Rasoul Trailing in Lieutenant Governor's Race

Sam Rasoul

A new Roanoke College poll about the Democratic primary in Virginia is shaping up as an easy win for candidates for governor and attorney general (Terry McAuliffe, the former governor, and Mark Herring, the sitting AG), but down the ticket, it's anybody's races. 

Roanoke's Sam Rasoul, running for lieutenant governor, trails Del. Hala Ayala 16-11 percent with 45 percent undecided. 

Alala is strong in the metropolitan centers and Rasoul is best in Southwest Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. 

 McAuliffe and Herring each has 49 percent of the polling in the respective races, while my gubernatorial favorite, Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, is behind McAuliffe with just 11 percent of the vote. Name recognition appears to be her major hurdle. 

McAuliffe is having to fight his stance on the Mountain Valley pipeline that has so many Western Virginians up in arms with its land-grabbing and dismal record of polluting the land where the pipe is laid.  

I found it interesting that most Democrats believe the party is too conservative both nationally and in the commonwealth.