Southern Gothic (D) vs. RINO Tom (R)

[MT Treasurer]

I like RINO, but Southern Gothic would easily get my vote in this scenario, since he’s basically the perfect Democrat for me. But we’re talking about a scenario in which these two somehow win their party's nomination without changing their current policy positions, right?

I also think Southern Gothic would win the GE, FWIW.

[MT Treasurer]

I mean RINO Tom isn't just an elitist who is a Republican. He voted for Clinton while SG voted for Trump. There's reason to think we'd end up with a really funky map just because the nominees are THAT different from 2016.

Yes, these votes and their views on certain social (and yes, even economic and foreign policy) issues would essentially make them unpalatable to their respective party's base from the get-go, abortion and gun control in particular. This is basically as close to John Bel Edwards (D) vs. Charlie Baker (R) as you can get, and I have a hard time believing that WV and VT would be solid R and D, respectively, in this scenario. Or that Fairfax County wouldn’t at least be somewhat competitive.