Mark Herring, the most extreme and most destructive Attorney General in Virginia’s history, desperately wanted to be Governor.
In 2015, his play-nice deferral to now-Governor, Ralph Northam, earned him brownie points among the Party faithful and a straight path to the top of the 2021 state ticket—or so he thought. Then came Herring’s 2019 “blackface” controversy, followed by “woke” consciousness in the new Virginia Democrat party. And everything changed.
Faced by three Democrat Challengers-of-Color—Jennifer Carroll Foy, Jennifer McClellan, and Justin Fairfax—Herring had no choice but to step aside. The optics, as viewed by color-conscious Party minions, were/are horrible.
Now, former Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, faces a similar dilemma in the exploratory phase of his Gubernatorial candidacy part deux. Despite his bona fides and top-level connections (read: Bill and Hillary Clinton), he will be seen as a racial interloper by progressive Democrats, eager to witness an ethnic-American occupying the Governor’s mansion.
Given the current playing field and team roster, Terry McAuliffe likely will bench himself in the Virginia Governor games, a willing participant in 21st century white flight.
