Richmond, VA — While Virginia Democrats have been hard at work delivering crucial relief to working families, small businesses, schools, and communities across the Commonwealth — the Virginia GOP has spent yet another week mired in brutal infighting and division.

As another disastrously chaotic week for the Virginia GOP comes to an end, here’s a look back at the lowlights:

Virginia Republicans Are Hopelessly Beholden to Donald Trump

This week, CBS News reported on the one thing that unites a brutally divided Virginia GOP: an unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump and his extreme policies. This report detailed how the GOP candidates for governor are demonstrating just how permanent a grip Donald Trump has on the party:

"Virginia's race for governor suggests that at this moment, former President Trump's influence is still strong among state Republicans.

The declared candidates have so far largely embraced Mr. Trump's rhetoric and policies with an eye toward winning the state GOP convention in May, even if doing so makes it more difficult to appeal to moderate voters in the November general election."

For those keeping score at home, Donald Trump lost Virginia by 10 points.

Political Hack Pete Snyder Lied to the IRS

New reporting from Axios this week revealed that Pete Snyder appeared to have lied to the IRS about the amount of money his nonprofit had raised. In an IRS filing submitted under penalty of perjury, Snyder’s organization stated that they had raised less than $50,000 to date, and weren’t planning to raise more than that in the future. There’s just one problem: Snyder had boasted about seeding the organization with $100,000 just days before the filing.

Snyder’s filing allowed his organization to shield key details from the IRS — raising serious questions about his judgement and what else he could be hiding. Why did Pete Snyder say one thing publicly and another to the IRS? Why did he choose to file a shorter tax exemption form that allowed him to hide key information from the IRS?

Virginia Republicans Oppose Crucial Relief for Virginians

While Virginia Democrats spent the week emphasizing the importance of the American Rescue Plan and the critical relief it delivers to Virginians, the Republican candidates are doubling down on their far right politics and opposing efforts to beat the pandemic and rescue the economy. 

Not only did every Republican in Virginia’s Congressional delegation vote against it, GOP candidates Pete Snyder and Glenn Youngkin have spoken out against the American Rescue Plan, with Snyder calling it “absolutely insane” and Youngkin saying “it absolutely is wrong.” Snyder and Youngkin’s extreme positions only further demonstrate how Virginia Republicans are unfit to lead in the face of this crisis.

Goofy Glenn Youngkin Accused of Fraud by His Own Party

In his desperate attempts to buy support in the GOP primary, Youngkin appears to have outsourced his campaign’s field program to a company known as “Vanguard Field Strategies.” In the process, at least one Vanguard staff member working on behalf of Youngkin falsely presented themselves as working for the Republican Party of Virginia, leading to accusations of fraud: 

The gubernatorial campaign of self-funding Republican Glenn Youngkin is coming under fire in Virginia for allegedly deceiving voters in an effort to register them to vote in the upcoming nominating convention and obtain their personal information.

On Thursday afternoon, a local GOP official, Stephen Kurtz, sent a letter to state party chair Rich Anderson asking for an investigation into reports that the Youngkin campaign had dispatched canvassers who misrepresented themselves as working for the Republican Party of Virginia.

Frontrunner Amanda Chase Rails Against the Virginia GOP, Renews Threats to Run Third Party

Amanda Chase has long held (correctly) that the Virginia GOP’s disastrous nomination process is rigged against her. Now, less two months away from the GOP convention, Chase has renewed her threat to run as a third party candidate. According to CBS: 

[Chase] is still considering a run as a third-party candidate, out of anger with a convention process she says is already rigged. "Let's see what happens," Chase responded.

This is exactly why Chase has spoken out so forcefully against the rigged GOP primary, saying this week that:

"I think this is voter suppression. And you know it's that we have to as registered voters jump through all these additional hoops. It really is a scheme in my opinion to allow the party establishment to choose our statewide nominees. 

You know I'm not happy about it. I have to be honest… I think they're not good for the party and they're not good for people who are small business owners, people who are homebound, our military people that are working two and three jobs to make ends meet and they just don't have time to spend a whole day voting." 

Former Lt. Governor Bill Bolling added to Chase and her supporter’s claims this week, saying that for the Republican Party of Virginia, “it’s all about preventing Amanda Chase from becoming the nominee.”

Where’s Kirk Cox??

Far-right Kirk Cox's campaign for governor is flailing as he gets brutally attacked by his Republican opponents. Cox’s long track record is being pilloried by outside groups and every GOP candidate in the field is claiming they are a better fit than he is — but Cox is remaining quiet. For Kirk Cox, this primary is “nothing more than a personal relationship numbers game.” 

Instead of appealing to voters, Cox is focused entirely on party insiders — exactly the type of rigged process Amanda Chase and her supporters fear most. 

In the latest sign of how out of touch Cox is, he spent more time talking about hot dogs this week than any plans to beat the pandemic.

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