Road-tripping through a divided state
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2022
⏱️ 55 minutes
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Summary
With midterms ahead, both parties are tryings to connect with voters. But what if voters just want politics to stop feeling like an existential death match? Plus, a tribute to “Arthur,” the kids show ending after 25 years.
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This year’s midterm elections have Democrats and Republicans facing tough questions about how to reach voters. Back in November, there was a test case that offered some insight to both parties: the Virginia governor’s race.
Businessman Glenn Youngkin was the first Republican to be elected governor of Virginia in nearly a decade. The race was viewed nationally as both a test of Joe Biden’s presidency and whether Republicans could mount a return after losing the White House.
Washington Post Magazine reporter David Montgomery wanted to know what led voters in a state that voted for Biden by big margins in 2020 to suddenly swing right in 2021. So he set out on a road trip across Virginia to talk to voters and to hear how the heated rhetoric between both political parties has influenced local communities.
After 25 years, the animated children’s show “Arthur” is ending. Producer Ariel Plotnick speaks with the author of the original books and the longtime executive producer of the show about what made “Arthur” so relatable for kids and parents alike.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | With the mint arms coming up this fall, there is this big existential question for both |
| 0:06.1 | Republicans and Democrats. |
| 0:08.3 | How do we deal with Trump? |
| 0:10.1 | He reshaped the Republican Party, but he's not the face of it anymore, at least for now. |
| 0:15.2 | So do the Democrats continue to run as the anti-Trump party, and do Republicans pretend |
| 0:20.7 | that Trump isn't a thing anymore? |
| 0:25.1 | This may seem like a question that's hard to answer, but there was a test case. |
| 0:29.6 | In November in Virginia, the first round of major elections since Joe Biden's win a year |
| 0:35.3 | earlier. |
| 0:36.8 | Democrats saw this one race as a test of Joe Biden's presidency that could offer broader |
| 0:41.7 | insight into how voters were feeling around the country. |
| 0:45.9 | Some people saw it as a bellweather of Republican strength. |
| 0:49.0 | A way to predict whether Donald Trump could return. |
| 0:52.3 | Here is the Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McCollough. |
| 0:56.1 | If we don't win this thing, this is Donald Trump's comeback, and people need to wake up, |
| 1:01.5 | and I know we have elections every year in Virginia, and people get tired, but this is very |
| 1:05.8 | important. |
| 1:06.8 | But for Republicans, it wasn't just about Trump. |
| 1:10.9 | After he lost the White House, some Republicans were eager to try a new strategy, one that |
| 1:15.7 | centered less around the former president. |
| 1:18.6 | And in Virginia, the face of that new strategy was Republican-Canadic Glen-Yunkin. |
| 1:23.3 | The same stuff that's happening in our school districts is happening in their school districts, |
... |
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