As November 2nd approaches, guns are garnering attention in the campaign to become Virginia's next Governor. It isn't so much from the candidates themselves but what one "new media" outlet has discovered in the last two weeks. Stephen Gutowski's The Reloadhas been the leading media source for news related to the Governor's race and guns.
Just this weekend, Gutowski published an article that detailed how the political action committee for Dominion Energy is a major source of funds for a "shadowy group" buying ads against Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin that attempt to suppress gun owner turnout for the candidate.
According to The Reload, the group was created in July 2021 by the consulting firm Mele, Brengarth, & Associates, which boasts about providing services to “the most active, progressive Super PAC’s in the 2012 and 2014 cycles” on its website. Accountability Virginia is also using ActBlue, a fundraising portal for Democrat candidates and progressive causes, to collect donations.The power company gave $200,000 to the Accountability Virginia PAC. You can find that article here. Another article posted over the weekend provides analysis into the 2019 video reported last week of McAuliffe disparaging gun shows and how Attorney General Mark Herring (D.) provided McAuliffe leverage to pass a 2016 gun bill by breaking gun-carry reciprocity agreements. That article can be found here however it is behind a pay-wall for Reload subscribers. If you are not a subscriber, it is well worth the cost and the monthly subscription costs about what a Chick-fil-a meal costs.
Because Glenn Youngkin has not filled out the NRA-ILA Candidate Questionnaire, he has not been endorsed (Youngkin has not completed surveys from any advocacy group, not just gun groups). But, Youngkin’s campaign has told the Reload that the candidate is a “lifetime NRA member” and a gun owner (the NRA-ILA Virginia State Liaison said at a recent NRA-ILA Members Meeting in Richmond that NRA has confirmed Youngkin is a Life Member). Youngkin's campaign has told the Reload that he opposes the law passed by Democrats in 2020 that allows localities to chip away at Virginia's pre-emption law. The campaign also told the Reload that Youngkin does not support an “assault weapons” ban.
So, gun owners have a choice to make on November 2nd. We know where McAuliffe stands and he has said he will push for a ban on "assault weapons" on day one if he is elected. Youngkin's campaign is on record to The Reload that he opposes a so-called assault weapons ban and opposes the chipping away at Virginia's pre-emption law. Do we sit back and allow McAuliffe to win simply because Youngkin believes that "surveys are a waste of time"? Or, do we do all we can between now and election day to make sure that McAuliffe loses, and that we elect a pro-rights majority in the House of Delegates.
I attended the NRA-ILA Members Meeting in Richmond this past Wednesday night. A number of the NRA members in the room stood up and said they will be voting for Glenn Youngkin because they know what four more years of Terry McAuliffe and an anti-gun majority in the General Assembly will do to gun owners. That is the decision facing every Virginia gun owner between now and election day.
Last Wednesday, former Governor Terry McAuliffe made the Democrats' real agenda known. At a fundraiser for Democrat Senate Candidate Joe Morrissey, McAuliffe was quoted saying:
“We’re going to win this, and guess what. We're going to get gun restrictions overnight, we are going to make Virginia a new state.”
We've been saying this for the last two years! Now, Terry McAuliffe, in Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke style, made it known exactly what is in store for Virginia gun owners if we lose the pro-rights majority in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. McAuliffe's words should be a rallying cry for Virginia gun owners to use the next month to do all we can to support the legislators that support our rights.
Here are several House Districts that need your help.
House District 30- Delegate Nick Freitas - To vote for Delegate Freitas, you will need to ask for a write-in ballot. Through some snafu, his name was not included on the ballot and we need him in the House of Delegates.
House District 66 - Delegate Kirk Cox - House Speaker Kirk Cox's district was redrawn by the federal court and the U.S. Supreme Court found that the House of Delegates did not have standing to challenge a lower court's ruling that several districts had been racially gerrymandered. As you will see in the link, the redrawn district leans Democratic. The gun ban lobby has targeted Delegate Cox, comparing him to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for blocking their gun control agenda. Delegate Cox needs your help.
House District 40 - Delegate Tim Hugo- Delegate Hugo is likely the most endangered member of the House of Delegates. He is the only Republican member in the General Assembly from Northern Virginia (Fairfax). Delegate Hugo has been a strong supporter of our right to keep and bear arms. He needs gun owners to turn out strong in his district.
In addition to the three above, below are additional members that need your help to win on election day and protect our rights:
As expected, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed the two gun related bills after the General Assembly rejected amendments he made to the bills. The first bill, Senate Bill 1023 had been amended by a substitute bill that would have reinstated handgun rationing (one gun-a-month) in the Commonwealth. McAuliffe claimed the bill was opposed by the state police:
Pursuant to Article V, Section 6, of the Constitution of Virginia, I veto Senate Bill 1023. This bill, which is opposed by the Virginia State Police, would prohibit the sharing of Virginia concealed handgun permit information with another state’s law-enforcement agencies if Virginia does not have a concealed handgun reciprocity agreement with that state. The bill also would require the State Police to publish a list of states recognizing the validity of Virginia concealed handgun permits on its website.
Information sharing is the bedrock of effective cross-jurisdictional law enforcement, and the withholding of information adversely impacts investigations and jeopardizes the safety of officers. Depriving law enforcement officers of this critical, potentially life-saving information would put them in harm’s way -- an unacceptable outcome that I cannot support.
During the Reconvened Session, I offered a substitute to Senate Bill 1023 which would have enhanced public safety by restoring Virginia’s “One-Handgun-A-Month” law. Since this law was repealed in 2012, Virginia has once again become a prime location for criminals to purchase weapons in bulk. This amendment was not adopted.
SB1023 would have protected concealed handgun permit holders from the various fishing expeditions that law enforcement in anti-gun states will sometimes put gun owners through during routine traffic stops once they find out the individual is a permit holder. It would have prevented the state police from sharing CHP information with law enforcement in anti-gun states.
The second bill vetoed was Senate Bill 1315. SB1315 would have allowed foster parents to carry a firearm on their person. It also required firearm to be securely locked when not in use. McAuliffe said in his veto message:
Many children in foster care have suffered difficult childhood experiences and struggle to find a stable home. The state has a special responsibility to ensure that those children enjoy living conditions that are as safe as possible.
To provide an extra layer of protection from unintended use of weapons in foster care homes, the state currently requires firearms and ammunition to be stored in separate, locked locations. Senate Bill 1315 would eliminate this added protection, increasing the risk that children might gain unauthorized access to firearms and ammunition.
During the Reconvened Session, I offered a substitute amendment that would have strengthened the gun safety provisions by requiring compliance with local ordinances, requiring firearms to be stored separately from ammunition, and clarifying the required use of safety mechanisms. This amendment was rejected.
The unintended use of weapons can pose a serious danger to children and adults in foster care homes.
Accordingly, I veto this bill.
Neither bill would have endangered the public as CHP holders are some of the most law abiding individuals in the country. Additionally, gun owners are also safety conscious. Unintended deaths involving firearms are at all time lows. SB1315 would not have endangered children who are in foster care.
These actions further demonstrate the need to elect a pro-rights Governor in the 2017 statewide elections. Please vote in the June nominating primaries then get involved in the campaign of pro-rights candidates. If we want to advance good legislation, the only way to do that is with a pro-rights Governor.
The Virginia Department of General Services held a public hearing today on making Governor Terry McAuliffe's Executive Order banning concealed carry in state owned buildings permanent. According to the Associated Press, gun owners turned out to make their voice heard against a permanent ban:
“Gun-free zones are a magnet to people who want to do harm; they are a magnet to terrorists,” said Vicki Lindsey from Chesterfield, echoing similar comments made by several other advocates.
McAuliffe issued the emergency executive order last year without any proof that gun owners carrying concealed in state buildings had ever been a threat to state employees or the public doing business in the buildings.
If you were unable to attend the hearing, you can make your voice heard by submitting written comments on the Virginia Town Hall regulatory website at http://townhall.virginia.gov/L/viewchapter.cfm?chapterid=2905. The full text of the proposed regulation can also be found at that link. Update: The Richmond Times Dispatch article on the hearing can be found here.
On Friday, Jenna Portnoy had this article in the Washington Post about how Governor Terry McAuliffe's executive order restoring the voting rights of over 200,000 felons also eases their ability to get their gun rights restored:
Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s order last month restoringthe voting rights of 206,000 felons had an unintended consequence: It’s now easier for those ex-offenders to regain the right to own guns.
Before the order, felons who wanted to legally possess firearms first had to go through the process of having their civil rights reinstated, including the right to vote, to sit on a jury and to run for office.
That process — which involved submitting forms that were scrutinized by the secretary of the commonwealth’s staff, using the governor’s authority — is no longer in place.
Instead, felons who have completed their sentences can go straight to the step of petitioning the circuit court for firearm rights. Prosecutors review those petitions and can intervene if they believe a felon should continue to be barred from owning a weapon.
Portnoy quoted Secretary of the Commonwealth Kelly Thomasson as saying the decision to restore firearms rights is solely up to the discretion of local court judges and that local courts have the decision on whether or not to oppose petitions restoring the right to keep and bear arms. It also appears that McAuliffe did not completely think through what his actions on voting rights would do on other civil rights:
McAuliffe said he hadn’t given much thought to how his order would affect felons seeking firearms. “My actions were about giving you the right to vote, to serve on a jury and run for political office,” he said recently. “My action, I didn’t think it had anything to do withgun rights. I stayed away from that.”
We'll have to see what happens with this one now that McAuliffe has been informed of the "unintended" consequences of his actions.
NBC 4 in Washington reports that Governor McAuliffe has vetoed HB 560, a bill that clarifies the law on brandishing a firearm. As passed, in order to receive a conviction, prosecutors would have to prove that an individual not only brandished a weapon, but also knew or should have known that his or her conduct induced fear in the mind of another person. McAuliffe thanks that is a bridge too far:
Making the change requested in this bill would create unintended consequences for prosecutors and law enforcement officers attempting to secure convictions for violators of this law,” said McAuliffe in another veto statement for House Bill 560. This proposed modification would unnecessarily burden our public safety officials and potentially create a defense for individuals who recklessly handle firearms," he said.
That's four separate vetoes of pro-gun bills. Clearly McAuliffe is trying to work himself back into the good graces of the gun ban lobby.
Late yesterday, Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed House Bill 1096, which would reverse elements of the governor’s executive order that bans the possession of firearms in Virginia executive branch office buildings. He also vetoed House Bill 382, which would bar state agencies — other than the Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Virginia Port Authority and institutions of higher education — from adopting regulations preventing employees from storing a lawfully possessed firearm and ammunition in a locked private personal vehicle at their workplace.
“As governor, I am the chief personnel officer of the state workforce,” McAuliffe said in vetoing the measure.
“I believe there is a need to establish and enforce workplace violence prevention policies that focus on employee safety and an atmosphere of workplace safety.
“An essential component of workplace violence prevention is the regulation of the possession, brandishing, or use of weapons on-site and during work-related activities. Our current state policy is aligned with and reinforces this best practice.”
The Richmond Times Dispatch reported this morning that the state GOP accused McAuliffe of being "inconsistent" on gun laws but McAuliffe was consistent on the issues addressed in these bills. He said at the start of the session that he would veto any legislation that undid his earlier actions in this area and he did exactly what he said. Neither bill passed with enough votes to override a veto but gun owners should let their voice be heard to their legislators so they know gun owners do not support McAuliffe's vetoes.
Earlier this week, Governor Terry McAuliffe sent substitute bills as amendments to HB766 and SB626. These companion bills would have turned a protective order into a temporary concealed handgun permit (CHP) until the victim was able to secure a permanent permit. McAuliffe's substitute bills turned these bills from a victim protection bill to a predator protection bill by allowing judges to arbitrarily deny the temporary permit, requiring the victim to have already applied for a CHP before the protection order was requested, basically making the victim have to know ahead of time that they are going to need a protective order and thus apply for the CHP in anticipation of the violence against them, and requiring the victim to have already completed the firearms training needed to get a CHP, but prohibiting the use of the online option that other CHP applicants can currently use.
Today, the State Senate rejected the Governor's substitute on a vote of 11-29 but fell six votes short passing the bill in it's enrolled version, meaning that had they done so, the Governor would have had no further options to stop the bill from becoming law. Several Democrats changed their vote from when the bill originally passed as the bill originally passed with a veto proof margin.
The House of Delegates however not only rejected the Governor's substitute 28-71 then went on to pass the bill in it's enrolled form on a vote of 66-33. Unfortunately, when the bill got to the Senate, it met the same fate as the Senate bill, falling six votes short of the 2/3 majority needed to pass. The actions are now communicated back to the Governor.
On Monday, the State Senate approved HB 1096 with and amendment. That bill would override Governor Terry McAuliffe's Executive Order 50 banning firearms in state buildings. Yesterday, the House approved the amended version and the bill now heads to Governor McAuliffe. The Virginian Pilot reports:
Del. Michael Webert’s bill, HB1096, would negate the order by invalidating any administrative action governing the carrying of firearms unless authorized by the legislature. The measure won final passage Wednesday in the House of Delegates and now goes to the governor for his signature.
Webert, R-Fauquier County, acknowledged after the vote that the legislation could be undone by a veto.
Gun owners should contact the Governor's Office and urge him to sign HB1096. Remind McAuliffe that in defending his agreement with the Republican leadership to override Attorney General Herring's out-of-state carry permit recognition action, acknowleded there is no proof that people carrying concealed firearms commit crime, much less in state buildings.
You can contact the Governor's office by clicking here.
The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Governor Terry McAuliffe soured the mood of his State of the Commonwealth Address last night with two veto threats:
“Specifically, I am prepared to veto bills that roll back the progress that we have made on marriage equality and women’s access to health care,” McAuliffe said. “I will also reject proposals that limit this commonwealth’s ability to keep Virginians safe from gun violence or to react to the very clear and present danger of climate change and sea level rise.”
The Times noted that Republicans thought that throwing down the gauntlet with veto threats took away from his message of working together. We will need several Democrats to cross ranks if McAuliffe vetoes bills to overturn the AG's unilateral action on out-of-state concealed carry permit recognition. There are two pro-rights Democrats in the State Senate. There is also State Senator Chap Petersen who has been known to side with our issue on one or two occasions, including concealed carry in restaurants. He may be needed if we are to move rollbacks of McAuliffe's and Attorney General Herring's overreach.
Both WTVR CBS6 and the Loudoun Times-Mirror covered the Nation's Gun Show held in Chantilly over this past weekend. Both Media Outlets found varying views on what was at the time speculation of what would actually come out of the White House. First, the CBS 6 report.
I'm not sure the owner of Trader Jerry's would agree that his comments about those engaged in the business of selling firearms means he thinks laws should be more restrictive. While I don't know this, I am willing to bet he does not believe someone who sells one firearm from their personal collection at a gun show is in the business of selling firearms.
It should also be noted that CBS 6 did not go out of their way to try and portray the private sellers to which they spoke as some shady black market people but they were folks who, like most gun owners, wanted to make sure the folks they were selling their guns to were on the up-and-up. They also were like most of the private sellers I have seen at gun shows - guys walking around with one gun on their shoulder, not someone trying to skirt the FFL law with a table full of firearms.
You probably noticed that reference to the show being so busy the ATM ran out of money. Annette Elliot, the show promoted told the Loudoun Times-Mirror why the event was so packed:
“There are three reasons why people are waiting in line to get into our show,” Elliott explained. “One is ISIS. Two is McAuliffe. And three is Obama."
The Times-Mirror noted that more guns were sold in December than almost any other month in nearly two decades according to federal data released on Monday.
McAuliffe's office called the proposal a stunt that plays well with right wing blogs.
If the measure makes it in to the budget passed by the General Assembly, it will likely be line item vetoed by the Governor and would require two thirds of both houses to override the veto.
America's First Freedom reports that a panel appointed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is recommending that some of the state's draconian gun restrictions be eased. Who would have thought that New Jersey would be looking to ease gun laws at the same time Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and AG Mark Herring try and find ways to go around the legislature to restrict our rights.
Jerry Falwell Jr., the President of Liberty University, made comments Friday that included advising Liberty students to arm themselves. The comments brought a strong rebuke from Governor Terry McAuliffe. Focusing on Falwell's comments about "lets teach them a lesson if they show up here" which McAuliffe took as targeting Muslims, he responded:
"My administration is committed to making Virginia an open and welcoming Commonwealth, while also ensuring the safety of all of our citizens," McAuliffe said in a statement issued late Saturday. "Mr. Falwell's rash and repugnant comments detract from both of those crucial goals."
"I just want to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to get your permit. We offer a free course and lets teach them a lesson if they ever show up here," said Falwell.
Additionally, WDBJ 7 reported that Since Falwell's comments, a range in Lynchburg has seen a 20 percent increase in sign-ups for concealed-carry permit classes.
The Washington Post reports that Governor Terry McAuliffe has issued the final regulation for public comment that would further restrict legal carrying of firearms in state buildings:
The release of the policies last week triggered a lengthy review process that could include several rounds of public comment, but the McAuliffe administration will make the final call, leaving little doubt the rules could become permanent.
Gun owners are encouraged to click here and sign up for an email that will allow you to comment as soon as the proposed regulations are printed in the Virginia Register of Regulations.
In his first public event since getting his butt handed to him by voters Tuesday, Governor Terry McAuliffe told reporters that even if he had won control of the state senate nothing really would have changed legislatively. Really? You spent millions from your PAC and talked Bloomberg into spending over $2 million on something that wasn't going to matter? Yeah, we believe that like we believe it had nothing to do with presidential politics. Oh wait, he said that too.
After spending $43 million, including over $2 million dumped in by Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety, we wake up to the status quo - a state senate with 21 Republicans and 19 Democrats. The biggest win of the night goes to 10th Senate District GOP Candidate Glen Sturtevant, who overcame a $700,000 negative attack funded by Everytown and a 3500 vote deficit after 24 precincts in Chesterfield and 30 precincts in Richmond had been counted. It wasn't until the Powhatan registrar confirmed to a local television news reporter at approximately 9:00 PM that Sturtevant overwhelmingly beat Gecker in the county that the AP and other outlets started calling the race for the GOP candidate.
Breaking: In Powhattan --- numbers from the phone -- @gecker got 2,205 @GlenSturtevant 7,315. That's all 13 precints #va10
Because of the large number of votes cast in Powhatan, and the amount of time it took to report the totals, Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw told the Washington Post that Democrats had hopes that outcome would be reversed due to "irregularities." Gecker has yet to concede the race and sent staff to Powhatan to examine the returns. Sturtevant ended up with 73.8 percent of the vote in Powhatan where turnout was boosted by tightly contested local races.
In the other race that Bloomberg invested heavily, his chosen candidate won. Everytown immediately went to Twitter to claim victory, but was quickly reminded that spending over $2 million to hold a seat already held by an anti-gun Senator, while losing the bigger battle of flipping control of the state senate, was not a victory.
So, who is the real winner in last night's election? In the short term, the GOP, and gun owners, because Governor Terry McAuliffe got nothing for all of the money he spent from his PAC and that he convinced Bloomberg to spend to help him flip the Senate. We can thank the gun owners in Powhatan County for that.
“Amazing Powhatan turnout. Definitely Bloomberg backlash,” longtime Democratic political operative Paul Goldman said in a text message.
The Democrat made a massive mistake when he accepted campaign swag from an interest group affiliated with former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who seeks tougher gun control laws. Gecker might have lost anyway, but the Bloomberg intervention gave Powhatan voters a reason to rise up in indignation. Sturtevant also received funds from outsider sources but the Bloomberg connection vividly cast Gecker on the wrong side of an issue of vital concern to Powhatan’s citizenry. A campaign focused on guns redounded to Gecker’s despair. This is not a surprise.
From a gun owner perspective, we still can't override a McAuliffe veto of good 2nd Amendment related bills. And, as Brian Schoeneman wrote in his election post mortem on Bearing Drift, regarding the GOP, maintaining the staus quo is not really something to be popping the corks over.
We maintained the status quo. That’s it. In every seat that was held by the GOP, we won. In every seat held by the Democrats, we lost. A few of those State Senate seats were open seat races (whether through retirement or the primarying of an incumbent Republican), but they were also in heavily partisan areas, where the non-incumbent party had only a slight chance to pull off an upset (for example, the 8th, 11th, 12th, 29th, and 36th).
The two most competitive challenger races – at least by media standards – were the Nancy Dye/John Edwards battle in the 21st District, and the Frank Wagner/Gary McCollum battle in the 7th District. Neither of the challengers came close to unseating the incumbent, with both Edwards and Wagner winning by approximately 8 points.
Maintaining the status quo in the Senate was a must win, and we won it. But we gained no ground, and the millions poured into the Commonwealth by outside groups didn’t have an overall impact on the final outcome. In the two races they targeted, they went 1-1. The only people really pleased with that outcome should be the TV stations in Richmond and Northern Virginia.
Gun owners were challenged this election and with the exception of one race (remember the gun ban lobby originally targeted four seats) we won. Everytown and the national gun ban politicians are already trying to spin that one race as a major victory, which was expected. This election was a wake-up call to gun owners. Hopefully we heeded it and are prepared for war in 2016. That campaign starts today.
I had the opportunity to speak with NRANews Cam and Company host Cam Edwards about Tuesday's results:
With the campaign season winding down, candidates spent the weekend reaching out to voters. Governor Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Senator Mark Warner traveled the state in one last attempt to pick up the one state senate seat McAuliffe needs to take control of the State Senate. One of their stops was in the hotly contested 10th District for a rally at the headquarters of gun ban supporter Dan Gecker. Meanwhile, the Republican, Glen Sturtevant, was knocking on doors meeting with individual voters over the weekend. From the Richmond Times Dispatch:
With less than 48 hours before the polls open in one of Virginia’s most expensive and tightly contested Senate races ever, Democrat Daniel A. Gecker joined hands with Gov. Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner at a rally in Chesterfield County, while Republican Glen H. Sturtevant knocked on doors in Richmond’s Museum District.
McAuliffe capped a barnstorming tour of the state on behalf of Democratic Senate candidates Sunday in a joint appearance with Warner to boost voter turnout for Gecker, 59, a two-term member of the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors, and potentially give Democrats control of a nearly evenly split state Senate.
“We need one seat, and Dan Gecker is that seat,” the governor shouted to a cheering crowd of volunteers and state Democratic party leaders at Gecker’s field office off Buford Road in Chesterfield.
When Gecker spoke, he took the opportunity to say what issues he would push if elected, and he made sure to mention gun control.
Also during this final weekend, anyone listening to radio probably heard ads for or against Gecker and Sturtevant (I heard an ad paid for by NRA-PVF during the Rush Limbaugh program on Friday). In addition to the NRA-PVF radio warning of Bloomberg trying to buy the Virginia State Senate, Citizens for Responsible Solutions, the Gabby Giffords gun ban group had also bought $40,000 in radio time promoting Gecker.
Money has flooded the 10th District in the last couple of weeks. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the largest outside expenditure in a State Senate race had been $250,000 on behalf of then-Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Fairfax, in 2007. This year, four candidates have exceeded that amount, with Gecker and Democrat Jeremy McPike, who is battling Republican Hal Parrish for the seat open in the 29th Senate District being the largest beneficiaries.
But the stakes are much higher for gun owners this year than in 2007. The large expenditures for a single issue is being used as a test case. From the Times-Dispatch article referenced above:
“It’s kind of a test case on how the gun issue plays out in a competitive district,” said Robert D. Holsworth, a longtime political commentator on state and Richmond-area politics.
Holsworth continued later in the article:
Holsworth isn’t sure how the issue will affect Tuesday’s election in the 10th District. “Is this really going to help Dan Gecker, particularly with moderate suburbanites?” he asked. “On the other hand, does this spending backfire on him?”
But he added, “We’ve not seen this debated this way in the Richmond area” since then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder teamed with then-U.S. Attorney Richard Cullen to get legislation passed in 1993 that restricted purchases of handguns to one a month. The assembly subsequently repealed the law in 2012 under then-Gov. Bob McDonnell.
Beyond next week’s outcome, Holsworth wondered, “How is this going to play in the national election? How is it going to play in Virginia in the presidential election?”
I spoke with someone associated with the Chesterfield County GOP over the weekend and he said he is hearing that voters on both sides are being turned off by the flood of ads and mailers and saying they are just going to stay home and not vote. Turnout will be key. Every gun owner in the 10th and 20th Districts need to go to the polls tomorrow and vote for Glen Sturtevant (10th) and Hal Parrish (29th). We don't want Bloomberg buying Virginia's State Senate.
The Richmond Times Dispatch this morning came out with their editorial endorsements for the November 3rd General Election and Glen Sturtevant was one of the beneficiaries:
The retirement of Republican John Watkins opens the seat in the 10th District, which includes Powhatan as well as portions of Chesterfield and Richmond. We endorse Republican Glen Sturtevant who appears likely to embody the thoughtful independence that defined Watkins’ exceptional career. Sturtevant, a member of Richmond’s School Board, belongs to the GOP’s reform wing and stands in the philosophical mainstream. He supports changes to make merit the basis for judicial selection, would restrain governmental overreach and understands the role Virginia can play in national energy policy. His principal opponent, Democrat Dan Gecker, has served ably on Chesterfield’s Board of Supervisors and would prove a diligent senator. A close call was made easier when an outside group led by Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, decided to drop $700,000 into an effort to boost Gecker, whom it considers an ally in its pursuit of anti-gun laws. Voters in the 10th seem unlikely to embrace the cause or approve of outsiders meddling in their politics. Gecker would have enhanced his reputation if he scorned the dubious help. Marleen Durfee’s independent candidacy adds an outside voice to one of the state’s most competitive races. The results in the 10th could determine partisan control of the Senate. This stands as central Virginia’s most compelling assembly campaign in several cycles. Sturtevant would bring to the Senate the intellectual curiosity and temperamental moderation the GOP needs.
I have wondered if Bloomberg and McAuliffe overreached with the amount of money that was dropped into the 10th and 29th districts. The Times Dispatch thinks so. We'll see on November 3rd.
Not long after I spoke with Cam Edwards on NRA News yesterday about the $700,000 that Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety is dropping into the 10th State Senate District, the Washington Post reported that he is dropping over twice that amount - $1.5 million - in the 29th Senate District targeting GOP candidate Hal Parrish:
Less than two weeks before Election Day, Everytown for Gun Safety announced Thursday that it would spend $1.5 million in TV and online ads for Democrat Jeremy McPike. He is running against Manassas Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish II (R) to succeed retiring Sen. Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William).
A day earlier, Everytown said it would spend $700,000 on ads for Democrat Dan Gecker, who is battling Republican Glen Sturtevant to represent part of Richmond and the surrounding suburbs in the Senate. That seat is being vacated by retiring Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Powhatan).
The ad campaigns, featuring the father of a Roanoke TV journalist shot to death on the air in August, target the two seats considered most up for grabs in the 40-member Senate. Democrats need to pick up one seat to take control of the chamber and give Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) a chance for legislative success for the final two years of his term. The GOP enjoys an overwhelming majority in the House of Delegates.
The amount of money Bloomberg is dropping in is unprecedented. The money he is putting in for one candidate in the 29th is almost as much as both candidates have raised combined. It's all part of the anti-gun meme "Take out the NRA in their backyard". Governor Terry McAuliffe all but admitted he has been coordinating with Bloomberg's group, though he denied speaking to Bloomberg himself:
Asked at a public appearance Thursday outside Richmond if he had spoken with Bloomberg about the ad buys, McAuliffe said no. But he responded coyly when a reporter asked if he’d had any contact with Bloomberg’s “people.”
“Oh, I didn’t say that, but I haven’t talked to Mayor Bloomberg,” McAuliffe said.
By the way, it is not illegal in state races for campaigns to coordinate with outside groups.
Yes, it is possible for one rich asshole to buy power in our Republic if he has enough and is willing to spend enough to do it. Bloomberg seems able and willing. I’m sorry that’s the case, but it is just is. Grassroots is the only way we can counter it. But will it be enough? Will enough people step up?
NRA-ILA has a Campaign Field Representative, Thomas Bingham, on the ground in the 29th District to coordinate volunteer efforts for gun owners. You can contact him by email at Thomas@nrailafrontlines.com.
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