The “vote blue no matter who” sentiment is getting tiring

by DEVIN SCHWERS

Staff Writer

Eugene Vindman is running to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which encompasses the City of Fredericksburg, along with Stafford, Spotsylvania and Prince William counties. The Cook Political Report currently ranks the district as one of the top 43 most competitive congressional races this election cycle. If this seat is so important to the Democratic Party to keep control of the House, its nominee should be a much stronger candidate than the one it has.

Despite having no prior political experience, Vindman is known for acting as a whistle-blower alongside his twin brother Alexander in the Trump-Ukraine scandal, wherein former President Donald Trump was exposed for coercing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky into investigating a conspiratorial story about President Joe Biden’s relationship with Ukrainian leaders to hurt Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Throughout his primary, and now general election campaign, Vindman has continuously used the story to posture himself as a good candidate for the Democratic party in lieu of putting forth strong policy proposals. 

Vindman has a severe lack of direction and planning when it comes to outlining his plans to improve the lives of his constituents. His platform is made of vague general sentiments rather than concrete policy. Outrage surrounding his candidacy began online late last spring with concerns of his connection to the district being weak in comparison to those of his opponents in the Democratic primary, and when a photo he had taken with a flag used by the Confederate government of Virginia was posted on social media. 

Because of his lack of any real policy initiatives and his early controversy, Vindman has had a challenging time inspiring and motivating voters to be strong advocates for him. The core issue with Vidnman’s campaign is that it is unclear what types of voters he is attempting to reach. Vindman markets himself as a moderate candidate, who hopes to sway Trump voters into supporting him while at the same time being the guy who took on Trump. 

On Oct. 2, Vindman faced off against the Republican nominee, Derrick Anderson. The debate only exemplified Vindman’s poor grasp of policy and his performance was disastrous. When asked about issues about the economy, abortion access or climate change, it was abundantly clear that Vindman had no substantive ideas to tackle these issues. 

There were numerous times I found myself keeled over in my seat from second-hand embarrassment because of something Vindman said. The first question asked of the candidates was what they would do to ease the impact of inflation on consumers and help bring prices down. Despite completely missing the mark on why prices are so high or why consumers are suffering, Anderson delivered a sensible remark that struck at the heart of constituents and presented himself as able to empathize with the average voter. Vindman gave what felt like a robotic response expressing sympathy. He spoke on economic distress affecting Americans, but it did not feel genuine, nor sound like he was in tune with how voters felt. 

Vindman’s demeanor and presence on stage throughout the debate was that of someone who forgot they had a presentation the next day and decided they would figure it out as they went on. 

Even as a longtime leftwing political activist and a consistent progressive voter, I can confidently say Anderson won the debate. I left Wednesday evening’s debate feeling sick, embarrassed and fearful for the future of my district and my country. Despite my hardline beliefs, I can confidently say that if I had been an undecided voter, I would have left an Anderson supporter. 

If Vindman is such a weak candidate, but this race is one of the most important in the country, it begs the question of how we got into this mess in the first place. 

Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D), who currently represents Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, was an exciting candidate for voters in our community. She has served in Congress since 2018 and will be finishing her third term this year.  As someone who has knocked all across the district, voters view Spanberger as a saint here in Virginia. 

Earlier this year, Spanberger decided not to run for reelection and to instead launch her gubernatorial campaign. She left this seat knowing it was one of the most competitive in the nation, and that whoever the next Democratic nominee was, they needed to be a strong enough candidate to keep this seat blue. 

Anderson ran in the 2022 7th Congressional District Republican primary but was defeated by Yesli Vega. Luther Forbes, a volunteer and staging director for the 2022 Spanberger campaign, noted there was fear among upper-level campaign staffers about a potential Anderson victory in the 2022 primary. 

“There was concern among other volunteers and campaign staff that Anderson would be the nominee,” he said. “Everyone knew Yesli Vega was the weaker candidate, and Derrick Anderson was a more potent challenger who lacked the voting record, history of controversial statements, and baggage of his fellow Republican opponents.” 

Spanberger knows the power and influence she holds in Virginia. She knows the respect constituents have for her in the district, she knows that a loss to the Republican Party is a real threat, and she knew Anderson was a real danger to Democrats. Why then, did she not find a successor? Spanberger did not put forward a candidate nor did she endorse anyone during the primary. 

Spanberger has continuously presented herself as an advocate who works to effectively address the biggest issues affecting Americans today. If she truly cared about protecting the middle class, a woman’s right to choose or civil rights, she should not have abandoned her constituents with no successor during an open primary leading up to arguably the most consequential election cycle in my lifetime.  

Make no mistake, I voted for Vindman. At the end of the day, despite the quality of the candidate they put up, the Democratic Party will always be better than the Republican Party. The unfortunate reality of living in a democracy with a duopolistic party system is that voters are confined to the two options they are given. I do not believe Democrats deserve unconditional support; politicians and candidates regardless of party or platform deserve to be scrutinized. However, when the options presented to voters are so thin, electoral participation must be done for the sake of harm reduction and not as a replacement for the activism and organizing that is required to enact real social change.

Organizing outside of the two-party system is incredibly difficult because the Democratic and Republican parties hold an incredibly long financial and social chokehold on American electoral politics. It’s not something that can be accomplished overnight. Therefore, if we want to make substantial wins in our government for the marginalized, and the lower class, for right now we must do it within the confines Democratic party. 

The Democratic Party does not need to be a disappointment to the progressive movement. However, for the Democratic party to serve people in the highest capacity it can, it must be utilized by everyone. Be an educated voter, and vote in primaries. Do not allow big money and establishment candidates to control who represents us. Constituents have power, voters have power. If you are upset with the status quo you have a moral obligation to utilize that power.