She'll be back in 2015 to finish the job.
In September 2006, incumbent Rep. Al Wynn defeated Daily Kos-backed Donna Edwards in a Maryland primary. The late challenge had galvanized our community, but the powers of incumbency—from higher name recognition, to an established political machine, to more money—were sufficient to give Wynn a 4-point victory.
Two years later, we were celebrating Rep. Donna Edwards.
It's a phenomenon we've seen time and time again, such as Rep. Joe Garcia (ran three times), Rep. Ami Bera (ran twice), and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (ran twice). Also in 2006, we failed in our bid to kick Joe Lieberman out of the Senate, only to see him slink away into retirement in 2012 sure of impending defeat.
So it is in that spirit that we view last night's Virginia House of Delegates race between incumbent Rosalyn Dance and Daily Kos-backed challenger Evandra Thompson, which Dance won 53-47, or just 270 raw votes. Despite the great work done by this community to fund Thompson (just over $50,000), Thompson couldn't overcome her opponent's larger cash advantage and the power of her incumbency. This time.
The closeness of the race confirms that we were right in adopting this race. And like all those names above, Thompson has already promised to return in 2015 for an encore—and this time victorious—campaign.
To all of you who contributed to an unknown state-level candidate in Virginia, great job. You proved to me that we, as a community, are willing and able to expand our efforts beyond federal races in our bid to reshape the Democratic Party. To Evandra Thompson, great job, you proved you're a real political force with a bright future ahead of you.
And to Rosalyn Dance, great job winning your last political race. We'll see you again in two years, unless you're smart and take a page from the Lieberman playbook. No, not the part about subverting your party and doing the GOP's dirty work for them. You already did that. I'm talking about retiring with some of your dignity intact, rather than facing ignominious defeat at the hand of the voters.