February 12, 2021 News & Press Releases

Week in Review: The Virginia GOP’s Growing State of Chaos


by Democratic Party of Virginia

Richmond, VA — The “disorganized and broke” Republican Party of Virginia has been mired in full blown chaos for months now, but this week was worse than ever. 

With less than two weeks until the Virginia GOP has to decide on a nomination method, new polling shows Amanda Chase as the emerging frontrunner in the weak field of Republican candidates. Meanwhile, the rest of the GOP candidates are scrambling to out-Trump each other as they alienate Virginia voters. Here’s the week in review:

Amanda “Trump in Heels” Chase Emerges as Frontrunner, Sues the Virginia GOP

New polling has put Amanda Chase — who refuses to disavow QAnon and calls the Capitol insurrectionists “patriots,” — at the head of the pack in this disastrous GOP primary. This polling will only add fuel to the fire as the Republican candidates fight to keep up with Chase’s extremism.

This week, Chase filed a lawsuit against the Republican Party of Virginia over its plans to choose candidates in a nominating convention:

"'Chase says the party’s central committee is plotting to capitalize on the confusion by simply choosing a nominee itself and bypassing voters.'"

"'I’ve proven I can win in either a convention or a primary; I will run and win in either one. However, to not allow the people to vote, and participate in the process, is something I will not tolerate,’ Chase said."

Today, Glenn Youngkin joined Amanda Chase in voicing his extreme frustrations with the Virginia GOP and their chaotic primary process:

"I am extraordinarily frustrated by what's happening at State Central right now, and that outcome is wholly unacceptable. [...] I just can't believe that the Republican Party of Virginia, the State Central Committee, hasn't resolved how we're going to nominate our governor at this point." 

This poses the question: where do the rest of the candidates stand on this disastrous process?

Weak, Unsteady, Glenn Youngkin Takes His First Swing

On Monday, Youngkin’s campaign issued a statement that he is “the only real businessman in this race,” apparently attempting to set himself apart from Fox News talking head Pete Snyder.

Although he is deflecting on answering whether he is a “Trump conservative,” Youngkin is standing up for Donald Trump and dismissing the impeachment effort to hold the former president accountable.

Pete Snyder “absolutely” supports Donald Trump and his agenda. Where do you stand, Glenn?

Fox News Talking Head Pete Snyder Shows Just How Far Right He Is

From the moment he announced this newest attempt to run for office, Pete Snyder wasted no time telling Virginians that he’s running as an absolute Donald Trump ally.

This week, Snyder proudly announced that he is “humbled” to have the endorsement of the homophobic conspiracy theorist EW Jackson. For context, even Rep. Denver Riggleman has called Jackson “cancerous” and said that “the GOP has no future with this leadership.” Yikes.

Snyder also said that his campaign co-chair Ken Cuccinelli will be in charge of overseeing “ballot integrity measures” for his campaign — which he calls “a cultural issue for Republicans.”

Care to elaborate on what you mean by that, Pete?

Where is Kirk Cox?

Despite declaring himself “the only conservative” who can win in Virginia this year, former Speaker of the House of Delegates Kirk Cox is trailing behind Amanda Chase in this race.

As he struggles to gain traction and the weak Republican field gets bigger, Cox is scrambling to brandish his conservative credentials however he can.

Will it be enough?

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