Politics is hard. I’ve semi-jokingly referred to it as a bloodsport a time or two, and there’s a reason for that. It gets ugly.

One of the things you need to develop if you’re going to delve into politics is a thick skin. Even as a commentator, I’ve been called all kinds of vile things and accused of even worse things, all because of my political positions. Seriously awful things. And I’m not someone who actually crafts laws. It gets worse at that level.

Yet a Democrat in Virginia who is running primarily to advance gun control has now said she’s dropping out of the race, and the apparent reason is ridiculous.

A Republican state senator is facing a general election challenge for the first time in a decade in a district that’s considered strongly favorable to the incumbent.

Sen. John Cosgrove has held the seat in the 14th Senate District since 2014. He was a delegate for a decade prior to that and served on the City Council in Chesapeake, where he lives.

He’s running against Democrat Rebecca Raveson, a retired loan officer from Suffolk now working as a trustee for an estate.

Raveson said in an email Oct. 15 she was withdrawing from the race after she refused to disclose her age and was told by a reporter that The Virginian-Pilot would be publishing the age associated with her public records, which is 72.

…

Before saying she would withdraw from the race, Raveson answered emailed questions about her top priority, which she said was gun control. She said if elected, she would try to pass Gov. Ralph Northam’s legislative package that included universal background checks, extreme risk protection orders and bans on high-capacity magazines.

Oh, honey.

You think you’re ready for the gun control fight when you can’t even handle the newspaper publishing your age? Trust me, you’re not. Not by a longshot.

The problem is that Raveson is one of the many anti-gunners who actually believes that their positions are so universal that there’s not really any need for a fight. Folks like that tend to think that the only real opposition comes from people bought and paid for by the NRA. They’ve listened to the mainstream media for so long they actually buy that line of thinking.

Only, it’s BS.

Real people actually disagree with this nonsense. A lot of them. A large number oppose Northam’s anti-gun agenda and are going to let any lawmaker out there know how they feel. Some of them aren’t going to be polite about it. I’m not going to defend it, but I’ll acknowledge the reality of it. People on both sides routinely get ugly about politics. It’s not right, but it just is.

Ravenson is probably smart to withdraw from the race. After all, age is just a number. It’s nothing to sweat in the grand scheme of things. Yet here she is, completely flummoxed by the idea that the media wants her age. Isn’t this the same party who has been demanding Trump’s tax records? I’m sorry, but tax records are a bit more intimate than some’s age is.

Her sitting this one out is probably for the best.