October 21, 2016 News & Press Releases · Press Releases and Announcements

As Criticism Mounts, Virginia Republicans Stay Silent on Trump and his Election Results Comments


by Democratic Party of Virginia

Even as the Roanoke Times Ed Board calls for Virginia Republicans to "disavow Trump on not accepting election results" and the Virginian-Pilot Ed Board says Trump's comments are "appalling and should serve as warning" - Virginia Republicans have stayed silent on Trump and his unprecedented assault on our democracy and American values.

Do Virginia Republicans stand with Trump and his dangerous rhetoric and attempts to undermine American values? Remember: this is a group of people who touts their commitment to the Constitution at every turn.

The following Republicans are seeking the highest offices in Virginia and the U.S. Congress. If elected, their duties would include defending and protecting the peaceful transition of power:

  • Tom Garrett, who is running for Congress in VA-05 and serves on the Privileges and Elections committee, has remained silent. Other members of the P&E committee have also remained silent.
  • Republican gubernatorial candidates have been silent: Ed Gillespie, Rob Wittman, Frank Wagner, and Corey Stewart.
  • Republican candidates for Attorney General - all of whom practice law - have been silent:  Rob Bell, John Adams, and Chuck Smith.

 

BACKGROUND:

Editorial: Republicans must disavow Trump on not accepting election results [Roanoke Times, 10/21/2016]

Before we say anything about the third and final presidential debate, we must say this: Republicans must condemn Donald Trump’s declaration that he might not accept the election results. We usually like to be able to see things in many shades of gray but there is only one way to see this: Trump just made a brazen assault on one of the basic tenets of American democracy — that we abide by election results and peacefully transfer power.  What, exactly, is Trump proposing when he says he will keep the nation “in suspense” until he announces whether he will accept the results? Does he mean that if he loses he’ll simply go off to sulk in the Trump Tower and not make the customary congratulatory phone call? Or is he suggesting that he’ll call on his “Second Amendment people” to take up arms and try to overthrow an elected government? [...]

 

Editorial: Trump's dangerous indictment of democracy [Virginian-Pilot 10/21/2016]

Donald Trump’s dog-whistle politics, on full display for years, blared into horrifying view Wednesday night when he refused to say that he would accept the results of the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s game of footsie with racists and conspiracy theorists has been well-documented here and elsewhere. Thus it’s perhaps no real surprise that the candidate, behind in almost every poll, would resort to undermining the very foundation of America’s democratic system. That lurching apparatus — which relies on the peaceful transfer of power from one president to another — has stood this nation in good stead for its history. Despite constant contentious politics, despite constitutional crises in every century, despite 24 decades of calumny and corruption. [...] These are the phrases shouted by despots and dictators, and they do a disservice to the world’s greatest democracy. That anyone, much less a presidential candidate, believes our system should work this way is appalling and should serve as warning.