Just weeks remain until the November 5th election which could decide Democratic or Republican control of Virginia for the next decade.
And just a handful of seats across the state will determine this.
Now, a new bombshell revelation just dropped in one of the most hotly contested races that could change everything.
After scoring a historic victory in 2017 by nearly capturing control of the House of Delegates after picking up 15 seats, Democrats are looking to finish the job in 2019.
Now, Democrats need to flip one seat to erase the one-seat Republican majority in Richmond.
But their path to control of the General Assembly just got more complicated.
Josh Cole – a Democrat seeking election to Virginia’s 28th House District centered in Stafford County and the City of Fredericksburg – just became one of the first Democrats in Virginia to publicly call for slavery reparations.
In an audio clip obtained by New Virginia Press, Cole declared his support for slavery reparations stating, “We must pay for the sins of our fathers.”
Josh Cole, who is running in one of the most hotly contested districts in Virginia against Republican nominee Paul Milde, recently stated his support for slavery reparations at the Stafford NAACP Chapter candidate forum this fall.
The extreme policy position, which was flatly rejected by former Democratic President Barack Obama during his two successful runs for the White House in 2008 and 2012, has seen increased acceptance among the current crop of Democratic candidates seeking the Presidential nomination in 2016.
Aside from a handful of Democratic Presidential candidates, few elected officials across America have endorsed the punishment, which would inevitably see the Federal or state governments punishing or rewarding Americans based on their skin color or ethnicity.
It’s a move which could have serious consequences on the outcome of a race which some experts predict the most important race to determine which party controls the House of Delegates after November 5th.
In the clip, the moderator of the forum can be heard asking the candidates, “Do you believe there should be reparations for descendants of these slaves [in Stafford County in 1860] and if so, how do we calculate it?”
Cole responded by bringing up a concept banned by the U.S. Constitution.
Cole implies that American citizens can be punished by their own government for the actions of other family members of distant ancestors, a concept which was traditionally used by absolute monarchies in Europe known as “Corruption of Blood”.
Corruption of Blood is a legal concept which America’s founding fathers so universally rejected that they ended up incorporating a ban on it into the U.S. Constitution. The first federal crime bill passed by Congress in 1790 also banned Corruption of Blood as a punishment for any Federal crime whatsoever.
Joshua Cole however endorsed bringing the policy back, declaring at the Stafford forum that Americans needed to “pay for the sins of our fathers.”
The audio clip has Cole saying the following: “Um…I think that’s a very excellent question that has been coming to the forefront in the most recent…um…times of when you can hear certain presidential candidates talk about it. I think it is very key. We have to pay for the sins of our fathers. What we have to do is do it in a smart way.”
With just those words, Cole endorsed a government-sponsored system of punishing millions of Virginians for a crime none of them committed, based entirely off of their race, ethnicity, and skin color.
Cole concluded by saying, “I think we can get very innovative and creative on the measures we can do as far as reparations, uh, to pay for the sins of our fathers in essence.”
Cole’s endorsement of reparations for slavery could end up making the difference in his race, which is widely considered to be one of if not the single most important seat that will determine control of the House of Delegates on election night.
As of the last reporting period in this toss-up race, Democrat Josh Cole is expanding his fundraising advantage of Republican Paul Milde with an ending balance of $258,558 to Milde’s $15,247.
However, polling from across the country shows that endorsing reparations for slavery is a political dead end.
A Fox News poll in April showing an overwhelming 60% of Americans opposing cash reparation payments for the descendants of slaves, with just 32% endorsing the proposal.
A similar poll from Rasmussen in April also showed a significant majority opposed to reparations, with just 21% of voters agreeing that taxpayers should pay reparations to Americans who are descended from slaves.
Similarly, a poll in July 2018 from the left-leaning Data for Progress found that just 26% of Americans supported reparations for slavery.
More recently, a July Gallup poll found that 67% of Americans opposed reparations for slavery, with only 29% supporting the idea.
Cole’s endorsement of the controversial proposal could be the deciding factor in his race, which itself could decide control of the Virginia General Assembly for the next 10 years.
Praying for Paul. Josh is too radical.
Sooooo….. I am Irish American and the Irish were slaves when they came to the USA. Guess who rowed the boats. My ancestors were slaves by a black man here in the great USA. The question I have is who is paying me??? I really hope ALL involved realize that at some point they will pay all of us, because at some point in history your family was probably enslaved by they Country you came from. Africa, Ireland, Scottish, and Native Americans all were used as slaves mostly at some point. I guess because the Irish were considered dumb drunks and our families didn’t cry to our kids growing up about being oppressed, they didnt grow up with a hand out like the ones who are still crying it today even at age 10. People need to grow up and learn the real history that happened and stop believing that at age 45 I am responsible for a 10 year and his whole family being oppressed.