Republican Ed Gillespie has vaulted into the lead in the Virginia governor’s race even as he sought to tie his rival to Democrat-supported sanctuary city policies, possibly offering a window into GOP strategy in the 2018 midterm elections. Gillespie’s efforts to link Democratic rival Ralph Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, to sanctuary cites is part of Gillespie’s large effort to portray Northam as soft on crime. "Republicans have figured out how to use the sanctuary city issue to bring together fears about crime and smash it together with immigration in a way that's really not helpful for Democrats." - Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, of Third WaySanctuary city policies essentially protect illegal immigrants from federal deportation by barring local law enforcement authorities from notifying federal officials when they come across an illegal immigrant. The Gillespie ad refers to a Virginia bill that tried to prevent local jurisdictions from adopting such policies but never became law.

Source: Fox News October 30, 2017 12:56 UTC