Lawn signs don't augur well for McAuliffe

Sign-wise Terry McAuliffe is no Joe Biden

In 2020, you couldn’t walk a block in Old Town Alexandria without seeing Biden signs everywhere. It was not unusual to see four Biden signs in one small block. It was part of my unscientific way of gauging not only how Alexandria would vote, but also where the enthusiasm could be found. The enthusiasm was on the left.

During my unscientific dogwalking survey over the last week, I’m not seeing nearly that amount of support for Democrat Terry McAuliffe, the former governor and former Democratic National Committee chairman who is running for a second term. (Under Virginia law, no governor can serve two consecutive terms.)

Back to 2020. Before election day, I saw one Trump Pence yard in Old Town. As you can see, it was placed where you could not tell who put it up. (I saw another Trump sign in a home window after the election. Of course, there may have been more signs which I missed. But then the points of the signs is for people to see them.)

Last year, I also saw a number of signs for then GOP Senate candidate Daniel Gade without Trump signs. It was a clear statement from local Republicans who did not like Trump.

I also saw one yard sign for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen.

After the election, the Alexandria Times reported,

The city’s voters overwhelmingly supported Biden, with 80.28% voting for Biden and 17.63% voting for Trump, according to the Virginia Department of Elections. In addition, 1.24% of residents voted for libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen and 0.85% wrote in candidates.

Fast forward to October 2021 - with McAuliffe battling Republican hopeful Glenn Youngkin.

Last week, The Cook Political Report moved its assessment of the gubernatorial race from “leans Democrat” to “toss up.”

So where are McAuliffe signs? When I walk the dog in the morning, I see “Terry for Virginia” signs and signs for “McAuliffe Ayala Herring” that also boost would-be Lt. Gov. Ayala Herring and incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring. But not nearly as many as the number of Biden signs a year ago.

I don’t see as many Youngkin signs as McAuliffe signs. But then this is Alexandria, where Biden won 4 out of 5 votes. And I do see Youngkin signs.

There are a number of signs for J.D. Maddox, a Republican running for the Virginia House of Delegates — more than for Youngkin.

I see two things here:

1. With Trump not on the ballot, Republican enthusiasm is up in Northern Virginia.

2. People who clearly lean left are not as gung-ho on McAuliffe as they were about Biden. Think about it. Wouldn’t you expect to see McAuliffe signs on yards with signs that tout “Black Lives Matter” and “Feminism is for Everyone”?

You’d think there might be a way to get McAuliffe in or around more of these signs. I did see that once, but McAuliffe got less prominence than John Kerry.

Again, this isn’t scientific, but it isn’t meaningless either.

Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org. Sign up below for alerts for future posts.