Dem voters embrace fringe — from socialists to pro-assassination nuts

The voters spoke Tuesday night, and rather than reject Democrat extremism, they embraced it emphatically.

In New Jersey and Virginia, two fake moderates — high-test resume female candidates practically built in a lab by the party establishment, who nonetheless hold to extreme leftist views on social policy — cruised to victory, in line with polls and the expectations of the political elite.

None of the outcomes were surprises, except perhaps one — the Virginia Attorney General race, where Jay Jones, the bloody-minded partisan who was exposed for openly fantasizing about murdering a Republican political opponent and hoping his children died in their mother’s arms, won handily.

Jones’ victory is a vindication of the pro-assassination faction of the radical left.

It turns out you can celebrate your opponents’ deaths, and muse about how great it would be if their children died, too, without any repercussions.

It might even help you prove your bona fides.

You’re a true leftist now, Jay Jones.

The Commonwealth is a long distance from the great Doug Wilder and the old Virginia Way.

Every four years, the off-year elections in Virginia and New Jersey have outsized importance in the minds of the national political class.

Lacking any other data points, they seize on the results in these states as indicators of the national mood.

But the truth is, more often than not, these off-year elections are independent variables, dependent on local battles and priorities, and motivated by backlash against whoever occupies the White House.

The rare exception is 2009, when Bob McDonnell in Virginia and Chris Christie in New Jersey presaged the rising tide of the Tea Party movement to sweep Republicans into office as an offset for President Barack Obama’s overreach.

In other years, national politics and decisions about investment played a decisive role in undermining hopefuls.

Such poor decision-making has been rampant in Virginia, where underfunded Republican candidates have lost elections more narrowly than expected.

And then there is New Jersey, which always seems to be participating in a live-action reenactment of Charlie Brown racing toward Lucy and the football.

Even if there’s some momentum and its candidates lean into charismatic messaging, the state is still even more solidly blue than Virginia.

The real lesson from this one, though, is that Democrats’ strategy worked, and Republicans continue to struggle without Donald Trump atop the ticket.

Trump’s impact on American politics has transformed the Republican electorate — inspiring a more diverse group of voters, including a wider portion of the growing populations in America, with a strong motivation to vote for the Trumpian MAGA GOP that fueled his history-making popular vote victory in 2024.

The problem for the GOP is that when Trump isn’t the name at the top, that same electorate lacks the motivation to show up.

In Virginia and New Jersey, Trump offered relatively little in support to candidates who were already climbing uphill.

And in the end, they couldn’t overcome the odds.

The extremism of the Democratic Party is locked in now.

They have elected governors who want their states to be sanctuaries for illegal immigrants, men allowed in girl’s locker rooms, and an anti-law and order agenda that is no less extreme than what we are about to see from the young fellow whose first real job on his resume will read “Mayor, New York City.”

They have also elected an attorney general right across the river from Washington, DC, who hopes for his opponents’ deaths as if it was normal.

Well, the pain is coming — for New Jersey and for Virginia — in the form of higher taxes, lower crime penalties, and an aggressive culture war against everything that Donald Trump has done in his second term.

Sometimes citizens have to learn the hard way when the results of what they ask for are delivered, in spades.

As JRR Tolkien wrote, it is “the burned hand teaches best. After that, advice about fire goes to the heart.”

We’ll see soon enough how the voters feel about it, and if they will reward the Democrats for their extremism when it comes time for the midterms . . . or if they decide to vote with their feet in the meantime.

Either way, the lesson begins now.

Ben Domenech is editor at large of The Spectator and a Fox News contributor.