YoungkinWatch: Where There is No Vision the GOP Perishes

by Matthew Waters

After running as the GOP nominee in deep-blue Newport News, Virginia, and losing by a 17 point margin, I can confidently tell you that— “Not all is lost.”
Let me start with two fundamental rules of politics:

#1. Define or be defined;

#2 Republicans don’t win elections, Democrats lose elections.

RULE #1: Define or be defined.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin campaigned on “Secure Your Vote.”

Two questions for the Governor:

1. Is my vote not secure on election day? If not, why not?

2. Why spend millions on what amounts to a public service announcement to win an election?

The D’s message on the other hand was crystal clear: “My opponent is an anti-abortion extremist who will kill women.” The Democrats defined their opponents — every single one of them — as a kind of pseudo-American terrorist. And they got away with it.

Youngkin failed by every single measure to do the same. He gave Virginians a “big ‘ol hug” and got round-house kicked in the face.

RULE #2: Republicans don’t win elections; Democrats lose elections.

Despite voters telling pollsters “Jobs and Economy and Inflation” were issues #1, #2, #3, the D’s won on abortion. Youngkin raised “a ban on abortion” as an issue and then refused fight for it, or anything else.

Instead, Gov. Youngkin ran on “Secure Your Vote.”

The D’s play hardball — no rules, no authority, no morality — while the GOP plays Wiffle ball, swaying to “The Sweet By and By,” busily making sure campaign signs have the proper legal verbiage. Recall Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

The D’s coalition is organized around a single defining principle — the Al Davis Principle: Just Win Baby. They manufacture campaigns out of thin air. According to one poll of Democrats in Virginia, the top issue was abortion. But only 25% of D’s thought so. Stop and think about that for a minute. The D’s entire strategy was built on an issue only 25% of their base cared about.

How’d they do this?

First, R’s in Virginia didn’t give voters a compelling vision on jobs and the economy—much less any real reason to vote. Add to that the GOP didn’t make the case why we want to stop abortion after three months of pregnancy. We need to describe an abortion. Voters will then understand why we are opposed to it. Most will join us in our effort.

Secondly, the D’s do what advertisers do: motivate people by appealing to emotions: fear, guilt, anger, revenge, anxiety, paranoia, insecurity and the like. And D’s do this while simultaneously manufacturing crises out of thin air: Climate Change (you will die if you don’t vote for a wind farm); Racism (They going to put y’all back in chains); Public Schools (Not only do R’s hate public teachers, they don’t like the food served in the cafeteria); and you get the picture. What is amazing is none of that is true. They run on lies and fear.

In an economy like ours, with inflation at 1970s highs, and housing costs in Virginia topping the nation — you would think that the R’s could have employed many of the very real emotions that voters are experiencing into a win. High food and gas prices, being priced out of the housing market, etc.

Where there is No Vision the GOP will Perish

What I witnessed canvassing across the district were R’s who can be described loosely as Christians and conservatives — most of whom are greying. In the district I ran in, only 7,000 of the 15,000-20,000 Republicans bothered to show up and vote. Why not?

They simply were given no reason to vote. “Secure Your Vote” proved to be an abject failure.

And at a time when thousands of R’s are growing more and more disillusioned, not only with elections, but with America herself, Governor Youngkin failed to offer any vision whatsoever to the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Many Conservatives no longer care–understanding more fully what the Pretender’s Chrissie Hynde sang about in “My city was gone.”

I went back to Ohio

But my city was gone

There was no train station

There was no downtown

South Howard had disappeared

All my favorite places

My city had been pulled down

Reduced to parking spaces

Dems Heeded Youngkin’s Message: They Mopped up the Early Vote

At 8 PM ET, on November 7, an hour after the polls closed, my campaign was 7 points behind my Democrat opponent, in a 14.5+ D district. Fifteen minutes later, after absentee votes were counted, my opponent’s margin grew to 17 points.

So make no mistake, Governor Youngkin’s “Secure your vote” PSA campaign was incredibly effective: It motivated hundreds of thousands of Democrats to go to the polls to vote against Republicans.

Final Thoughts on Abortion

If the GOP is going to put abortion on the table–then explain what a D&C abortion is, show it, describe it. Do the same with the saline salt kill abortion. Do the same with late-term partial birth abortion. Show a baby struggling for life, lying on a table with its mother in the next room, recovering. Describe fetal pain. Show the babies heartbeat and brainwaves—and their disappearance—when the infant is killed.

Brutal, disgusting, and should be outlawed by any civilization that claims to be civil.

That the GOP runs on abortion, only then run away from the issue, was a big mistake. Youngkin was motivated by a poll showing more than 50% of Americans support a 15-week ban. So the poll determined his policy. But, that cannot be the end of it. To delve into the issue of abortion requires a major offensive.

A major offensive would correct and call out the Left when they say, “abortion is healthcare” or a “reproductive right.” That is all nonsense. They are lying. You have to hit them on it — show The Silent Scream. America will come to understand abortion is on a level with the Holocaust—if they are shown the pictures. We saw the Holocaust. Same with Slavery. Once the picture was drawn, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written, and Americans understood it–they revolted. We cannot capitulate on this or any other moral issue.

The take-away: Don’t give in and don’t let up. Don’t be ashamed to tell the truth. The truth can and will prevail.

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Matthew Waters is CEO of F Street Partners, a political consulting firm based in Washington, DC. Matt works closely with right of center organizations, assisting with messaging, strategy, fundraising, press, doing so for more than 30 years. Follow “Matthew Waters The New Right Report” on Substack.
Photo “Glenn Youngkin 2023 Secure Your Vote’ Campaign” by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.