Will VA (R) and North Carolina (D) ever again split in the opposite direction?

[MATTROSE94]

Maybe if Hillary Clinton decides not to run in 2016 and Joe Biden or Martin O'Malley get the Democratic nomination instead.

[MATTROSE94]

Maybe if Hillary Clinton decides not to run in 2016 and Joe Biden or Martin O'Malley get the Democratic nomination instead.

? Why would North Carolina be more Democratic than Virginia if Biden/O'Malley are the nominee?

The only way I could see this happening in current political circumstances is if a North Carolinian is on the Dem ticket and/or a Virginian on the Rep ticket, but even then it's a stretch.

I meant for Virginia to go Democratic and North Carolina to go Republican. That's what you get for not reading the title of the thread.

[MATTROSE94]

It could happen, but it would depend more on events affecting Virginia than North Carolina. There is a scenario other than an attack on the nation's capital and Northern Virginia that could throw a wrench in Democratic chances in the Old Dominion: What if the United States went bankrupt and the federal government cut a significant number of jobs? Now, I'm not saying this will happen soon (surely not by 2016), but this kind of event could definitely occur in the long term and cause significant population loss in NoVA, the most Democratic area of the state. North Carolina would probably be adversely affected, but since it doesn't rely on the government to the extent Virginia does for providing jobs, it wouldn't see as much of a change from its current trajectory. In this case, North Carolina might be able to stay Democratic and Virginia could start voting Republican again. Of course, that would also depend on who the blame was laid on regarding the nation's bankruptcy, but I would forsee it as being equally placed on both major parties.

Another way that Virginia could go Republican and North Carolina could vote Democratic in the same presidential election is if Republicans had someone on the ticket from Virginia while Democrats had a candidate from North Carolina. Still, that would necessitate  Republicans winning Governor's Mansion or one of the Senate seats in Virginia first, and barring any crazy circumstances, that can't happen before 2016.

Other than those cases, Virginia should consistently be to the left of North Carolina for quite some time.

John Edwards vs Bob McDonnell 😃

Another possibility would be Roy Cooper (assuming that he defeats Pat McCrory in the 2016 North Carolina Gubernatorial Election) vs Barbara Comstock (assuming that she is elected to the House of Representatives this year and to the Virginia Governorship in 2017).

[MATTROSE94]

It could happen, but it would depend more on events affecting Virginia than North Carolina. There is a scenario other than an attack on the nation's capital and Northern Virginia that could throw a wrench in Democratic chances in the Old Dominion: What if the United States went bankrupt and the federal government cut a significant number of jobs? Now, I'm not saying this will happen soon (surely not by 2016), but this kind of event could definitely occur in the long term and cause significant population loss in NoVA, the most Democratic area of the state. North Carolina would probably be adversely affected, but since it doesn't rely on the government to the extent Virginia does for providing jobs, it wouldn't see as much of a change from its current trajectory. In this case, North Carolina might be able to stay Democratic and Virginia could start voting Republican again. Of course, that would also depend on who the blame was laid on regarding the nation's bankruptcy, but I would forsee it as being equally placed on both major parties.

Another way that Virginia could go Republican and North Carolina could vote Democratic in the same presidential election is if Republicans had someone on the ticket from Virginia while Democrats had a candidate from North Carolina. Still, that would necessitate  Republicans winning Governor's Mansion or one of the Senate seats in Virginia first, and barring any crazy circumstances, that can't happen before 2016.

Other than those cases, Virginia should consistently be to the left of North Carolina for quite some time.

John Edwards vs Bob McDonnell 😃

Another possibility would be Roy Cooper (assuming that he defeats Pat McCrory in the 2016 North Carolina Gubernatorial Election) vs Barbara Comstock (assuming that she is elected to the House of Representatives this year and to the Virginia Governorship in 2017).

I could definitely see Cooper and Comstock on their party's respective tickets in 2020.

Who do you see winning/who would you support if Roy Cooper was the Democratic nominee and if Barbara Comstock was the Republican nominee?