SALEM, Virginia — While former President Donald Trump projected confidence Saturday on the stage in Virginia, his supporters openly questioned whether the Republican nominee could flip the commonwealth from blue to red.
Trump’s trip to Salem comes as Republican insiders have openly been floating since the summer that 2024 will be the year that Virginia could shift from the Democratic column and into the battleground category. Virginia used to be a top battleground in 2008 and 2012 but has gone to the Democrats in the last four presidential cycles.
2024 ELECTIONS LIVE UPDATES: LATEST NEWS ON THE TRUMP-HARRIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE
While Trump lost Virginia in both 2016 and 2020, some GOP insiders in the state think victory remains within reach, pointing to two separate polls, one conducted by the conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports and another from the University of Mary Washington, that show the former president is cutting into Vice President Kamala Harris’s lead, putting Trump within striking distance.
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Trump supporters in Salem, Virginia, on Nov. 2, 2024. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)
Trump’s detour to a non-battleground state just days before Tuesday’s election reflected that sentiment and he assured his supporters there’s a real shot at victory.
“I’ll tell you what if we win Virginia, we will win the whole thing,” Trump said at the rally on Saturday evening. “It’s possible that without winning Virginia, we will still win the whole thing. We’re going to win Virginia, your governor felt it, I felt it for a long time.”
However, the majority of voters who spoke to the Washington Examiner at Trump’s rally on Saturday were doubtful about Trump’s prospects of flipping the commonwealth red, aware of what a heavy lift it would be to overpower voters in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
“I think it’s probably a long shot that Virginia goes red, but I’m not going to give up,” said Sharon Bibb, 68, who lives in Fishersville.
Rebecca Bane, 77, who lives in Salem and works as a bookkeeper for a family business, also questioned whether the state could be flipped in this presidential cycle.
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“I think it’s sad that we are such a state with long roots and being very conservative, and then we’ve got this whole group up near the D.C. area that votes against us. They swing the vote of Virginia because of all the people that work in D.C. area,” she said, although she emphasized she was happy to see the former president in her town.
Trump supporter in Salem, Virginia, on Nov. 2, 2024. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner)
“I think it’s special. It really is. He came to Roanoke eight years ago. We saw him over at the Roanoke Civic Center. And now he even got better. He came to Salem,” Bane added.
Joshua Francisco, 35, an industrial maintenance foreman, expressed frustration about the power of the northern Virginia vote.
“We have a lot of Democratic voters that live up north towards Richmond, that actually they live in Virginia, so they get to vote in Virginia, but they’re Democratic,” he said. “Virginia is the majority Republican state, and just the population up there, how many there is, it turns our state blue.”
“I hope he will flip it because of all the residents in [the] northern part of Virginia. I doubt if he can really,” Francisco added.
Although, not everyone was skeptical about Virginia’s prospects of becoming a Republican state this cycle.
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PATHS TO VICTORY FOR HARRIS AND TRUMP IN 2024
Sandra Duncan, 56, who lives in Blacksburg and works as a software engineer, said she was surprised that Trump would visit Virginia in the final push before the election, but added that she trusts the campaign must have some encouraging internal data.
“Well, we were surprised that he would come and spend his time here, because typically in Virginia, you know, goes Democrat, and it’s just great to see that he’s so enthusiastic and so bullish that maybe there’s a chance to flip this state,” Duncan explained. “We’re just seeing a ton of enthusiasm. So we believe it can happen.”
ABINGDON, Va. (WCYB) — The made in Southwest Virginia artisan and craft market returns April 11, 2026.
The Southwest Virginia Cultural Center in Abingdon will host more than 20 local artists.
Those artisans will offer demonstrations of their work and they’ll also be selling some of their crafts.
“We want to give this opportunity for community members to come out, as the weather is warming up and as spring is rolling around, to meet these makers and take home a little bit of Southwest Virginia,” Ryan Vaughan with the Friends of Southwest Virginia said.
A new West Virginia law aims to boost the state’s coal and natural gas sectors while more than tripling its electricity generation capacity to 50 gigawatts by 2050.
The measure, signed Thursday by Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey, is designed to turn West Virginia into an energy hub for the data center industry. By sending more electricity to the regional grid and leveraging his state’s relatively lax regulations, Morrisey and his allies are looking to lure data centers to the state, as well as power those beyond its borders.
“We know there’s virtually unlimited need for energy in our country,” Morrisey said at a bill signing of H.B. 5381. “PJM and our grid operators, they’re starving for states to step up and take the lead. And that’s what West Virginia is doing.”
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The new law calls for the state’s Office of Energy to produce rolling five-year plans to keep the state’s existing coal-fired power plants operating through 2050, while also developing new “baseload” energy powered by gas, nuclear, geothermal and hydrogen.
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — No. 23 Boston College Baseball will host Virginia Tech in a three-game series from April 10-12. On Friday and Sunday, the two teams will compete at Harrington Athletics Village with first pitch at 3:00 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, and both games will be streamed on ACCNX. On Saturday, the game will be played at Fenway Park for the 14th annual ALS Awareness Game. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. and broadcast on ACC Network.
The 2026 ALS Awareness Game
The 14th annual Boston College ALS Awareness Game is coming to Fenway Park on Saturday, April 11, at 2 p.m., when the Eagles will face Virginia Tech in the second of a three-game series. The game has been played annually in honor of former BC baseball captain Pete Frates since his ALS diagnosis in 2012. This year marks the seventh time it has been played at Fenway Park. Frates passed away in 2019 at the age of 34.
Record vs Virginia Tech
Boston College is 26-35 all-time against Virginia Tech, including a 14-13 record at home. The Eagles were swept when the two teams last met in 2024. Six current players saw action in that series, with Nick Wang, Kyle Wolff, and Owen DeShazo seeing at-bats. Wolff was a combined 4-11 with five RBI, a home run, two doubles, and a triple in the series. Kyle Kipp, A.J. Colarusso, and Tyler Mudd all pitched, with Colarusso starting and going six innings with six strikeouts.
Scouting the Hokies
Virginia Tech is 15-16 this season and 6-9 in conference so far. The Hokies dropped their lone midweek contest, 11-4, to Liberty and lost two of three over the weekend to Miami. They won the finale against the Hurricanes, 6-3. Virginia Tech is hitting .256 as a team this season, but has three hitters above .300, led by Ethan Ball at .310. Ball leads the Hokies in hits and home runs with 35 and six, respectively. Hudson Lutterman is the team RBI leader with 23. The Virginia Tech pitching staff has four arms with over 20 innings, including Griffin Stieg, who has thrown 37 innings with 33 strikeouts. Brett Renfrow is the Hokies’ strikeout leader with 49 so far this season. The staff has an ERA of 7.68, but two arms with sub-5.00 ERAs: Luke Craytor and Chase Swift, with 3.77 and 4.24 ERAs, respectively.
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The Matchups
The first game of the series will feature A.J. Colarusso against Logan Eisenreich. Colarusso is 3-1 on the year with a 2.88 ERA in 40.2 innings of work to go with 37 strikeouts. In his last outing, Colarusso went six innings against No. 6 North Carolina, allowing just one unearned run while matching his season high of seven strikeouts. Eisenreich is 0-1 this season with a 6.60 ERA in 15 innings of work to go with 18 strikeouts. His last appearance was three innings in relief against Miami, where he allowed an earned run while striking out two.
On Saturday, Brady Miller and Brett Renfrow will face off. Miller has yet to earn a decision this season in 27 innings of work. He has posted a 2.33 ERA to go with 27 strikeouts. His last outing saw him throw five innings against No. 6 North Carolina, where he gave up five earned runs with two strikeouts. Renfrow is 1-4 this season in 34.1 innings with 49 strikeouts and a 6.82 ERA. His last start came against Miami, where he allowed seven earned runs in five innings of work while striking out six.
Sunday’s starters are still to be determined.
Last Time Out
Boston College won both of its midweek contests, defeating UMass 11-1 in the Beanpot semifinals before beating Dartmouth 13-3. Against the Minutemen, Cesar Gonzalez, Luke Gallo, and Carter Hendrickson all had two RBI, while four guys had two hits each. On Wednesday, Wang paced the offense with three RBI. Julio Solier, Ty Mainolfi, and Jack Toomey all had three hits in the win. Jacob Burnham earned the win against UMass, while Peter Schaefer won against Dartmouth.
Up Next
The Eagles will host two midweeks next week, beginning on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. with the championship game against Northeastern, followed by UConn at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. They will then host Duke for an ACC series.
