The 2023 battle for the Virginia General Assembly is a contest of many firsts.
It is the first election in the Old Domination to take place under new state legislative maps, and the first to take place since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which kicked the hot-button issue of abortion back to the states.
Mr. Youngkin’s office did not respond to a request for comment. All 140 seats in the legislature are up for grabs on Nov. 7. He shied away from being a Trump-styled politician and showed little interest in relitigating the results of the 2020 election. His star burned so bright that some in the party are holding out hope he will dive into the 2024 Republican presidential race.Consequently, he has a lot riding on the ongoing fight for control of the state legislature.
A survey released last week by the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington found that voters split over who they want to see calling the legislative shots. “You will see an abortion ban if that happens and other fundamental freedoms would be taken away,” she said. “With how extreme Virginia Republicans have gotten, there is no telling how care they might go, but what is clear is the stakes of the election could not be higher.”Republicans counter that Democrats are the “extremists on abortion.”