Former Majority Leader Eric Cantor offered some thoughts on how to rebuild a failing Republican Party in Virginia in this morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. His words echo my own thoughts precisely:
Republicans have to refocus on building up our party infrastructure. A party that is stronger at the local, county and congressional levels gives all of our candidates a stronger team in the final stretch before an election.
. . .
Republicans must do a much better job of localizing statewide races, by understanding the different challenges and priorities of the various regions of our state.
Northern Virginia, Tidewater, Southside and Richmond all contribute to our state in very specific ways. Voters want well-paying and stable careers, safe streets and good schools. But each region presents unique challenges to a prospective governor.
For example, Virginia has some of the most prosperous counties in the nation. But Virginia is also home to 35 counties or cities where the average weekly wage is no more than 60 percent of the national average. These are hardworking but poor communities that our state’s recovery has missed.
A great deal of this are echoes of my 2015 strategic planning document to RPV Executive Committee — my parting gift to the party, as it were.
We shall see if anyone follows up on it. There is a great deal of sentiment that keeping unit committees small and manageable is far more preferable to the “here comes everybody!” approach that has enabled the grassroots uprising of the last 10 years in Virginia — important solely for the fact that in Virginia, the party controls the method of nomination for open seats.
Of course, none of these recommendations are controversial in the slightest. They are a function of straight-up math and hard-nosed demographic changes. Cantor is, once again, absolutely correct on the prescriptions — even if folks may not want to hear it.