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In the first statewide race since the GOP lost the White House and the Senate, Virginia’s race for governor suggests that at present the influence of the former president Trump is still strong among Republicans in the state.
Outspoken candidates have so far largely embraced Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and policy to win the state’s GOP convention in May, although this makes it more difficult to appeal to moderate voters in the general election of November. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in Virginia for more than a decade, since 2009.
Hedge fund investor Glenn Youngkin and entrepreneur Pete Snyder, who ran for lieutenant governor in 2013, lead the GOP on campaign ad spend. Former Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox and State Senator Amanda Chase are the only candidates with experience in the Virginia government.
Deciding how their candidate would be chosen has already been a puzzle for the candidates and the Republican State Central Committee of Virginia.
After months of internal debate over whether to hold a statewide primary over a convention, an unsuccessful trial by Chase, and a botched plan to hold her at Liberty University, the committee decided in March to hold an unassembled convention in 37 locations. It will be held on May 8, will use ranked choice voting, and require a candidate to win a majority of the votes to be the candidate.
All of the GOP candidates tap into fatigue around Democrats’ handling of COVID-19 and the economy, specifically highlighting the state’s slowness to fully reopen schools.
Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam called on all schools to begin some form of in-person learning by Monday, although Republicans argue five days of in-person learning should already take place.
“This election will be about one-party democratic control and overtaking,” Cox told CBS News, adding that even after schools open, closures will continue to be a problem in the fall because students have so much catching up to do.
Republicans will also target Democrats for late vaccination rates. The state struggled to distribute vaccines early on but improved its systems; it ranked fourth for the percentage of vaccines given in mid-March.
While Mr. Trump’s issues, such as immigration and the U.S. approach to China, have been raised by some campaigns, candidates have also seized on Mr. Trump’s bogus idea of an election that will affect him. had been “stolen”.
President Biden has won Virginia, which has voted Democratic in the presidential election since 2008, by more than 450,000 votes. Northam cannot stand for re-election because the state prohibits consecutive governors’ terms.
Youngkin tries to lean on doubts about the outcome of the 2020 elections with its “Election Integrity Taskforce” which calls, in part, for more observers and voting machine audits. Snyder released a similar policy plan and said he wanted “NFL screening reports” on election officials for the November election.
“President Biden is our president. He was inaugurated,” Youngkin said when asked if he trusted the 2020 election results. “I think the process improvements cast some doubt.”
Chase, who proudly wears his nickname “Trump in heels” and attended the “Stop the steal” rally on January 6, believes the 2020 election was “stolen” in the wake of COVID-19. The “guardrails [were] taken off, ”she said.
But Denver Riggleman, a former congressman from Virginia who lost his seat in a GOP convention primary last summer, said any candidate’s message about electoral integrity “is based on bullshit.”
“’Electoral integrity’ is a generic term for ‘Stop the Steal’. “Stop the Steal” is a generic term for QAnon. It’s based on a real conspiratorial flu that’s done a lot of damage, ”said Riggleman, who is still considering running for governor as an independent.
A poll by Christopher Newport University found that 61% of Republicans believe Mr Biden did not win legitimately.
Quentin Kidd, the dean of arts and science at Christopher Newport University, said Mr. Trump’s embrace and his debunked allegations of massive voter fraud are the result of a candidate like Chase pushing the field to the right , and an “echo chamber” occupied by candidates from the GOP and the base.
“Electoral integrity is the number one issue at the grassroots. And in a race like this, that’s all you’re really talking about,” Virginia Republican strategist David Alvarez added.
Kidd predicted that Cox or Snyder would win the nomination, but said anyone would have a hard time attracting voters statewide after chasing the right base to win the convention.
“The question is, are Republicans in these competitive states willing enough to move away from Trumpism to be competitive? Or will they overtake Trumpism and, in my mind, really hurt themselves in general?” he said.
Republican candidates have made former Democratic governor and candidate Terry McAuliffe their main target for the general. Democrats hold their gubernatorial primary in June.
To Chase, a convention process requiring citizens to apply to be delegates to vote, will prevent the party from fully exploiting Mr. Trump’s base by November.
“If we are to win statewide elections, we need more buy-in from our candidates, not just party elites,” she said. “Bush Republicans, Cheney Republicans, they have to recognize that people are awake and it’s a new day. It’s time they understood that they are here to stay and embrace them. We won’t go away. . “
She too is still considering an independent race, out of anger at a convention process that she says is already rigged. “Let’s see what happens,” Chase replied.
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