In the first state race since the Republican Party lost the White House and Senate, Virginia’s governorship career suggests that at this point former President Trump’s influence is still strong among state Republicans.
Declared candidates have so far largely adopted Trump’s rhetoric and policies with the goal of winning the Republican Party state convention in May, even if doing so makes it harder to appeal to moderate voters in the Republican Party. November general election. Republicans have not won statewide elections in Virginia in more than a decade, since 2009.
Investor Glenn Youngkin, a fund investor, and businessman Pete Snyder, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2013, lead the GOP camp in campaign advertising spending. Former Republican Speaker Kirk Cox and state Sen. Amanda Chase are the only experienced candidates for the Virginia government.
Deciding how to choose your candidate has already been a headache for the candidates and for the Central Committee of the Republican State of Virginia.
After months of internal debate about holding a statewide primary in the face of a convention, a failed Chase lawsuit, and a wrong plan to hold it at Freedom University, the committee decided in March to hold a convention not meeting in 37 locations. It will be held on May 8, will use classified election votes and will require a candidate to win a majority of votes to be the candidate.
All Republican Party candidates are taking advantage of the fatigue in the way Democrats handle COVID-19 and the economy, specifically targeting the state’s slowness in the total reopening of schools.
Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has asked all schools to start some kind of face-to-face learning before Monday, though Republicans argue they should already be doing five days of face-to-face learning.
“All of these elections will be based on the control and democratic reach of a party,” Cox told CBS News, adding that even after schools open, closures will continue to be an issue. in the fall because students have a lot to catch up on.
Republicans will also turn to Democrats for delayed vaccination rates. The state struggled to distribute vaccinations soon, but has improved its systems; it ranked fourth in the percentage of vaccines administered in mid-March.
While some issues related to Trump’s pets, such as immigration and the U.S. approach to China, have been raised by some campaigns, candidates have also seized on Trump’s discredited idea of some elections that “stole” him.
President Biden won Virginia, which has voted Democrat in the presidential race since 2008, by more than 450,000 votes. Northam cannot run for re-election because the state prohibits governments from running for office.
Youngkin is trying to deepen doubts the outcome of the 2020 elections with its “Working Group on Electoral Integrity” which calls, in part, for more audits of observers and voting machines. Snyder has launched a similar policy plan and said he wants “NFL-style scan reports” on election officials for the November election.
“President Biden is our president. He was invested,” Youngkin said when asked if he is confident in the 2020 election results. “I think the improvements in the processes make the doubt disappear.”
Chase, who wears his nickname “Trump on Heels” with pride and attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, believes the 2020 election was “stolen” as a result of COVID-19. The “railings [were] it was taken out, ”he said.
But Denver Riggleman, a former Virginia congressman who lost his seat in the Republican Party convention primaries last summer, said any candidate’s messaging about electoral integrity “is based on the matrix.”
“” Electoral Integrity “is a reference term for” Stop the Steal. “” Stop the Steal “is a term of protection for QAnon. who is still considering running for governor as an independent.
A Christopher Newport University poll found that 61% of Republicans believe Mr. Biden did not win legitimately.
Quentin Kidd, dean of Arts and Sciences at Christopher Newport University, said Mr. Trump’s hug and his discredited claims of massive election fraud are the result of a candidate like Chase pushing the field to the right and a “echo camera”. “occupied by Republican Party candidates and the base.
“Election integrity is the number one core issue. And in a race like this, you’re just talking about it,” added David Alvarez, a Republican strategist from Virginia.
Kidd predicted that Cox or Snyder would win the nomination, but said whoever it is will have a problem attracting voters across the state after pursuing the right base 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 Trumpism and, in my mind, really hurt themselves in general?” He said.
Republican candidates have made former Democratic Gov. and candidate Terry McAuliffe their main target for the general. Democrats are holding their government primaries in June.
For Chase, a convention process that requires citizens to apply to be delegates to vote will prevent the party from fully taking advantage of Mr. Trump’s base before November.
“If we win a statewide election, we need more participation from our candidates, not just the party elites,” he said. “Bush Republicans, Cheney Republicans, have to recognize that people are awake and it’s a new day. It’s time for them to understand that they’re here to stay and hug them. We’re not leaving.”
She, too, is still considering an independent career, out of rage with a process of convention that she says is already being manipulated. “Let’s see what happens,” Chase replied.