Two weeks from the gubernatorial election, it’s been repeated ad nauseam that this is perhaps the worst gubernatorial campaign in Virginia’s history. Politics Prof. Larry Sabato, for example, told his Twitter followers that there has “never been so much voter unhappiness with major-party candidates.” It is a choice, we are often told, between a Tea Party extremist and an inexperienced and shady Washington insider. In terms of describing the personalities in the race, these criticisms are highly accurate. For some liberals disappointed with their candidate, voting against Cuccinelli is their only excuse for checking McAuliffe’s name at the ballot box, whereas others have determined to sit out the election to voice their disgust. It’s easy to see why Democrats in a state Barack Obama carried twice might expect a more inspirational candidate than McAuliffe. But many activists and media figures are overlooking that there are very good affirmative reasons to support a McAuliffe candidacy besides his being a warm body that does not belong to Ken Cuccinelli.
The greatest of all these reasons is McAuliffe’s support for the Medicaid expansion. It’s no secret that Ken Cuccinelli is a stalwart foe of Obamacare, but for many the implications of this are lost on the state level. The Supreme Court’s June 2012 ruling on Obamacare allowed states to opt out of the law’s Medicaid expansion. While it initially seemed likely that state legislatures would accept an arrangement in which the federal government initially paid 100 percent of the cost for the new beneficiaries before gradually maintaining 90 percent support, 15 states have rejected the expansion and seven are leaning toward not participating. Virginia is currently among those on the fence, and if elected, McAuliffe would ensure that approximately 376,000 to 400,000 low-income Virginians would finally have access to secure health care. Cuccinelli has been a steadfast opponent of the package, and if McAuliffe doesn’t win, these Virginians are likely to be left out in the cold. For progressives who have struggled for more than 100 years to implement some form of universal health care, it should feel satisfying to vote for the guarantee of health and economic security for hundreds of thousands of families on the edge of poverty.
For those who value public education, McAuliffe is also an easy choice. As governor, McAuliffe would be a firm bulwark against the education privatization campaign that has allowed public schools to wither on the vine in favor of vouchers for private institutions in states like Louisiana and Wisconsin. While Cuccinelli would expand charters at the expense of education funding for existing public schools and would seek a state constitutional amendment to allow taxpayer funding to go to private religious schools, McAuliffe would boost pre-kindergarten education, raise teacher pay and stop the expansion of testing for testing’s sake. Under siege as one of the last places in our society firmly in the public sphere, public schools would remain, with McAuliffe, less under threat of being run as tiny corporations.
Though they have hardly been in the headlines, appointments under the new governor will be hugely consequential for Virginians. The University found out in a profound way last summer the impact that appointments to the Board of Visitors can have, especially by a governor who is highly captive to business interests. Beyond that, there is a strong possibility that Cuccinelli appointees would have anti-gay prejudices and then go on to affect the policies of higher education institutions based on his suits against Virginia Commonwealth University.
Beyond the Virginia university system, the state regulatory apparatus would be very much a reflection of the governor’s preferences as well. For instance, Doug Domenench, the current secretary of natural resources, worked in the Bush administration, is hostile to efforts combating climate change and was a lobbyist for big timber companies, http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/state-regional/state-takes-down-climate-change-web-page/article_27db5bf7-a837-580a-ac7f-11435df7c191.html?mode=jqm, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Doug_Domenech. In contrast, McAuliffe’s appointees would likely reflect his interests in green technology, alternative energy, and desire to move beyond coal.
This is not to say that progressives should walk into the ballot box on Nov. 5 feeling like they are about to inaugurate the beginning of Virginia’s transformation into a liberal paradise with a Robert F. Kennedy-style figure leading the charge. Obviously this could not be further from the truth. To say, however, that both candidates are “equally bad” is to hold Cuccinelli’s extremely reactionary politics equivalent with McAuliffe’s general aura of being a used car salesman. Neither quality approaches praiseworthiness, but one will dramatically impact public policy and the other will not.
Elections are, after all, votes for parties and the political coalitions they represent rather than personalities. The Democratic party, while compromised to corporate interests and often beholden to its own plutocratic elite, still remains the most receptive electoral vehicle in the current political climate for empowering a coalition that seeks human decency toward racial minorities, modern health care choices for women and a strengthening of the American social democracy that began in the New Deal. Compared to staying home and allowing the revanchist elements behind Cuccinelli to carry the day, the choice should be clear for progressives.
No less a neoliberal sellout than Noam Chomsky has said that in close elections, progressives should vote for Democrats without illusions and with realistic plans as to how they can pressure elected officials to be true to the values of the left. A vote for McAuliffe will be a vote for greater economic security and health care, a robust public education system, and a Virginia that imperfectly but surely tilts the scales in favor of working people.
Gray Whisnant is a Viewpoint columnist for The Cavalier Daily.
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