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The voters have spoken.

And after Tuesdays primary, the voters have chosen former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Delegate Hala S. Ayala and Attorney General Mark R. Herring to carry the Democratic Party banner into Novembers election for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, respectively.

These are safe choices for Democrats, who will face a well-financed set of Republican opponents in what is likely to be a highly contentious general election in the fall.

The GOP contender for governor, businessman and Trump acolyte Glenn Youngkin, has raised nearly $16 million already in his bid to become the states chief executive. About $12 million of that is loans he made to himself, according to campaign finance reports made public last week.

Mr. Youngkin spent millions to win a GOP nomination contest held in a multi-site convention. But the latest reports show that, as of the end of May, he has $4.4 million on hand going into what is certain to be an expensive general election seeking the hearts, minds and votes of Virginians.

Mr. Youngkin has said he intends to turn Virginia red in the fall, meaning he wants to carry us back to what Republicans see as the good ol days. The retired co-CEO of the private equity giant Carlyle Group aligned himself with President Trump as he sought to beat out six others for the GOP nomination, and he campaigned with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, a prominent Trump backer who espouses the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from the former president.

Mr. Youngkin is quietly trying to walk away from Mr. Trump. He has no voting record to scrutinize because he has never held elective office. But his GOP sidekicks, former Delegate Winsome Sears and Delegate Jason Miyares of Virginia Beach, who are running for lieutenant governor and attorney general, are out-and-out Trump backers. During her campaign, Ms. Sears highlighted her work as national chairperson for Black Americans to Re-Elect President Trump.

By contrast, Mr. McAuliffe has a progressive record we are more familiar with because of his four years in office. He served as Virginias governor from 2014 to 2018 and pushed the state closer toward expanding Medicaid health insurance to cover hundreds of thousands of uninsured Virginians, which was blocked at the time by a Republican-controlled General Assembly. Also, despite GOP efforts to shut him down, he restored the voting rights of more than 173,000 felons who had served their time.

Mr. McAuliffe is ready to take on Mr. Youngkin in the next few months. He raised $12.1 million in donations during the primary, according to campaign finance reports, and had $3.2 million on hand at the end of May.

Nearly a half million voters 488,000 cast ballots in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. And while that is only 90 percent of the total vote cast in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2017, it signals the willingness of Virginia citizens to make their voices heard.

We have no doubt that the best thing that could have happened for Virginia voters of all stripes took place in 2019, when Democrats took control of the General Assembly for the first time in decades. Had Virginia voters not booted Republicans out of office in November 2019, we likely would find ourselves going into Novembers election with new restrictions limiting voter access and early voting like Texas and Florida, including such draconian provisions as making it illegal to give out water or food to those standing in line to cast a ballot.

The Virginia primary took place in an orderly and efficient manner, while the nation as a whole is embroiled in desperate struggles to protect the right to vote. This should remind us once again that voting is important. It is the backbone of democracy and critical, especially in these times when conservative and Trump forces are mounting assaults on voting rights across the country.

Tuesdays primary also highlighted the seriousness with which we must act to protect our democracy, no matter who is in office.

Obstacles to reasonable access to the polls, false claims of stolen elections, failed court challenges and even armed insurrections attempting to overturn valid and fair elections should make us willing to rededicate our efforts to safeguard the sanctity of voting, access to the ballot and the protection of our freedoms.

We, the voters, are the defenders of democracy, and it is imperative that we take this responsibility seriously.

Excerpt from:
Voting and protecting democracy - Richmond Free Press