Press. voanews.com
Assuming the
2016 U.S. presidential election remains close, Virginia is one of a handful of
states that could decide whether the next president is Democrat Hillary Clinton
or Republican Donald Trump. And if you want to know which way Virginia will
vote November 8, you might want to keep tabs on what happens in Loudoun County,
in northern Virginia.
For years,
Loudoun County was reliably Republican, helping Virginia support Republican
presidential candidates from 1968 through 2004. But in 2008, Democrat Barack
Obama put Virginia back in the Democratic column, and he did it again in 2012,
thanks in no small part to a winning margin of victory in Loudoun.
Influx of
high-tech workers
In recent years,
Loudoun County has seen an explosion of growth driven to a large extent by the
expanding high-tech industry, which values northern Virginia’s proximity to
Washington, D.C. High-tech companies have hired thousands of highly skilled workers
from abroad, especially India, and the changing demographics are driving
political shifts that have turned Virginia into a classic battleground state.
“So all of this
was just wide-open farmland,” Loudoun County Democratic activist Craig Green
told VOA from the middle of a major new town center development called One
Loudoun, where retail shops, restaurants and condos have risen out of what used
to be a rural landscape. “And now, as you can see, we’ve got this big
retail-residential thing going on,” Green said. “There are data centers all
around us.” Those data centers dot the
horizon like futuristic behemoths, windowless warehouses through which a large
percentage of the world’s internet data passes.
Demographic
Shifts
Green says the
economic expansion coupled with demographic changes in Loudoun are a boon to
Democrats and present a challenge for Trump. “I went canvassing this weekend,
and pretty much universally it was, ‘Oh, that Trump guy, there is no way I
could vote for him,’” Green said. “No matter what we had to say about anything
else, it was, you know, ‘That guy just doesn’t make sense.’”
Green said
Loudoun is quickly becoming a model of diversity. Recent Census Bureau data
shows Asians now make up nearly 15 percent of Loudoun County’s population. “You
just see people from India and people from China and people from Africa, there
are a lot of Africans here ... a big diaspora going on of people coming for
opportunity,” he said. “And they are very skilled people, and they are very
smart people, so it’s an incredible vibrant place to live right now.”
‘Everybody is
really equal’
Software
engineer Sri Amudhanar emigrated from India nearly 30 years ago. He has lived
in Ashburn, Virginia, since 1998 and is becoming active in Democratic Party
politics in the county. Amudhanar said
the influx of immigrants and resulting demographic changes have made them a
force to be reckoned with.
“They take an
oath of citizenship when they become Americans, and that is a very solemn
process,” he said recently on a hill overlooking Ashburn. “It is a very moving
process, and we have all gone through that, and that binds us to America very,
very strongly and to its values, and one of the values is that everybody is
really equal.”
Amudhanar
predicts the demographics will be an obstacle for Trump given some of his
controversial statements about Muslims and Mexicans.
“Immigrants are
more tolerant of other lifestyles and other opinions and other religious
persuasions and so on. So you’ll find that immigrants in general want a fair,
even playing field for everybody.”
Despite the
demographic changes, Trump is making a serious bid to win Virginia, and plenty
of supporters turned out for a recent rally in Ashburn where he urged them to
work harder in Loudoun County.
“What we are
doing is one of the great political phenomena of all time,” Trump said to
cheers. “But very importantly, it is one of the great movements of all time. We
have got to finish it off. We have got to finish it off.”
Trump’s theme of
making America great again has struck a chord with Leesburg businessman Bryan
Crosswhite. Crosswhite hosted a Republican unity event recently at one of his
restaurants in Leesburg, and he predicts a close battle in Loudoun.
“I believe
[Trump] resonates with Americans, normal Americans, who have traditional values
in our country,” Crosswhite said, describing real estate mogul’s appeal. “He
resonates because he is a straight-talker. He speaks the truth whether you like
it or not. He’s going to tell you what he thinks.”
Trump loyalists
are active in Loudoun, and Green, a Democrat activist, acknowledges the race
will be close. He also said that Clinton supporters have a challenge to
persuade undecided voters that the race is not simply one of “choosing the
lesser of two evils.”
New Battleground
More than 150
years ago, Virginia was the epicenter of the American Civil War, and battle
monuments are plentiful throughout the state, including the statue of a
Confederate soldier on the grounds of the Loudoun County courthouse in Leesburg.
Today, Virginia
is a battleground of a different sort, a mix of the traditional and the new,
where changing demographics and shifting political outlooks have turned this
once reliably Republican enclave into a state that is now competitive for both
parties, and one that could play a pivotal role in deciding the next president
on November 8.