Note: Primary Coverage in Loudoun County, Virginia

In advance of Super Tuesday, returning to an electoral hot spot

In the fall of 2021, Loudoun County, Virginia became ground zero of the American culture war, thanks to an election surprise. One of the richest regions of the country, Loudoun in 2020 voted for Biden by an overwhelming 24-point margin, 61-37. A year later, in the wake of a complex school controversy, Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe won there by just ten points over Republican Glenn Youngkin, who gained 15 points over Trump and ended up carrying the rest of the state.

I visited Loudoun before and after the vote and found the on-the-ground reality was so different from what had been reported, it was disorienting. I ended up writing a four-part series in an effort to describe even a summary version of what actually happened. Loudoun was fascinating, so I decided to come back and do some re-interviewing in advance of the primary on Super Tuesday. If you live in the area and have time for a coffee to help update things, please note in the comments or write to taibbi@substack.com, I’d love to hear.

After 2021, what happened in Loudoun was pitched as a racist revolt. “It’s about white supremacy,” declared Jeffrey “Zoomin’” Toobin on CNN, echoing the near-universal consensus of national media that the onetime “hotbed of Confederate resistance,” as the Washington Post dubbed Loudoun, suddenly awoke, zombie-like, to reassert its separatist leanings. Echoing a messaging tactic usually seen in the wake of anti-police protests, local leaders and pundits also claimed unrest about local school policies was an import, the product of a “loud, out-of-county minority” and a conservative media “scaremongering” campaign.

Again, I found something a lot more interesting and idiosyncratic, nearly opposite to what papers like the Post were saying. I’m curious to see what if anything has changed since. Watch this space for Super Tuesday coverage, and hope to see you soon.