In a race with national implications, Virginia GOP state Delegate Bob Marshall was defeated by his Democratic opponent Danica Roem after being outspent by more than $400,000, an absurdly enormous amount of money for a small House of Delegates race. Roem received approximately 11,000 votes at a total cost of almost $60 per vote.
This is what happens when the radical transgender lobby pours more than $600,000 into a small state race and conservative donors largely sit the race out — Democrats cruise to victory and claim a mandate on an issue they were too afraid to outwardly campaign on. Delegate Marshall ran an incredible race and did the best he could, but ultimately, with the news media cheering hard for Roem and the transgender lobby purchasing a small state race for the absurd price of $60 per vote, defeat was inevitable.
Conservatives will continue to lose ground to the radical transgender lobby until they learn that the only way to stop the bleeding is to engage in politics. As Frank Cannon and Maggie Gallagher wrote this week at First Things, culture is downstream of politics. When you win elections, you send a powerful signal that drives change in the culture. The transgender lobby, following the lead of the gay rights movement, knows this, which is why they spent so much money on a seemingly inconsequential state race nobody cared about.
The real story here is a story of political malpractice as the conservative movement failed to defend one of its best allies in Bob Marshall. When will conservatives wake up and fight the obvious fights?
