John McAuliff, a 33-year-old small business owner and former civil servant, was one of the more unlikely Democrats to win election to Virginia’s legislature this month, after a campaign in which he could, at times, come off a bit like a Republican.
McAuliff was among the 13 Democrats elected to the legislature in Virginia’s elections earlier this month, as part of a blowout victory for the party that gives it firm control of the southern state’s government. Along with wins in New Jersey, California and elsewhere, the results put some wind back into Democrats’ sails nationwide, a year after their drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump and the Republicans.
