peter doocy, the fallout now in richmond, virginia. good morning there. are democrats giving president trump credit for their win? what is the reaction, peter? they are saying that president trump had a lot to do with it and they re really rubbing it in. the president wisely chose to be thousands of miles away from the united states tonight. on to 2018, on to 2020. democrats last night also flipped 15 seats in the house of delegates and may take up even more. they may end up in the majority in the chamber once some recounts are done. among the winners a candidate who will become virginia s openly transgender delegate. the first democratic socialist delegate and the first ever openly lesbian delegate. the governor elect ralph northam sees the old dominion changing.
purple competitive state. i m dropping that. it is a blue state. a light blue state. california, new york, new jersey, deep blue. let s make that distinction. here is what happened. actually gillespie did about as well as trump in percentage terms in rural virginia. he kept the trump vote if rural virginia. he got 170,000 more votes than the last republican candidate for governor. here is what won it for northam. he got 335,000 more votes than terry mccauliffe got four years ago. democratic turnout. they were energized this year like the republicans or the trump republicans were last year. bill: are we reading too much into it? i think when you consider what kansas, montana, georgia, south carolina, republicans went four for four. the president pointed that out in a tweet last night. are we trying to see too much into the results, larry?
sandra: celebrating twin victories in new jersey and virginia in the first major test of swing state politics under president trump. welcome to a new hour of america s newsroom. wednesday morning i m sandra smith. bill: i m bill hemmer. hump day here, on ward we go. good morning. shot in the arm for democrats. marking their first statewide wins during the trump administration. a year ago today donald trump won the election and last night ralph northam defeated ed gillespie for governor of virginia. murphy winning in new jersey as well. president trump said this. ed gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what i stand for. don t forget republicans won four out of four house seats and with the economy doing record numbers we ll continue to win bigger than before, end tweet.
we lost two governors races that democrats typically win. virginia is getting bluer and bluer. what s interesting with the virginia race is that ralph northam started running ads saying i ll work with this president. he moderated positions on sanctuary cities and statues and we started to see him gain traction in rural virginia. bill: there is a bit of reaction the morning after. republican chair woman last hour on our program arguing the result last night should not be much of a surprise. dr. larry sabato director of politics in charlottesville at the university of virginia. you ve analyzed it all night. what do you think? well, she is certainly right that virginia is becoming bluer. we used to describe it as a
we live in a very diverse society. it is getting more diverse every day. it is that diverse society that makes this country great. another victorious democrat heading for richmond the former roanoke area news anchor whose girlfriend was the late alison parker, shot and killed during a live broadcast two summers ago. bill: has ed gillespie said anything about the president trump tweet critique? no, he hasn t. gillespie s concession began a few minutes after president trump tweeted he thought gillespie would have done better if he would have endorsed the president and his agenda. it never came up. gillespie never said it or thanked the president whose voice was on a robocall earlier in the day. the focus was on ending a nasty campaign with well wishes. mr. norm e northam is a good man and i appreciate his