WASHINGTON – Northern Virginia voters who supported Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) over Republican candidate Corey Stewart told PJM that they were sending a message to President Donald Trump.
A voter who supported Trump in 2016 explained that she decided to vote for Kaine on Tuesday because she is disappointed in Trump’s job performance.
“I didn’t like [Corey] Stewart, just his affect and he kind of reminded me, how he talked, he yelled and screamed, that he was another Trump. I just don’t think we need to go there,” Christine said during an interview today after casting her ballot in Burke, Va., which is part of Fairfax County. “I’ve been more of a Democratic voter and I didn’t want to vote for Hillary and I voted for [Trump], and some of the things he says sometimes, I think, he should think about before he says things.”
Christine said she wants her vote to serve as a direct message to Trump about bullying.
“I’m sending a message where you can’t be a bully and run this country, and it just doesn’t work. You can’t get along with people when you’re like that, so that’s why I voted for Kaine, that was the major reason why,” she said. “You can’t run a company doing that. You can’t do a lot of things like that. You can’t bully and that sends a message – we’re telling people you can’t bully people, and that’s how he runs things.”
A voter named Clinton told PJM he cast a ballot “against” Trump rather than “for” the Democratic Party in this midterm election.
“The rhetoric coming from the opposite party [GOP] – and we’re the party that has the ‘co-exist’ stickers on the van, and I don’t think we’ve done a great job of that – but the rhetoric that we’ve seen when we’re looking at Pittsburgh and we’re looking at the recent bombings, you know, and we can’t subject that to one party, but it’s not coming from the left, it is coming from the right,” Clinton said.
“I’ve voted that way [Democrat] my whole entire life and it only reaffirmed how I voted this election cycle…. Unfortunately, and rightly or wrongly, I think I’m voting more against Trump and the administration than I am for my own party at this point,” he added.
A female voter told PJM on camera that she voted for Kaine to send a message to Trump and the GOP, which she argued have “not held him accountable for a lot of the crazy stuff he’s doing.”
“I don’t care for kids in cages and I don’t like his hyperbolic speech. I think it’s bringing people out of the woodwork that feel like they have a clear message that it’s OK to commit violence,” she said.
Charles explained why he voted for Stewart, who aligned himself with Trump’s agenda during the campaign.
“He more represents my views,” he said, explaining that the economy was the main issue that made him support Stewart. “Some parts of immigration, maybe, but more the economy and just the general direction of the country.”
Paul said Trump’s job performance impacted his decision to support Kaine “a little bit” because “bringing the country together is important and the president is completely on the other side – it’s not good for America.”
“Kaine has been around for a while and he’s a hardworking guy. He’s a genuine guy, you know. He talks from the heart and he’s got a great track record,” he said during an interview at a polling place in Burke, Va.
As for the main reason he decided to support Kaine, Paul said, “He’s a Christian and he’s a good family man.”
Michelle told PJM she was not motivated to vote Democratic because of Trump.
“I vote every year – every year that he’s ran I’ve voted for Kaine,” she said. “Was it a little fueled by Trump? Yeah, a little, but like I said, I vote for him every year, so I try to vote and do my part every year.”
Tristan told PJM that Trump only influenced his vote for Kaine “to an extent.”
“I picked Tim Kaine. I’m not the biggest fan but I just felt he was better than Corey Stewart, who I feel supports suppression of people,” Tristan said.
“Honestly, I think the president has power, of course, but really, at home is where any change truly starts. So, I didn’t come because of the president. I think it has impacted a lot of other people coming, which is good, but I do believe we can look at any locale and we can form the community we would like and the president, honestly, probably doesn’t have much influence over that,” he added.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member