Editorial: Northam for governor

IN THE RACE for governor, Virginia finds itself in a fairly enviable position.

Both major-party candidates — Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie — are practical, pragmatic and fundamentally decent people.

Both are business-minded and relatively moderate on most issues. Both appear genuinely concerned about improving the lives of the average commonwealth residents and extending economic opportunity to the least fortunate. Both have put considerable thought and energy into their policy proposals and offer detailed visions for how Virginia would operate were either to win this election.

In a four-year term, to which the Virginia Constitution limits its chief executive, either man would probably serve as a trustworthy steward and resist the desire to steer the commonwealth into a ditch, be it on the right or the left.

Even the third-party candidate, Libertarian nominee Cliff Hyra, offers a modest and reasoned vision for how he would lead, in contrast to the wild-eyed, implausible agenda unfairly but commonly associated with his group.

Yet when Virginia voters head to the polls on Nov. 7, a choice will be made.

While Northam and Gillespie generally agree on some matters, there are critical points of disagreement that cannot be overlooked. Taken in sum, they make a clear and compelling case that Dr. Ralph Northam should succeed Terry McAuliffe as governor of Virginia.

Gillespie — a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, White House aide to President George W. Bush and head of a political consulting firm — is making his second run in a statewide race after his unsuccessful bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in 2014. A native of New Jersey and a resident of Fairfax County, he emerged from a three-way primary to claim his party’s nomination.

Northam is a Virginia Military Institute graduate and U.S. Army veteran who served in the first Gulf War. Hailing from the Eastern Shore, he is a pediatric neurologist who practices medicine in Norfolk. Northam served six years in the state Senate before winning election as lieutenant governor in 2014.

Much of this campaign has been focused where it should be, on the economy. It is an area of pressing importance to every corner of the commonwealth but of particular need in Hampton Roads, where an overreliance on defense-related spending, tourism and the Port of Virginia has resulted in anemic growth for several years.

Gillespie made a splash early in his campaign by proposing an across-the-board 10 percent tax cut for individual ratepayers, which he says would provide $1,285 in annual savings for the average family.

Total estimated cost: $1.3 billion, a figure that drew sharp criticism from state Sen. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach, a primary challenger, who claimed the numbers are based on faulty math and would cost the state too much in revenue.

Gillespie said the use of revenue “triggers” would ensure that a state government already stretched thin wouldn’t find itself deeper in a hole. The result, however, is that any promise of tax relief might never be realized, which would effectively nullify his central campaign pledge.

Northam offers a more modest approach, calling for comprehensive tax reform rather than sweeping cuts. The Democrat is short on the details, however, and would rely on recommendations proposed by the committee convened to study the issue — a committee yet to be formed and whose membership is left undefined.

Still, a pragmatic and nuanced approach to facilitating growth seems the less risky path, especially when Virginia cannot afford a loss in revenue. It would help develop the type of consensus needed to win broad support in a divided General Assembly.

Therein lies Northam’s greatest appeal: Far from a flashy politician, the lieutenant governor has spent years in Richmond, developing the relationships needed to work across the aisle and deliver results.

Some of Virginia’s most successful leaders of late, the ones who have been able to enact substantial legislation, hailed from the legislature, where time spent working with lawmakers from the opposition allowed for good-faith negotiations on the most challenging issues. Think of Gov. Bob McDonnell and the transportation bill, for instance.

That issue represents one of Gillespie’s biggest campaign missteps, as he pointed to Northam’s support of that landmark legislation as an indication of the Democrat’s penchant for raising taxes. The Republican quickly walked it back and has been insistent that he would not reverse a funding blueprint that is helping remake Hampton Roads, Northern Virginia and the rest of the commonwealth, but it set off alarm bells here that continue to echo.

But that is far from Gillespie’s only liability. On health care issues — and women’s reproductive health in particular — his outlook risks putting the most vulnerable Virginians in greater peril. While he insists that his ability to work with President Donald Trump would benefit the commonwealth, it cannot paper over the fact that his opponent far outpaces him in this area.

On another issue vital to the region, recurrent flooding and sea-level rise, it’s clear that both men would bring greater resources to bear, but Northam has a more nuanced understanding of the problem and a record of working on solutions. Here, his Norfolk ties add to his appeal.

Virginia’s rural communities should consider similar calculations. While Gillespie has pushed hard to win over voters in Southwest and Southside Virginia, Northam’s roots on the Eastern Shore imbue him with an understanding of the forces at work there and a desire to see state government work better for those residents.

It has been unfortunate to see the candidates, who were so cordial to one another in their debates, turn negative in their advertising. Both have exploited fears — Gillespie by stoking fears about immigrants, and Northam by trying to tie his opponent to white supremacists — that sullied the campaign.

They were attempting to draw distinctions between each other, but the differences are evident in their policy proposals. And for Hampton Roads — for all of Virginia — Northam is the better choice.