The shutdown may just be enough to push Loudon County into the D column. It voted for Ed Gillespie in 2014, you know. But the relative lack of damage inflicted on armed services means that key areas like Newport News and VA Beach are likely to remain lean-R.
The real question is how the various Democratic candidates play the shutdown during the primary races. Virginia notably hates populist candidates like Bernie Sanders and Sherrod Brown - will solidarity with notoriously elitist federal workers (Hillary workers most likely to vote for T-Mac in the primaries) be enough to drag unpopular progressive candidates out of the gutter?? What's more, if one of these unpopular progressive candidates wins, will they be able to win Loudon County, or the whole state, against Trump despite massive anti-progressive corporatist-backed headwinds??
No, because #bothsides are equally to blame, so evenly divided perennial swing state Virginia will appropriately blame #bothsides equally.
Indeed, Democratic inability to stop the shut down means that Mark Warner is extra vulnerable in 2020, especially from a feisty left-leaning Perriello-type progressive hero challenger from southside and panhandle voters.
Poll
