Inside Nova - "Arlington Democrats make pitch for disaffected Republicans"

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By Scott McCaffrey

Attention, disaffected Republicans: The Arlington County Democratic Committee would be happy to have you on its side, if only for this one upcoming election.

"If ever there was a year to take a rock-ribbed Republican who lives in [the GOP stronghold of] Madison precinct, this is the year," U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) said at the Aug. 3 meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, which focused on ginning up turnout in the local area for Hillary Clinton.

County Democrats are hoping for a margin of victory of 50,000 votes for Clinton in Arlington, which would be a record-breaker: Barack Obama won 49,028 more Arlington votes than John McCain in 2008 and 46,795 more votes than Mitt Romney in 2012.

With Virginia's 13 electoral votes seen as up for grabs on Nov. 8, rolling up the margin in Arlington and across Northern Virginia may provide a cushion for Democrats, who traditionally face a more hostile electorate downstate. Without Northern Virginia, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine and Terry McAuliffe would not be holding elected office today.

"We're going to run up the score in Arlington -- that's how we're going to win in Virginia," said Josh Katcher, who is heading voter-turnout efforts for the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

"A handful of votes . . . makes a tremendous difference," said Beyer, whose own re-election seems assured but who (despite his support for Obama over Clinton in 2008) has been working hard for the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

Beyer used the Aug. 3 appearance to call Republican nominee Donald Trump "an embarrassment to our nation" who has "filled the airwaves with hate."

"We will not let him win," Beyer said.

Since the beginning of the year, Arlington Democrats have been working to add 19,000 new voters in Arlington. To date, more than 13,000 have registered.

Not all of them have been the result of Democratic outreach, but Katcher says those efforts have been paying off.

"Four people here, five people there . . . day in and day out," he said of the grind-it-out nature of the voter initiative.

The Democratic Party of Virginia has dispatched about a half-dozen mostly young activists across Arlington to further press the party's advantage in the county.

"We've made a ton of progress. We have stuff going on every day, all the time," said Maggie Seppi, the state party's regional field director for the local area.

One of the biggest challenges for Democrats (and Republicans) in voter outreach is gaining access to mid-rise and high-rise apartments and condominiums, which often are off-limits to soliciting, political or otherwise. Katcher made a pitch to the party faithful for help in getting a toehold.

"We need to kick in the doors," he said, almost assuredly figuratively. "Any day of the week, we'll be there."

Once county Democrats feel they've done all they can to lock down the vote in Arlington, they plan to move resources westward, where Democrat LuAnn Bennett is attempting to knock off freshman U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-10th).

"After Arlington, that is our next stop," Arlington County Democratic Committee chairman Malinosky said of the 10th District race.

Bennett, a real-estate executive and former wife of former U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-8th), so far has focused her campaign on trying to tie Comstock to Trump.

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