Let’s not dredge up Alabama’s embarrassing U.S. Senate Race last year. Well … alright, just for a moment.
Who can forget the slow train wreck we all witnessed on national news for weeks in Alabama? I’m sure that by the end of it, Alabamans thought they deserved better. Well, Virginia, so do you!
History often repeats itself, as the saying goes, and right under our eyes, the same story is unfolding in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Three candidates are vying for the Republican nomination for a chance to go head-to-head with Hillary’s presidential running mate, Tim Kaine.
Two of the candidates have a history of running statewide and losing. One candidate, Bishop E.W. Jackson, won the Republican nomination for Lt. Governor in 2013 only to lose by a significant margin in the November general election. Another candidate, State Delegate Nick Freitas, is making waves across the Commonwealth, outraising both candidates last quarter and touting some impressive endorsements.
Corey Stewart, a Minnesota native, has a penchant of rushing to the scene for political gain like wrapping himself in the defense of Confederate statues in Charlottesville – a subject he probably knew little about. His idea of identifying with the southern heritage of Virginia voters is hanging out with the infamous white supremacist, Jason Kessler, at a rally in Charlottesville.
Certainly with a history like Corey’s, he has no problem describing his campaign tactics as vicious and ruthless. He will stop at nothing to gain quick, cheap, earned media no matter the circumstance. According to internal polling, Corey Stewart claims he is the leading nominee for the Republican Party of Virginia for the U.S. Senate race. Scary, right?
For those of you in Virginia, you should be scared. In an expected low-turnout primary on June 12th, the conditions favor a candidate like Corey Stewart, who has appeared on the ballot more than twice before.
Can anyone imagine another Latino Victory Fund creating an ad akin to the one we saw against Ed Gillespie in 2017? Corey Stewart would be the truck driver attempting to chase down the children. In another video, you can see Stewart with white nationalist and anti-Semite Paul Nehlen. Stewart is seen embracing him in a video on YouTube. It’s not hard to imagine the TV ads we will see later in October when Tim Kaine decides to start spending his millions from his campaign war chest.
What’s worse is that is that there aren’t many redeeming qualities of nominating a man like Corey Stewart. He campaigns on being the Virginia Chairman for the Trump campaign, but what Corey doesn’t seem to reconcile is that he was unceremoniously fired for promoting division amongst the Republican grassroots ranks and using his position as a launchpad to his 2017 gubernatorial bid.
Stewart’s position on taxes? He’s raised them. Corey’s take on social media censorship? More government regulations and free speech limitations on Twitter and Facebook. Don’t even ask about his foreign policy experience. It’s barely communicable beyond the tired, boiler-plated answers. That must be why Virginians saw Stewart sweating, sifting through his notes on live TV at the Liberty University debate looking for what his consultants wrote to say.
It’s clear that if Stewart were to receive the nomination in June, Tim Kaine would win handily in November and perhaps even hurt the down-ballot candidates in November.
Virginians have a choice to make just like voters had in Alabama. I’m urging to voters to pick a nominee with Virginian values and we all know, it’s not Corey Stewart.
Ian Parish is a current Junior at Liberty University and Editing Contributor for conservative blog Lone Conservative. His business email is itparish@liberty.edu.