Bellwether:

by David J Toscano

Throughout the early years of the 20th century, Virginia was viewed as a Republican state. Citizens in the Commonwealth had not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964. In 2000, the GOP had just won the governor’s race, held both U.S. Senate seats, and had majorities in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate. By 2020, all of that had been reversed. During that period, Democrats won four of five governors contests, elected two US senators, and voted for Democratic presidential candidates in every year since 2008. In 2019, the House of Delegates, where Republicans maintained a 68-32 supermajority in 2011, flipped to Democratic control. With it, the state became a Democratic trifecta, where the party controlled all of the state’s levers of power. Bellwether tells the story of how this happened from someone who was “in the room at the time.” David Toscano began his service in the House in 2006 and became the Democratic Leader of the body in 2011. He examines the special nature of Virginia politics, the demographic changes that underpin much of its shifting political fortunes, and the policies and personalities at the center of the state’s dynamics for the last two decades.

Genres: Politics

340 pages, Paperback

Published April 15, 2022

Reviews

[Catherine Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! I told the author, David Toscano, that I wanted to crawl between the pages and curl myself up in it.

I started reading this book on November 12, 2022, tucked up in a chair in a mountain cabin in Greene County, VA. Four days earlier, on November 8th, I was elected Mayor of the City of Fairfax, VA. It was a close race and I hadn't read a book in the four months of campaigning leading up to Election Day. I was starved for a book in which to immerse myself and this was the perfect balm for a weary soul.

The people and events in this book are not unknown to me. Many of these elected leaders are friends, people I know because I worked on their campaigns to get them elected to our state government. What was new is the perspective of what happened from an insider's point of view. David Toscano was in the room where it happened.

The author's writing style made it easy to read and I loved the voluminous footnotes at the end of each chapter. Many are very detailed and added a level of depth to events and history this was fascinating without interrupting the flow of the narrative.

I've lived in Virginia my whole life, as did my parents, and my paternal ancestors going back to the Huguenots who landed in Manakin Town. My understanding of Virginia's history and politics is likely deeper and broader than most. When this book talks about "The Virginia Way" I know what that concept means in political terms.

I particularly enjoyed the quotes that started each of the chapters. Chapter 2 is entitled "Virginia Exceptionalism" and this is the quote:

How many Virginians does it take to change a light bulb? Five. One to turn the new bulb and four to talk about how much better the old one was. - Old Virginia Adage

Don't be surprised if you see that on the wall in the Mayor's office.

The last chapters of the book tackle governmental reform. There are excellent suggestions there that I embrace. Virginia is slow to change. "The way we've always done it" is a force, and inertia is a hard thing to press against. With each election cycle, our elected leaders continue to represent a greater spectrum of thought, perspective, and lived experience. Our government representatives increasingly reflect the makeup of the Virginians who show up at the ballot box. That makes for a truly representative government.

I highly recommend this book as a way to understand recent history. So much happened in Virginia between 2006 and 2020 that the era is deserving of its own book. David Toscano is a skilled guide and storyteller, and the journey is an enjoyable one.

[Charles Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellwether gives a strong and largely non-biased examination of Virginia's political development in the past 14 years. Unlike Frank Atkinson's work, Toscano focuses much more on policy than politics. Toscano thoroughly examines many important aspects of the state, including population change, federal spending, public school issues, and other major policy issues. The book is an amazing text for those who want to get into to Virginia politics. However, it lacks depth in certain areas. This is probably the best book for a detailed overview of Virginia's political landscape but further reading is required to master some of these topics, including public education policy and the Northam scandal.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Toscano’s second book is more Virginia focused, but no less thoroughly researched and annotated. Our service in the Virginia House of Delegates largely overlapped, and even though we had different perspectives then and now, it is easy to highly recommend this book.
This is more than a memoir. It is an inside look at Virginia government over the last 20 years from someone who very often “was in the room.”