The Virginia Republican Party has decided to hold a nominating convention instead of a primary to select statewide candidates for next year’s election – prompting outgoing GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman to call the state party a “raging dumpster fire.”
State party officials during an online meeting Saturday voted in favor of the nomination process.
The decision has also prompted state Sen. Amanda Chase, to say she’ll run as an independent.
“Over the past decade, I’ve seen too many of our grassroots candidates get cheated by the Republican establishment elite and political consultants who control these Republican Conventions and I refuse to be another casualty,” Chase, who has strongly supported President Trump’s efforts to uncover Nov. 3 voter fraud, posted Saturday on Facebook.
The other major GOP candidate to so far declare a run for governor is Kirk Cox, a state delegate and a former Virginia House speaker.
Riggleman, who has criticized fellow Republican for supporting President Trump’s efforts to uncover voter fraud, is also considering a gubernatorial run as an independent.
The @VA_GOP is a raging dumpster fire. A convention for statewide office…
Really?
We’ve seen how this ends. Follow the money, corruption and the grift and there’s your GOP Governor candidate. And we wonder why @vademocrats keeps kicking the GOP’s ass in every election cycle
— Denver Lee Riggleman III (@Denver4VA) December 5, 2020