In 2020 and again in 2022, many voters understood that democracy was on the ballot. While there was a myriad of issues that candidates talked about that were aimed to sway the electorate, a large swath of voters understood that the basic foundations of the nation were at stake. And they voted accordingly. The predictions of a red wave in the midterms resulted in a trickle with a razor-thin edge for House conservatives. The November presidential election where autocracy will be embodied in the Republican Party nominee in addition to a full array of congressional campaigns is yet another pivotal moment for our democracy.
With that in mind, there is yet more evidence to prove the theme of needing to safeguard our fundamental rights is positively received by voters. Tuesday night Yevgeny Vindman won his primary in Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District. If his last name sounds familiar it is that he and his twin brother exposed Donald Trump’s illegal attempts to strong-arm Ukraine into digging up dirt on his then likely political opponent, Joe Biden. While Vindman’s primary competitors pushed the fact that he had no governing experience, he asserted the need to be mindful that democracy is at stake in 2024.
The reason this race caught my attention over the past couple of months is first, how his life story is the American dream writ large, and second how he faced an array of credible primary opponents. There were seven of them, including four women of color who were all current or former officeholders. In his message to voters after securing an impressive victory Vindman said, “Our grass-roots movement is coming for the extreme MAGA agenda. Virginia voters are first and foremost values-driven and want to elect leaders with integrity who preserve fundamental rights and freedoms and not extremists.”
He and his identical twin brother, Alexander, were born in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and following the death of their mother, the three-year-old twins were brought to New York in December 1979 by their father. He joined the U.S. Army and in 2012 Vindman became an Army Judge Advocate. In 2018, he accepted an assignment with the National Security Council.
While the continued attacks from Donald Trump and those who yearn for an autocratic and fascist nation have ramped up since 2015, it also needs to be noted the majority of the nation, as evidenced by election outcomes, have stood up for and alongside our political institutions, the professional press, our judicial system, the right to vote, and the laws and rules that govern our nation. It is not a surprise, then, that the Republican Party under Donald Trump in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 (and will again this year) lost a wide array of elections, that in other political environments and prior to the severe damage Trump has inflicted on the GOP, would have secured at the ballot box.
Why I spend a few minutes writing this post about Vindman and our democracy is that the boy who was born in the USSR and is now a shining example of American exceptionalism (yes, that is truly a working concept) is providing a real lesson to a large segment of the nation that saving democracy is not a highfalutin phrase for academics or columnists in major newspapers. It is a real exercise that all Americans must be mindful of as we proceed to the November elections.
Vindman stated it clearly on Tuesday night. “The voters in this district recognize what’s at stake in this next election: that it’s a crossroads for this country. There’s a choice to be made between common-sense approaches and an extremist agenda.”
I checked this morning, and the Cook Political Report gives Democrats a slight advantage to win this seat in November. I am confident that the foundations of our democracy will be solid at the end of the balloting all across the nation, too. Americans will respond to the dire threat to our democracy, just as past generations did when fascism raised its head in Europe.
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