Here's what happened on election night
The election is over. As it stands now, Democrats have regained a majority in both the House of Delegates (51 D to 49 R) and the Senate (21 D and 19 R).
The Elephant in the Room… and I don’t mean Republicans. Abortion.
Sadly, this election cycle, much like the 2022 midterm elections, abortion seemed to be top of mind for many voters instead of Bidenomics or better education, and if it wasn’t, then liberals along with the pro-abortion crowd spent an exorbitant amount of money to convince them that it was.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “… public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces judicial decisions.”
When it comes to abortion, the hearts and minds of the people must reject abortion before any legislative victories can ever be realized and maintain staying power.
Pro-abortion democrats and Planned Parenthood together spent over $70 million convincing Virginians that legal unrestricted abortion is not only necessary, but somehow a societal good. This is not a hard sell as abortion has become an insurance policy against the nonmarital sex culture that emerged in the sixties. Republicans spent a little over $50 million to counter with what was presumed to be a modest proposal to restrict abortion beginning at the moment a child feels pain in the womb (around fifteen weeks), which many “experts” believed was a consensus in our state. That strategy clearly failed, and much more can and will be said about that going forward.
Today, we hold fast to the great words of Dr. John Mark Reynolds, “Losing an election means conservative ideas are unpopular, not wrong. If they are correct, then we must persuade and argue not give in.”
The Family Foundation Action Team
Despite the outcome, we want to congratulate our TFF Action team, led by Bruce Schlesman and Jessi Blakely. They knocked over 40,000 doors, made nearly 9,000 calls, and sent over 390,000 texts. They also held our very first election night results live stream show – Battleground: Virginia Votes 2023. They are passionate and dedicated to their work, and we are thankful they are on our team!
While we did not achieve the desired outcome, there was Good News.
First, conservatives gained a seat in the state senate by sending an anti-parent incumbent home. Senator Monty Mason, known of late for his trash-talking of parental rights on a hot mic, was replaced by conservative Yorktown sheriff Danny Diggs.
Second, City of Richmond voters beat back the second effort for a casino to be established in their city. The Family Foundation, with the support of some key Richmond donors, ran several commercials and directly connected voters with the negative ramifications of a casino. Two years ago, when we led a coalition to stop a casino coming to Richmond, we were deeply outspent and won by 50.95% – 49.05%. This year, the casino forces increased their spending by at least $9 million, but the referendum was defeated by 62%.
Third, Susanna Gibson was not rewarded for her online pornographic stunts. In a deeply blue area of Henrico County, where nearly every decision given to a voter resulted in a liberal being elected, the voters still determined there is a line that can be drawn on behavior fit for office. Congratulations Delegate-elect David Owens and to the TFF Action staff and volunteers who motivated lower propensity conservatives to vote.
Fourth, another huge victory came in a Commonwealth’s Attorney (CA) race in Loudoun County. Despite Loudoun County becoming deep blue in recent years, Soros-backed incumbent Buta Biberaj was upset by a law-and-order challenger Bob Anderson. Earlier this year, our Founding Freedoms Law Center went toe-to-toe against Biberaj, who decided to personally prosecute our client, Jon Tigges, for criminal trespassing simply for remaining in a school board meeting room in Loudoun after officials tried to kick out hundreds of parents from the meeting for simply trying to voice their concerns during the recess. We got a “not guilty” verdict for Jon Tigges. Now, Biberaj will no longer be putting a target on the backs of parents like our client.
Fifth, there were three conservative additions to the Loudoun County School Board - Karen "Kari" LaBell, Deana Griffiths, and Lauren Shernoff. All three won their races to bring commonsense and transparency to the Loudoun school board which has been embroiled in controversy caused by leftist policies.
Sixth, the composition of the Goochland School Board changed and will be run by new members who want to be transparent with parents about what’s going on within their schools. Because this is so deeply intertwined with our FFLC plaintiff, Angela Allen, we’ll be sending a separate update on it very soon.
Seventh, we want to congratulate former Family Foundation intern Mark Earley for his victory as he joins the House of Delegates. He follows a long history of TFF staff, board members, and interns being elected to public office. On that note, we send hearty congratulations to Sharon Griffin who took a pause from our Board of Directors to run for school board in Augusta County and won. We can’t wait to see her work for parents!
Eighth, former delegates, now Senators-elect Tara Durant and Emily Brewer, had tremendous victories and will bolster the conservative caucus in the Senate. TFF Action staff and volunteers provided additional boots on the ground in those areas to encourage people to vote pro-family values in those districts.
Ninth, Hanover voters rejected a local referendum to change their school board from being appointed to being elected. Why is that significant? Because the existing appointed Hanover school board has been diligently resisting dangerous transgender-issue policies and working to align their policies with Governor Youngkin’s model policies protecting parental rights. Had Hanover voted against this method of appointment, it would have eventually been taken over by the LGBT advocates as an indictment on their actions.
Want to tell us about another silver lining in the election? Send in your local victory to familyfoundation@familyfoundation.org
