Election in the USA State of Virginia

This essay provides an overview of the elections in the USA state of Virginia, focusing on the political background and the candidates. It discusses the dominance of the Democratic Party in the 10th district and profiles the current representative, Jennifer Wexton, and Senator Tim Kaine. Get informed and make your vote count.

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Becoming an informed voter
Name
Institution

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Introduction
Elections in USA are held after every five years. The citizens are accorded a chance to
exercise their democratic rights since the country is ruled democratically. Individuals interested
in occupying the various positions are allowed to contact campaigns where they sell their
manifesto to the people who then make decisions individually to vote for the candidate of their
choice. In Virginia the process is similar to that in other states. Members interested to occupy
any seats from the districts campaign within these districts and those who would wish to occupy
the senatorial position also campaign in the entire state. This essay will pay particular attention
on the elections in district 10 and analyze the political background of Virginia as well as one
senator who has achieved various group ratings.
Virginia’s 10th congregational district representation had the highest number of
contestants in the 2018 election. Given that party primaries were conducted by both the
democrats and the republicans on June 12th and some of the contestants were eliminated from
vying for the position (Moulton, Waller & Wentland, 2018). At the end of the primaries, the
democrats had six candidates remaining and the republican had two. Jennifer Wexton overthrew
the incumbent Barbara Comstock who had represented the district for two consecutive terms.
The district was among those with the highest profile USA House of Representatives election
and it was very competitive and costly. The Republican Party had consolidated power for about
25 years in Virginia not until the recent election when the democrats mobilized their way
through and ended up garnering the most seats in the House of Representatives.
Virginia has always been a democrat’s stronghold. In the recent presidential election
Hillary Bill Clinton carried the flag in Virginia for garnering 49.7% of votes against her

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counterpart (Dickson & Meyer, 2015) businessman Donald Trump who garnered 44.3% votes.
The case was almost similar in the 10th district where Hillary Clinton also won against her
counterpart. The state has always been a democrat stronghold with most of its representatives
coming from the party. The largest number of candidates that vied for the representation position
was from the democrat’s party. The total number was 12 before 6 were eliminated in the
primaries leaving behind 6 contestants among them the winner of the 2018 election Jennifer
Weston. The Republican Party only presented two candidates among them the incumbent
Barbara Comstock.
In the 10th district of Virginia, the democrat party has the greatest following as evident in
the recent elections where the Republican Party presented two candidates for the representation
position against 6 presented by the democrats after the primaries when 6 were put aside
(Kennedy, Blumenthal, Clement, Clinton, Durand, Franklin, Rivers, 2018). When numbers are
considered the republicans should have won the election since the number of democrat voters
was subdivided to the many contestants. The democrat party candidate still won the election
overwhelmingly against the republicans.
The district has a long history of the democrats party dominating since the first 5
presidents of the United States was all from the state of Virginia and all of them were democrats
(Brownstein, 2013). As evident in the elections of the recent years the only time the district was
represented by a republican is in the 2014 and 2016 elections when Barbara Comstock won. In
the previous years, a democrat candidate Frank wolf represented the district since the year 2000-
2014. Frank Wolf retired voluntarily from the representation position after a long service. In the
2018 election the pattern repeated itself when Jennifer Weston a democrat ascended to the
representation position consequently defeating the incumbent republican.

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Ms Jennifer Wexton came to power in the last election in the 10th district of Virginia
courtesy of her explicit performance in the departments she had earlier served in. Ms Wexton
who happens to be a former prosecutor gained respect in the entire state senate. She has served in
the position since 2014 where she pushed no-nonsense bills in a bid to give power to the victims
Antonio (Olivo Spring 2019) of revenge pornography to take an action and sue their tormenters.
She also take part in the making of strict day care centers rules and regulations for the good of
the infants and their parents. She also pushed the bill for easy medication which helps to prevent
opioid overdose related deaths. Her tough nature makes her to subject government officials to
scrutiny in cases where services to the public are compromised. This explicit background and
performance gave her a legal ground where she has been able to win many of the voters.
Tim Kaine practiced law in Richmond for a period of 17 years. He specialized in
representing people and families that have been denied access to housing due to racism,
disability and status in the family. He won the largest civil rights jury verdict against an
insurance company which was discriminating the neighborhood. He was first elected as a council
member in Richmond in 1994; in 1998 he was elected again as the mayor of Richmond. At this
moment he worked hard to bring solutions aimed at reducing crime rates. In 2002, he was elected
Virginia’s lieutenant governor and inaugurated as the 70th governor of Virginia in 2006 (Dunn,
2012). During his reign as Governor, Tim brought exceptional improvements in the education
and health care systems. Virginia was ranked by leading the publication as the best state to raise
a child and consequently the best to do business by the end of Tim’s term. He was elected to the
senate in the year 2012 as an optimist who can bring people from all divides together. His main
focus now as the senator is to improve the lives of the Virginians. This is evident in the
prioritizing job opportunities for everyone, expansion access to training for jobs to ensure all

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students are well prepared and equipped with the skills needed for modern economic jobs. He
has also been advocating for reduction of unemployment in the veterans and military families as
well as working to ensure these veterans receive the benefits and care they have earned during
service. He also works to ensure the military has all the requirements to help in keeping the
country safe so as to help in avoiding any risk of wars which are unnecessary. In the recent years
Tim has been the leading voice (McCloskey, 2019) in advocating against presidents declaration
to start wars without the congress votes. Healthcare has been further improved during his reign
as a result of his untiring work on advocating for affordable health and insurance. His service in
the committees of the senate gives him a good chance to prioritize these important services
aimed at bettering lives for the Virginians.
Jennifer wexton the 10th district representative is rated as follows. ADA rating of 59% as
per her services in the 2014-2016 Civil Service. ACLU also rated her with a 73 % as a veteran in
fighting for the rights of the oppressed. Besides these the ACU also rated her 46% of accurate
dealings at all times and transactions. FRC also gave her a rating of 66% in regard to her all time
availability and commitment to serving the people of her district. The public rated her 80% as a
veteran who is aimed at the betterment of the lives of those under her authority. All these ratings
gave her an upper hand in defeating her counterparts in the 2018 general election where she was
elected as the representative of the 10th district. All the people viewed her as the best alternative
for the challenges which had not been addressed in the past.
Tim kaine the senator for the state of Virginia received interested ratings from the ADA,
ACLU, ACU, and FRC for the years 2012-2014. In 2012, the Tim received was 80% from the
ADA, another 71% rating from the ACLU,6% from the ACU and an alternative rating (Rigueur,
2019, February 12) from the FRC. In 2014, Tim received 83% from the ADA, 83% from the

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ACLU, 1% from the ACU, and 0% from the FRC. The ratings from the national journal, in 2014
Tim also received 80% on economics, 69% on social, 73% on foreign, and 55% on composite on
the liberal column. These ratings consequently has given tim an upper hand in the elections since
he was first elected senator in 2012.
Conclusion
The 10th district in the state of Virginia is dominated by the democrats as evident on the
uncountable times they have represented the district. Jennifer Weston is the current
representative of the district courtesy of her explicit performance in various positions. Tim kaine
also has got explicit performance since he has served in the state as a member of the council, a
mayor, a governor and finally a senator of the state of Virginia. Both has got explicit
performance hence they have turned out to be the perfect match for the Virginians.

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References
Antonio Olivo. (3AD, Spring 2019). Moderate Democrats in Virginia under fire from liberal
flank. Washington Post, The. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
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Brownstein, R. (2013). How to Win in Virginia as a Liberal Democrat. National Journal, 12.
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Dickson, V., & Meyer, H. (2015). ACA opponents boosted by Kentucky, Virginia elections.
Modern Healthcare, 45(45), 0010. Retrieved from
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Dunn, S. W. (2012). Candidate and Media Agenda Setting in the 2005 Virginia Gubernatorial
Election. Journal of Communication, 59(3), 635–652. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-
2466.2009.01442.x
Kennedy, C., Blumenthal, M., Clement, S., Clinton, J. D., Durand, C., Franklin, C., … Rivers, D.
(2018). An Evaluation of the 2016 Election Polls in the United States. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 82(1), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfx047

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McCloskey, L. (2019). “Walk Cheerfully Over the Earth”: A Spiritual Profile of Senator Tim
Kaine. Interpretation: A Journal of Bible & Theology, 73(1), 36–50.
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Moulton, J. G., Waller, B. D., & Wentland, S. A. (2018). Who Benefits from Targeted Property
Tax Relief? Evidence from Virginia Elections. Journal of Policy Analysis &
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Rigueur, L. W. (2019, February 12). Virginia Democrats Get Pragmatic. New York Times, p.
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