Nearly every evening after work, Monica Hutchinson crunches up and down leaf-strewn sidewalks to remind African American residents that Election Day is Nov. 7 and to deliver this message: “We are the deciding vote.”
Hutchinson, a volunteer with the advocacy group New Virginia Majority, has data on her side. African Americans make up about 20 percent of Virginia’s electorate, and a surge in black voting has been decisive in recent statewide elections. Democratic candidates were the beneficiaries, tilting what had been a reliably red state into full swing status.
But that wave shows signs of ebbing, and some argue that the Democratic ticket led by gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam hasn’t done enough to energize black voters and ensure a big turnout against Republican Ed Gillespie.
It’s part of a national problem for Democrats, who are fretting over the way forward in the age of President Trump and struggling to take advantage of demographic shifts that should favor them.