In Loudoun County, GOP Voters Cite Inflation And Schools While Democrats Worry For ‘Democracy’

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. — In the county where concerned parents helped land Gov. Glenn Youngkin in the Virginia governor’s mansion, parental rights in education as well as inflation continue to be central concerns for GOP voters, while Democrats tend to cite fears about Donald Trump and the “erosion of democracy” and a desire for “moderation” as their top issues.

Here’s what voters told The Federalist as they left the polls.

Inflation, Education Top GOP Concerns

Loudoun County residents Tina and Stuart Nokes own a painting business and used to have kids in Loudoun County Public Schools. They voted for Republican Hung Cao for his “prior military experience” and because he “supports parental involvement in the schools, which has been a big issue here in Loudoun County,” Tina told The Federalist.

Tina said she “definitely, big time” blames the Biden administration for the economic woes they’ve observed. Their leads are down while their material prices are rising. “We had four price increases during Covid,” she said. “As a business, we don’t raise our prices so ‘hey, we make more money!’ We raise our prices so we can keep up with inflation for our workers, so we can continue to pay our bills.”

“Those price increases get passed on, and to call companies greedy for raising prices is an idiotic thing,” Stuart added.

“We would have had inflation anyways, but the excessive government spending that the administration brought in, they [Trump and Biden] both created potential for inflation, but when they just continued the excessive spending that created more inflation,” he said. “And then to stop the whole petrochemical industry has been a terrible, terrible move.”

Another voter, Sandra Huff, also cited education and the economy as central problems. “My son graduated years ago, and the schools were great here,” she said.

“I used to be a Democrat, a hard Democrat,” Huff said, noting family members who were former Democrat state senators. She switched to the Republican Party six years ago because “the Democrats are not what they used to be.”

“I did follow [what happened in Loudoun County schools last year] because I have grandkids,” she told The Federalist, referring to the battle between parents and the Loudoun County School Board over school closures, radical left-wing concepts taught in taxpayer-funded schools, and a scandal involving the school board’s coverup of the rape of a female student by a 15-year-old boy wearing a skirt in the girls’ bathroom. “My daughter is teaching her kids at home now. She started during Covid, and then she did not put them back in the schools.”

“It upset me a lot when they said they weren’t going to teach any of the advanced math classes,” Huff added. “My kids have always been in all advanced everything, I think it’s good for all the kids. I don’t understand why we have to bring the standards down.”

She also cited schools pushing critical race theory and the transgender agenda as problems. “The schools should

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