Opinion: If gun rights brought them here, maybe they’ll stick around for more action

Conservatives have momentum after yesterday’s peaceful Second Amendment rights march in Richmond.

Predictions of Antifa, or white supremacists groups infiltrating the march to incite a riot similar to what we saw in Charlottesville in 2017, didn’t happen. Governor Ralph Northam is taking credit for de-escalating what he said could have been a dangerous situation.

Now that the rally is over, those who showed up will undoubtedly continue to monitor the events in the General Assembly in Richmond that trigged the massive crowd of 20,000 people to descend onto the Capitol — proposed restrictions like limiting gun purchases to one a month, and red flag laws that allow the government to deny someone’s right-to-bear-arms if they are deemed a mental health risk.

It’s my hope that if the gun-rights debate brought them to the table, maybe they’ll stick around and become involved in the other issues facing local and state governments Perhaps, as many have said, the “sleeping giant” really is awake.

Attending meetings that cover topics like land use, school budgets, and transportation projects may not be at the top of everyone’s to-do lists, but it’s how the ditches of local and state government are dug. It’s where the community involvement process begins, and it’s where the notion of letting someone else decide your family’s future ends.

If the GOP is going to win in future elections, they’re not only going to have to pay attention to the issues, they’re also going to have dig in deep in Northern Virginia. It’s the state’s fastest-growing and most populous region. It’s an area that’s clearly friendly to Democrats, but it’s a place Republicans can no longer ignore.

During his run for Governor in 2017, Republican Corey Stewart spent a lot of time in the southwest portion of Virginia rallying the vote. He spoke to Confederate Battle flag-waving conservatives in hopes the votes from that region would carry him across the finish line in his Primary Election against Ed Gillespie and Frank Wagner.

Close, but no cigar. Gillespie became the GOP nominee and later lost to Ralph Northam by nine points.

Virginia is set to become the 10th largest state in the U.S. with an estimated 10 million people by 2040. That growth will occur in the northern part of the state, a key battleground that Republicans will need to engage if they’re going to win.

Conservatives shouldn’t be fooled by the sea of red counties on Virginia’s electoral maps. Most of those counties are shrinking in population while the blue ones are growing.

Thomas Speciale clearly knows this. The 2020 candidate for U.S. Senate has been spending his time at Prince William Board of County Supervisors meetings. Despite the fact that the county has been reliably blue since 2013, he’s been a regular at Board of County Supervisors meetings talking to voters.

Rich Anderson knows it, too. He’s vying against two other candidates to lead the state’s Republican Party in a contest that will be decided in May. After more than 10 years of statewide losses, the party is seeking new leadership, and the former delegate from Prince William County, who grew up in Virginia’s southwest city of Roanoke, may just be the man for the job with first-hand knowledge of both the southwest and northern parts of the state.

There’s a lot to be said of the role of the state and local press, too. In the past 10 years, more than 1,500 daily local newspapers across the U.S. have closed. The advertising model that once supported them has collapsed, with large companies no longer needing to place ads alongside the local news to get out their message, and instead opting for social media.

Because of this, basic facts go unreported, and meetings packed with decision-makers who control the purse strings of local and state governments go uncovered. It leads to a lack of understanding of the issues, and it leads to fewer and fewer people running for office.

Here at Potomac Local News, we’re focused this year on increasing the level of civic participation in our communities. Thanks to the support of our paid subscribers, we’ve hired new reporters to cover the Boards of Supervisors in Prince William and Stafford counties, and the city councils in Manassas and Manassas Park.

We’re soon expanding to cover the Fredericksburg City Council as the growth in that city cannot be ignored. And we’re covering meetings that, before now, we haven’t had the bandwidth to attend like the school boards, airport authorities, planning commissions, parks and recreation committees, and others.

We’re doing our part to make you smarter about your community faster. Let’s hope that these pieces of gun legislation that, for some, enraged, lead to more residents who are engaged.