressives, emboldened by Republicans health-care failure, are trying to shift the political debate even further to the left, toward a longstanding goal that Democrats told them was unrealistic. They see in President Trump a less ideological Republican who has also promised universal coverage, and they see a base of Trump voters who might very well embrace the idea.

The weekend after the implosion of the GOPs American Health Care Act brought that into the open. In several TV interviews, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., promised to reintroduce a Medicare for All bill when the Senate returns to work. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., held a town hall in her San Francisco district where she happily egged on protesters demanding a plan like Sanderss.

I supported single payer since before you were born, said Pelosi, who has argued since the passage of the Affordable Care Act that it could be a bridge to European-style universal coverage. (The House passed a bill with the public option jargon to describe a Medicare-style national plan that could work as a competitor against private insurers.)

In the glow of victory, Democrats spent the weekend thanking activists who showed up at Republican town halls, worked congressional phone lines and made the AHCA politically untenable for many Republicans especially moderates. Activists also had succeeded in getting most Senate Democrats on the record against Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

In Rhode Island, where Democrats hold every major office, activists have been pushing the local party to the left. Sanders won the states 2016 primary, and the Working Families Party, which endorsed him, has held weekly organizing meetings to find targets for activists. Gov. Gina Raimondo, D-R.I., a former venture capitalist, has pitched a version of the free public college tuition plan Sanders ran on. Whitehouse, who emerged in the Gorsuch hearings as a key critic, was even protested after hed voted for several Trump Cabinet nominees.

That was key, said David Segal, a former Rhode Island legislator and executive director of the progressive group Demand Progress. Fifteen hundred people showed up to demand that a senator whos generally seen as progressive be more progressive.

But health care was the issue with the most apparent running room for the left. Since January, Democrats and activists had held events that promoted the Affordable Care Act which for the first six years since its passage had been a loser in polls by presenting people whod been helped by the law. In the three weeks that the American Health Care Act was debated in public, even some conservative allies of the president argued that it had become politically impossible to scale back health coverage.

The victory of a Republican candidate who promised insurance for everybody, and who once favored universal insurance, made some Democrats ask if an idea once dismissed as socialism might have some bipartisan openings in the post-ideological era of Trump.

Donald Trump staked out the high moral ground by calling for a feasible system of universal healthcare to replace Obamacare, wrote Newsmax publisher Christopher Ruddy, a Trump friend, 11 days before AHCA crashed to earth. He shouldnt retreat from that no matter how much the establishment GOP dislikes it.

In response, elected Democrats have felt freer to make health-care demands, despite controlling no branch of government. The windup often suggests that Republicans are right, and that the health-care system must be tweaked.

We have ideas, they have ideas, to try to improve Obamacare, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a Sunday interview with ABC News. We never said it was perfect. We always said wed work with them to improve it.

On the details, Democrats now argue that Trump should move to the left. Asked where Democrats might work with the president to fix health care, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., suggested expanding Medicaid in states that havent expanded it yet anathema to Republicans and conservative groups that fought against it. (Medicaid expansion is optional-only because of the 2012 National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius decision, which was argued by conservatives and struck down small parts of the ACA.) Sanders, who couldnt get all of his colleagues in the Democratic caucus to endorse a prescription drugs importation bill, said he believes that this Republican president might.

President Trump said a whole lot of stuff on the campaign trail, Sanders said on CNNs State of the Union on Sunday. One of the things he talked about was lowering the cost of prescription drugs. There is wonderful legislation right now in the Senate to do that. President Trump, come on board. Lets work together.

Some Democrats remain skittish about the threat of being tarred by ideological conservatives in tough elections. Saving the Affordable Care Act from repeal united Democrats and healed divisions between the partys base and its politicians. The next health-care debate might not do that. The only Democrats facing elections soon are candidates for open House seats in deep-red districts, and few have endorsed single payer.

Instead, theyve cautiously discussed fixes that might be worked out between the parties. Jim Thompson, a candidate for an open seat in Kansas, said after the AHCAs collapse that parties should sit down and find a plan that expands coverage, lowers costs, and brings us together. Jon Ossoff, whose bid for an open seat in Georgia has become surprisingly competitive, has run TV ads saying he opposes repeal but favors tweaks to the law. Both parties should sit down and deliver more affordable health care choices, he said after Fridays debacle.

That approach reflects how, despite Fridays setback, Republicans have long benefited from attacking a government takeover of health care. And most special-election Democrats arent ready to test whether the landscape has changed.

Obamacares ongoing collapse is a case study in what occurs with a top-down, government centered approach to healthcare, said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jesse Hunt. Candidates who advocate for a Bernie-style single payer system do so at their own peril.

That hasnt stopped the Democrats base, just as Republicans demanded years of fealty to a repeal message, from seeking more on health care. The Coventry town hall, which filled most of the citys largest high school auditorium, was a target-rich environment for local groups trying to get signatures to support expanded health care. J. Mark Ryan, 49, who led the local chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, walked from row to row with cards that people could sign if they wanted the state to pass a single-payer bill.

Any Republicans who are interested in being re-elected should be interested in this, too, he said.

Michael Fuchs, 55, got Whitehouse to sign a different card, for a campaign simply to get Rhode Island to endorse the essential health benefits that were negotiated away in the final version of the AHCA. Doing so, he pointed out, would protect the states customers even if Republicans made a successful run at the law. But in the long run, he, too, wanted national health insurance.

We could at least lower the buy-in age for Medicare to 55, he said.

Over more than two friendly hours, the elected Democrats got the most applause when they swerved left on health care.

The very best market-based solution is to have a public option, Whitehouse said. Paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin, he said that a government-managed insurer would reveal what games private insurers had been playing. The best way to show that a stick is crooked is to put a straight stick next to it. If you do that, the private sector cant manipulate the market by withdrawing.

But as the town hall went on, activists demanded to know if Whitehouse could go further. After several rounds of questions about the need to investigate Russias involvement in the 2016 election, and the need to filibuster Gorsuch, Ryan, with the physician group, asked the senator if he could get behind universal coverage.

Why not endorse it this year? Ryan asked.

In the spirit of the weekend, Whitehouse didnt rule it out. We already do it for the people we care the most about our veterans and our seniors, he said.

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With AHCA defeat, some Democrats see chance to push for universal coverage - The Mercury News

TAKING HIS NEXT STEPS President Donald Trump announces the approval of a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline in the Oval Office Friday. Trump, on Sunday, attacked conservative lawmakers for the failure of the Republican bill to replace Barack Obamas health care law as his aides pledged to court moderate Democrats on upcoming initiatives from health care to tax cuts -- Associated Press

WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps aides opened the door to working with moderate Democrats on health care and other issues while Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quickly offered to find common ground with Trump for repairing former President Barack Obamas health care law.

Schumer said Sunday that Trump must be willing to drop attempts to repeal his predecessors signature achievement, warning that Trump was destined to lose again on other parts of his agenda if he remained beholden to conservative Republicans.

Trump initially focused the blame for the failure on Democrats and predicted a dire future for the current law. But on Sunday he turned his criticism toward conservative lawmakers for the failure of the Republican bill, complaining on Twitter: Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!

The Freedom Caucus is a hard-right group of more than 30 GOP House members who were largely responsible for blocking the bill to undo the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. The bill was pulled from the House floor Friday in a humiliating political defeat for the president, having lacked support from conservative Republicans, some moderate Republicans and Democrats.

In additional fallout from the jarring setback, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, said he was leaving the caucus. Poe tweeted Friday that some lawmakers wouldve voted against the 10 Commandments.

We must come together to find solutions to move this country forward, Poe said Sunday in a written statement. Saying no is easy, leading is hard but that is what we were elected to do.

On Sunday, Trump aides made clear that the president could seek support from moderate Democrats on upcoming legislative battles ranging from the budget and tax cuts to health care, leaving open the possibility he could revisit health care legislation. Whether he would work to repair Obamas law was a big question.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus scolded conservative Republicans, explaining that Trump had felt disappointed with a number of people he thought were loyal to him that werent.

Its time for the party to start governing, Priebus said. I think its time for our folks to come together, and I also think its time to potentially get a few moderate Democrats on board as well.

As he ponders his next steps, Trump faces decisions on whether to back administrative changes to fix Obamas health care law or undermine it as prices for insurance plans rise in many markets. Over the weekend, the president tweeted a promise of achieving a great healthcare plan because Obamacare will explode.

Priebus did not answer directly regarding Trumps choice, saying that fixes to the health law will have to come legislatively and he wants to ensure people dont get left behind.

I dont think the president is closing the door on anything, he said.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, suggested that if he changes, he could have a different presidency.

But hes going to have to tell the Freedom Caucus and the hard-right special wealthy interests who are dominating his presidency he cant work with them, and well certainly look at his proposals, Schumer said.

Their comments came after another day of finger-pointing among Republicans, both subtle and otherwise. On Saturday, Trump urged Americans in a tweet to watch Judge Jeanine Pirros program on Fox News that night. She led her show by calling for House Speaker Paul Ryan to resign, blaming him for the defeat of the bill in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Priebus described the two events as coincidental, insisting that Trump was helping out a friend by plugging her show and no preplanning occurred.

He doesnt blame Paul Ryan, Priebus said. In fact, he thought Paul Ryan worked really hard. He enjoys his relationship with Paul Ryan, thinks that Paul Ryan is a great speaker of the House.

Priebus said Trump was looking ahead for now at debate over the budget and a tax plan, which he said would include a border adjustment tax and middle-class tax cuts.

Its more or less a warning shot that we are willing to talk to anyone. We always have been, he said. I think more so now than ever, its time for both parties to come together and get to real reforms in this country.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the Freedom Caucus, acknowledged he was doing a lot of self-critiquing after the health care defeat. He insisted the GOP overhaul effort was not over and that he regretted not spending more time with moderate Republicans and Democrats to find some consensus.

Priebus spoke on Fox News Sunday, and Schumer and Meadows appeared on ABCs This Week.

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Schumer seizes on offer to Democrats - The Daily Times