Hank Silverberg, wtop.com
ARLINGTON, Va. – This week’s election in Virginia is an off year election with some high stakes. But with no statewide candidate on the ballot, who wins could be determined by how many people turn out to vote.
“The party that is able to mobilized it’s core constituency, the one that has the greater intensity on its side, is most likely to prevail,” says George Mason University Public Policy Professor Mark Rozell.
All 140 seats in the General Assembly and dozens candidates for local school boards and boards of supervisors are on the ballot. However, only about a voter turnout of only 30 percent is predicted.
“People are much more interested in Herman Cain’s latest scandal, or what the various up and downs are of various candidates on the Republican side for the presidential campaign,” says Rozell.
Many of the candidates for the General Assembly have spent more time talking about President Obama and the economy during the local campaign than they have about local issues like schools and roads.
Rozell says that is particularly true in the voter-rich Northern Virginia suburbs where the focus is often on national politics.
Republicans need to pick up just two seats in the Virginia Senate and maintain control of the House to gain full control of the state government. The state already has a Republican governor and a Republican attorney general.
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