Virginia Dems Run from ‘Defund the Police’ Records ahead of Election

By Isaac Schorr

Thursday, September 09, 2021

 

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.

 

Glenn Youngkin, the Republican who is running against former governor Terry McAuliffe for the governorship, certainly believes crime is a winning message. Among the last twelve press releases on his website are “Youngkin Launches Digital Ad Highlighting Terry McAuliffe’s Endorsements From Defund The Police Groups,” “Youngkin Launches New Ads Highlighting McAuliffe’s Failure to Keep Virginia Safe,” “Virginia Law Enforcement Sheriff’s Association Announces Endorsement of Glenn Youngkin for Governor,” “Youngkin Launches New Ads Exposing McAuliffe as Too Extreme and Too Dangerous for Virginia,” and “Youngkin Announces Massive Support from Law Enforcement Community.”

 

Do you sense a theme?

 

Vulnerable Democrats in the House of Delegates seem to share Youngkin’s intuition about crime and the political consequences of their party’s record on the issue, and are feverishly working to reverse themselves as a result.

 

Democratic delegates Alex Askew, Joshua Cole, and Roslyn Tyler, for example, have all taken up recent opportunities to boast about their support for spending federal COVID-relief money on bonuses for state troopers, sheriff’s deputies, and correctional officers. Askew came out with an ad highlighting said support. Cole made a point of bringing it up in a Facebook live conversation. Tyler delivered remarks about it on the House floor.

 

It is an emphasis that is at odds with their previous views, and those of their political patrons on these matters.

 

Askew, Cole, and Tyler are all part of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which in 2020 came out in support of “DIVESTING from large law enforcement budgets & INVESTING more in communities [emphasis theirs],” establishing a “Civilian Review Board with subpoena power,” and ending qualified immunity entirely.

 

Back in 2011, the now 36-year-old Askew tweeted that “black in the North East = being harassed by the police.” Cole, meanwhile, announced that he would personally sponsor legislation to implement the aforementioned review board and to re-examine the role of and need for School Resource Officers. 

 

Tyler, alongside her two colleagues, voted to do away entirely with qualified immunity. And notably, the budget providing for the bonuses that all three boasted supporting did not match those that were proposed by Virginia Republicans; Democrats gave $3,000 bonuses to sheriff’s deputies and correctional officers, shooting down the GOP’s $5,000 proposal.

 

The three delegates have also all been endorsed by organizations with the explicit aim of diverting funds from the police. The Future Now Fund — a progressive advocacy group and political action committee supporting Askew, Cole, and Tyler — calls for legislation to “examine police funding in STATE and provide evidence-based ways to generate savings and increase public safety by reallocating funds toward proven methods to support communities.”

 

Cole is also being touted by the Sunrise Movement of Virginia, a group known for mocking police officers on social media, while Askew has been endorsed by the New Virginia Majority, which has advocated defunding the police and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

 

It is Democrats’ success in controlling the legislature as well as occupying the governor’s mansion that has changed the political complexion of the state. Only by holding both the state senate and House of Delegates — where they presently boast a ten-seat majority — in addition to winning the more high-profile race for governor has possible progressive legislation that had not been on the table at any time before in Virginia’s history been passed over the last two years.

 

Though it might be a stretch to brand Askew, Cole, and Tyler as Bernie Sanders-style progressives, it is evident that said progressives have no qualms about supporting the three Democratic lawmakers. And despite their rhetoric and support for some bonuses for law enforcement officers, Republicans are betting they won’t represent the obvious choice for Virginians concerned chiefly with public safety.

 

In an off-year election and with an increasingly unpopular Democratic incumbent in the White House — Civiqs says President Joe Biden is underwater by four points in Virginia — that could be what sinks Askew, Cole, and Tyler, all of whom won election by slim margins in 2019.