In case you missed it, President Trump gave a fantastic State of the Union Address.
The biggest news out of this address to both houses of Congress wasn’t his speech—it was the Democrats’ behavior that made headlines. It was widely reported going into this speech that Democrats would try and disrupt the speech and that leadership discouraged this. Instead, they wanted a “no applause policy” where no Democrats would applaud anything Trump said or did. Within minutes of Trump starting his speech, Democrat Rep. Al Green, who has filed several articles of impeachment against Trump in the past, stood up and started screaming at Trump. He didn’t stop until the Sergeant-at-Arms had to haul him out. He has since been censured for this outburst, with even 10 Democrats voting for the censure.
Many Democrats wore pink to protest Trump and throughout the speech, held up nonsensical bingo paddles with messages like “Musk Steals” and “False” written on them.
They booed, they jeered, they heckled, and they held up their little signs. If I were to script the worst possible response to make the Democrats look bad, I couldn’t have come up with something like this. It was that bad. In the week since, they have been relentless mocked in every corner of the internet by both sides of the aisle. The protests made them look petty, small, and childish. They looked and sounded insufferable. Trump, for his part, handled the heckling well and often poked fun at it. The Democrats were so committed to horrible optics, they even refused to applaud Trump killing the terrorist responsible for the Abbey Gate bombing, a kid with cancer getting made an honorary secret service member, or a widow whose police husband was killed in the line of duty being recognized and honored. They instead booed the widow as Trump attacked cop killers and said they should get the death penalty. The polling shows that an overwhelming amount of voters approved of Trump’s speech—and did not like the Democrats’ behavior: The Democratic Party and the Left’s messaging has been horrendous. They haven’t found their message yet since Trump won.
2025 Election
We’re two weeks past the end of session and every Delegate has returned to the campaign trail. It’s very early in campaign season, so there hasn’t been a ton of activity. We’re a month away from the filing deadline and candidates are focused on raising money and gathering petitions. It appears unlikely Abagail Spanberger will face a Democrat challenger as the only interested candidate has officially ruled out running. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears. However, now faces two primary challengers. Former State Senator Amanda Chase and Former Delegate Dave LaRock have entered the race. This is no easy task, especially so late. They have less than 30 days to do this. To qualify for the primary ballot statewide, you need over 10,000 signatures and at least 700 in every congressional district. However, its best practice to collect far more than that because some will be thrown out. Both LaRock and Chase will be hard-pressed to qualify for the ballot, so it remains to be seen if Sears will have a primary. If neither candidate qualifies, she will be uncontested. A new poll by top-rated Republican pollster Cyngal was also published. The poll showed Spanberger with a large early lead of 6 points over Sears. However, the undecideds appear to be mostly Republican voters. The poll also showed Youngkin is very popular, and most voters think Virginia is on the right track. The generic ballot question showed a D+2 result, meaning voters favored a “generic Democrat” by 2 points over a “generic Republican.” In the Lieutenant Governor’s race, not much movement has happened as both Republican and Democrat candidates focus on collecting signatures. Post April 5 th , there will be a lot more activity. The Family Foundation Action plans to host a Lieutenant Governor’s Candidate Forum after the April 5 th Signature Deadline in Harrisonburg.
What’s happening around the Country
I wanted to bring one small special election to your attention. Generally, special elections can act as barometers of how enthusiastic a party’s base is, to show up for a small, off-year election. Since Trump came on the scene and the party’s re-aligned, Democrats usually do far better in special elections. Their voters are more highly educated and thus, are higher propensity voters. Two weeks ago, there were four special elections around the country. Two state representative elections in deep-red districts in California, one state senate election in a purple seat in Connecticut, and one state representative election in a deep blue Maine seat. 3 of these special elections saw a huge overperformance by Republicans. The Republican candidate in CT SD-21 overperformed Trump by 6.5 points, a shocking result for a CT special election on the heels of Trump’s 2024 win. You’d expect Democrats to run to the polls, hopping mad, and looking for a way to let their government know how they feel. Instead, Republicans delivered a surprising victory. In April, there will be a state supreme court election in Wisconsin. This election is very important because it will determine control over the Wisconsin Supreme Court and have 2026 implications (WI Court can redraw the lines and give either party a better congressional advantage). This will be an even better benchmark to gauge which side is more energized and engaged. In 2022, Democrats won a April Wisconsin State Supreme Court race by 10+ points. I will continue to update you as the 2025 race takes shape.
