One year after Donald Trump’s surprising election victory, Democrat anxiety has been given a brief reprieve as they gained gubernatorial victories in the states of New Jersey and Virginia. While much of the mainstream media and Democrats have begun to spin the election wins as a repudiation of Trump, in reality it’s more of a mixed bag. Both New Jersey and Virginia were states won by Hillary Clinton, for starters.

The fact is New Jersey was never really in play for Republicans. Outgoing Gov. Chris Christie, more moderate than conservative, had fallen out of favor in the state ever since Bridgegate and he has thrown in the political towel. His lieutenant governor had little chance of escaping the perception of Christie’s scandal-plagued shadow.

Virginia is the state over which Democrats were most anxious, as a loss there would have meant further repudiation of the party’s brand. However, it’s now Republicans who will be struggling to establish their brand. Republicans were not only unable to win the governorship after the term of Clinton bagman Terry McAuliffe, but they suffered losing control of the state’s House of Delegates, where they entered the night with a 17-seat margin. Democrats were able to wrestle control away from Republicans as they picked up 14 seats last night. So was this the repudiation of Trump that Democrats and the Left have been looking for ever since his election? Not so much.

The truth is much of this leftist turn within Virginia can be blamed on the DC swamp spreading into northern Virginia. The commonwealth’s three most populated counties of Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun, in which some of Washington’s largest suburbs are located, voted nearly two to one in favor of Democrats. This has been a growing pattern, and Virginia is only going to become more blue.

It also appears that the Democrats’ campaign to label all Republicans as racist, white supremacists ever since the events in Charlottesville seems to have reaped dividends. Recall that McAuliffe quickly took the opportunity to politicize Charlottesville by labeling conservatives as supporters of racism, while blasting Trump for failing to show “real leadership.” And Charlottesville’s disgraceful mayor, Mike Signer advanced his own higher political aspirations by fomenting and exploiting the race-bait, too.

This may be a warning to the GOP of constituent disillusionment with congressional Republicans who have failed to do what they promised they would. Democrats insist this is a harbinger for the 2018 election cycle. If so, and the Senate flips, the change of rules regarding SCOTUS nominees — if there is not another opening ahead of that election — is a severe threat to Liberty.

(Edited.)