The Landslide in the House
Tuesday’s vote attests that Democrats neither led nor convinced America that they had the right solution to the nation’s intractable problems.
A late poll suggested that the congressional race between Democrat Glenn Nye and Republican Scott Rigell was a dead heat. The only poll that really matters, the one on Tuesday, showed it was anything but.
Rigell won his first bid for public office, with voters in Virginia’s 2nd District overwhelmingly choosing him as their representative and firing Nye, the incumbent, after just one uninspiring term.
The victory was one of many across the nation for Republicans on Election Day. That wave will make Rigell a member of the majority party in the House of Representatives when the 112th Congress is sworn in. He’ll be joined by Chesapeake Republican Randy Forbes, who cruised to a fifth term in Virginia’s 4th District.
Democrat Bobby Scott, who represents the 3rd District, beat back three challengers to win a 10th term, but he’ll head back to Washington a member of a dramatically weakened caucus.
The Republican landslide in the House, predicted for months, was as glowing an endorsement of the GOP as it was a devastating indictment of the leadership by Democrats and President Barack Obama.
The challenge for the incoming conservative wave, as it was for Democrats in 2008, will be to move forward with an agenda and to lead the charge toward consensus. Tuesday’s vote attests that Democrats neither led nor convinced America that they had the right solution to the nation’s intractable problems.
In Virginia, voters in three of the most hotly contested congressional districts — the 2nd, the 5th and the 9th — rejected Democratic incumbents in favor of Republicans.
For his part, Nye had tried for months to distance himself from his own party, highlighting votes against health care reform, cap and trade, even the federal budget. Those were difficult, party-bucking votes. They could’ve served as a model for independence. But his retreat instead indicated something else — a reluctance to take the point on the thorniest issues.
The message Tuesday was clear: Voters of the 2nd District expect a representative who is not only independent but who will listen and lead.
Rigell’s relentless refrain that Nye was an automatic vote for the Democratic leadership will come back to haunt him if he proves an automatic vote for the Republican leadership. And voters on Tuesday proved they won’t hesitate to change their minds if a representative’s performance isn’t immediately satisfactory.
Rigell, who made a fortune as a successful car dealer, will have plenty to tackle in his first term. He’ll have to help improve the national economy, protect key military assets in his district, fix the health care reform law and provide an open ear — and a compelling vision — for his constituents.
He and his new colleagues must demonstrate a willingness to lead on important issues and to persuade.
They won’t have long to do it.
The 2012 election, after all, is just two years away.
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