Nate Silver doesn’t buy ‘talking point’ that Virginia is now a blue state

He said as much in a tweet after Democrat Ralph Northam was projected to be the victor in the state’s gubernatorial contest Tuesday evening.

“I’m seeing a lot of tweets/coverage making the argument that Virginia is now a totally blue state. I’d push back on that slightly,” Silver elaborated in FiveThirtyEight’s live elections blog. “It’s a blue-leaning state, but tonight’s results look more like they’re a product of the national environment.”

Silver, who was one of the few pollsters who didn’t completely dismiss Trump’s chances of winning during the 2016 campaign, went on to compliment the Democratic performance across the country, including the New Jersey gubernatorial victory for Phil Murphy.

“Because it’s not just about Virginia: Democrats are getting solid results pretty much everywhere so far tonight,” Silver said. “They also did pretty well in some very red districts in special elections earlier this year. And the polls look good for Democrats on measures like the generic ballot.”

Elsewhere in Virginia, Danica Roem was elected as Virginia’s first transgender state lawmaker.

Silver also took a swipe at polling conducted in Virginia, which he described as “quite a bit *less* accurate” than in 2016.

RealClearPolitics’ average of polls from the last month showed Northam with a 3.3 percent advantage over his Republican opponent Ed Gillespie versus the 8-9 percent lead he actually.