so the lesson seems to be, if the results go as badly as they could, that no matter what kind of campaign Democrats run, they'll be beat by "GAHHHH SANCTUARY CITIES = THE PURGE, DEMOCRATS LOVE CHILD MOLESTERS" and "muh tax cuts" campaigns.
I mean you couldn't find two different campaigns than Ralph Northam and Phil Murphy - they each took entirely different tacts on handling the sanctuary cities issue (Northam cowering in fear, Murphy actually explaining what a sanctuary city really is and bothering to defend it).
Cut him some slack. They live in vastly different states, ethnically and (thus) politically, and have vastly varying levels of opposition.
People on here were decrying Northam pissing the election away (in typical Atlas over-reaction style, but still), for getting involved in cultural wedge issues like Confederate monuments. Can you imagine what would've happened if he actually tried defending sanctuary cities?? In Virginia?!? Gillespie would currently be the one up by low to mid single digits rather than the other way around.