In the first state dispute since the Republican Party lost the White House and the Senate, the Virginia dispute for governor suggests that, at this time, ex-President Trump’s influence is still strong among state Republicans.
Candidates declared so far have largely embraced Trump’s rhetoric and policies with the aim of winning the Republican Party state convention in May, even though it makes it more difficult to appeal to moderate voters in the November general election. Republicans have not won a state election in Virginia for more than a decade since 2009.
Hedge fund investor Glenn Youngkin and businessman Pete Snyder, who ran for vice governor in 2013, lead the Republican Party field in campaign ad spending. Former Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox and State Senator Amanda Chase are the only candidates with experience serving in the Virginia government.
Deciding how your nominee would be chosen was already a headache for candidates and the Central Committee of the Republican State of Virginia.
After months of internal debate over holding a statewide primary against a convention, an unsuccessful lawsuit by Chase and an unsuccessful plan to hold it at Liberty University, the committee decided in March to hold a dismantled convention at 37 locations. It will be held on May 8, will use roll-call voting and will require the candidate to obtain a majority of the votes to be nominated.
All Republican Party candidates are getting tired of the way Democrats deal with COVID-19 and the economy, pointing specifically to the state’s slowness in the total reopening of schools.
Democratic Governor Ralph Northam urged all schools to begin some form of face-to-face learning by Monday, although Republicans argue that five days of face-to-face learning should already be taking place.
“This election will be about Democratic party control and overdoing it,” Cox told CBS News, adding that even after schools open, closing will remain a problem in the fall, because students have so much to do.
Republicans will also target Democrats for lagging vaccination rates. The state struggled with the distribution of vaccines from the beginning, but it has improved its systems; ranked fourth in the percentage of vaccines administered in mid-March.
While Trump’s favorite issues, such as immigration and the United States’ approach to China, have been raised by some campaigns, candidates also took advantage of Trump’s unmasked idea of an election that was “stolen” from him.
President Biden beat Virginia, who has voted Democrats in presidential contests since 2008, by more than 450,000 votes. Northam cannot run for reelection because the state bans consecutive governors’ terms.
Youngkin is trying to build doubts about the outcome of the 2020 elections with its “Electoral Integrity Task Force” that calls, in part, for more observers and audits of an electronic ballot box. Snyder released a similar policy plan and said he wanted “NFL-style scouting reports” about election officials for the November election.
“President Biden is our president. He was sworn in,” said Youngkin when asked if he trusts the results of the 2020 elections. “I really think the process improvements go and eliminate doubts.”
Chase, who proudly uses his nickname “Trump in heels” and participated in the “Stop the steal” rally on January 6, believes that the 2020 election was “stolen” as a result of COVID-19. The “guardrails [were] took off, “she said.
But Denver Riggleman, a former Virginia congressman who lost his seat at the Republican Party convention primaries last summer, said any candidate’s message about electoral integrity “is based on lies”.
“’Electoral integrity’ is a term used to ‘Stop theft’. ‘Stop the Steal’ is a term used to designate QAnon. It is based on a real conspiracy brand that did a lot of damage, “said Riggleman, who is still considering running for governor as an independent.
A survey by Christopher Newport University revealed that 61% of Republicans believe that Biden did not win legitimately.
Quentin Kidd, dean of Arts and Sciences at Christopher Newport University, said that Trump’s acceptance and his unmasked allegations of mass electoral fraud is the result of a candidate like Chase pushing the field to the right and an “echo chamber” occupied by Republican Party candidates and the base.
“Electoral integrity is the number one issue for the base. And in a race like this, that’s all you’re really talking about,” added Virginia Republican strategist David Alvarez.
Kidd predicted that Cox or Snyder would win the nomination, but said that whoever it was would have trouble appealing to voters across the state after chasing the base for the right to win the convention.
“The question is, are Republicans in these competitive states willing to step away from Trumpism enough to be competitive? Or are they going to double the trump card and, in my mind, really get hurt in general?” he said.
Republican candidates have made former Democratic governor and candidate Terry McAuliffe his primary target for the general. Democrats hold their governorate primaries in June.
For Chase, a convention process that requires citizens to register to be delegates in order to vote, will prevent the party from fully taking advantage of Trump’s base until November.
“If we are going to win a state election, we need more adherence from our candidates, not just from party elites,” she said. “Bush Republicans, Cheney Republicans need to recognize that people are awake and it is a new day. It is time to understand that they are here to stay and embrace them. We are not leaving.”
She is also still considering an independent race, angry at a convention process she says has already been rigged. “Let’s see what happens,” replied Chase.