NLS has been doing an excellent job covering the close call with Senator Ralph Northam (D-6th) in nearly throwing the almost-evenly-divided Virginia State Senate into "power sharing" mode earlier this week. I've been digging around and talking to people, and here's a bit more backstory from my sources.Basically, what I've been told is that Ralph Northam had split off from the Democrats on a judge issue - "Yvonne Miller was being unreasonable," blocking a judge in Virginia Beach. Some Republicans went to Sen. Northam and asked him to support power sharing (not sure in exchange for what). Apparently, Northam had agreed to that, but really he didn't know what he had bought into. Northam's new to politics, not "fully formed politically," with a "naive notion about bipartisanship." He's basically been a mainstream Democrat in his voting record and is definitely not a Republican. People were "fucking pissed" at him, especially after having worked so hard to elect him. But for now, things are "cool," at least outwardly. Having said that, it's also true that "in this business, people have memories." Today, Sen. Northam realizes he made a big mistake.
