That was the last time Lynchburg, best known today as home to conservative powerhouse Liberty University, went blue for president — until last week, when former vice president Joe Biden beat President Trump. An early endorsement from then-Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. convinced some skeptical evangelicals to back the thrice-married casino developer. So did the continued political evolution of Virginia, a state that has turned increasingly blue amid a suburban backlash to Trump. “The population’s changing,” said Marek Payerhin, a political science and international relations professor at the University of Lynchburg. for whom the president sort of, as an individual, was distasteful.”Biden still would have won Virginia handily even if Lynchburg had delivered for Trump.

Source: Washington Post November 08, 2020 22:27 UTC