Lessons in Leadership
November 30, 2023
Tara Durant, a former schoolteacher and a state legislator in Virginia, got her start in local politics after a tense encounter with Black Lives Matter demonstrators in 2020 while she was driving in downtown Fredericksburg with her daughter. She called the police from her car and said protesters were blocking passage, only to be told that the city government sanctioned the protest and could not intervene. She was elected to Virginia’s house of delegates in 2021, and in November she won an open seat in the state senate.
Durant spoke with National Review about what motivated her to run for office and how she won her latest election in a swing district even as Old Dominion Democrats retook the house and narrowly held their majority in the senate. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You got involved in politics very recently, winning a Fredericksburg-area seat in 2021 alongside Republican governor Glenn Youngkin. What inspired you to run for office that year?
A: I had no plans or inclination to run for office. Sometimes these things happen organically because of some impetus that drives you to want to stand up and serve. And that certainly was applicable in my case. It was born out of the incident that happened with my daughter and me. When I was approached and had conversations with people who thought we should run for the house of delegates, I did some reflection and a lot of discernment with my family, and I concluded that I would regret it if I didn’t run. At the time I was still teaching, and it was a broader view that drove me. It was not just public safety and what was now becoming the “defund the police movement, but also what I saw as an educator, as a mom to three kids, and what was happening with them and what was happening overall in the State of Virginia, that drove me to say, “Yes, I do want to stand up and run for office.* So I did
O: In 2023. you narrowly won an open swing district that Donald Trump won in 2016, Joe Biden carried in 2020, and Youngkin flipped in 2021. What made your candidacy resonate with independents in a year that favored Virginia Democrats?
A: We had a great message, and we were very disciplined and stuck on that message. It was about making Virginia more secure for Virginians financially, more secure for our kids’ education, and more secure in our community.
Q: Virginia Democrats’ narrow win last month — coupled with off-year victories for Democrats this cycle in the Kentucky governor’s race and on an Ohio ballot initiative about abortion — has bolstered the idea that abortion is a losing issue for Republicans in the post-Dobbs era. But you ran on Youngkin’s proposal for a ban at 15 weeks of pregnancy, with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother, and you won in a state where abortions are legal until roughly the 26-week mark, also with exceptions thereafter. Is abortion a losing issue for Republicans?
A: Clearly not, because people like me did win, and I was always very honest and up-front about where I stood. And what we see now, what’s resonating, is that Democrats have lied. The message they gave is that they were trying to appeal to Virginians who wanted a commonsense approach that reflects consensus. But what they’re supporting now is what’s appealing to the extreme wing of their base.
Q: What are reporters getting wrong with respect to Virginia politics and this off-year election in particular?
A: Republicans did not have a terrible night. When you look at the national stage and what happened in Virginia, we won a lot of districts that Joe Biden had won, including mine. And we did actually gain a seat in the Senate, so we did not have a terrible night. If you delve into these districts and how they have performed in the last three election cycles, you’ll see that. So, Virginia remains a swing state, absolutely.