5th District: Six of Seven Candidates want Convention
Feda Morton, Ken Boyd, Laurence Verga, Michael McPadden, Ron Ferrin, and Jim McKelvey issued this press release today:
Six out of seven of the Republican candidates for the nomination for the U. S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 5th Congressional District have notified unit chairs throughout the district that they prefer having that nomination made at a District Convention of party delegates in May of next year rather than an open primary in June. A decision will be made this Saturday, December 12th, at a district meeting in Appomattox.
In a joint communiqué sent to the unit chairs in the district that runs from Greene County on the North to the North Carolina border on the South, the six expressed concern over the fact that Virginia law would permit Democrats and other non-Republicans to vote in a GOP primary since freshman Democrat Congressman Tom Perriello is unlikely to be opposed in his party, freeing his supporters to help pick their favorite Republican as his opponent.
In the email to GOP officials the candidates noted that, “We are encouraged by the widespread support we have found for a convention among conservatives in every county and city in the 5th District and we hope that party leaders will consider this overwhelming support for a convention and vote on Saturday to allow 5th District Republicans to choose their nominee at a district convention in May rather than by a later primary vote tainted by liberal voters playing games.”
The six Republican candidates signing onto the statement were Feda Morton, Ken Boyd, Laurence Verga, Michael McPadden, Ron Ferrin, and Jim McKelvey.
Several other reasons were given for opposing a primary and supporting a convention.
“A primary will demand that local governments of the 5th District bear the expense of a primary,” the statement noted saying that local governments are already financially strapped and this additional burden should not be needlessly placed on taxpayers. Other reasons included the fact that a May convention would give the party’s nominee an extra month to focus on defeating Perriello over a June primary and that a convention will require an absolute majority of votes to pick a winner while a simple plurality would be needed in a primary.
“…in a seven-way [primary], a candidate could conceivably win with as few as 15% of the vote.” the statement explained.
This statement evolved following an appearance by six of the seven at a monthly meeting of the Fluvanna County Republican Party on Monday night where a large audience questioned the candidates for more than two hours.
Full text of statement below.
Case for a Convention
“As the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee meets this Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009 in Appomattox, VA to debate and decide the method by which 5th District Republicans will nominate their candidate of choice to provide the citizens with an alternative to Democrat Tom Perriello, we ask them to carefully consider the following regarding nomination procedures:
1. A primary will demand the local governments of the Fifth District bear the expense of conducting a primary election. Currently, local governments of Virginia’s Fifth District are strapped financially and being forced to prioritize their spending. A convention is an alternative that does not put the cost of selecting our Republican nominee on local government and the taxpayers.
2. A Convention will afford our eventual nominee up to a month of additional time to campaign against the incumbent, time that would be lost with the primary process.
3. A Convention will require that our nominee win with an absolute majority of votes, further showing the Republican Party’s commitment to its nominee. A primary, however, would allow a nominee to be determined with a plurality. Therefore, in a seven-way race, a candidate could conceivably win with as few as 15% of the vote.
4. A primary will necessitate the unwarranted spending of millions of combined dollars by more than five campaigns that could easily be saved for eventual use against Tom Perriello.
5. A primary will cause public fracturing within the Republican party. Public campaigning for and against will cause unnecessary negativity about our eventual nominee, our party, and our cause, further eroding the morale of the Republican base.
6. A primary, under Virginia law allows Democrats and other party affiliations to vote in a Republican primary, thereby greatly diluting the influence of each Republican vote. As a result a primary will compromise the integrity of the Republican Creed by allowing Democrats to use their vote to ensure the Republican nominee is of their choice and not ours. (Though state law disallows voting in primaries of two or more political parties in the same year, the Democrats will most likely not hold a contested primary, as Perriello is an incumbent, thereby allowing unfettered Democrat access to the Republican nominating process in a primary).
We are encouraged by the widespread support we have found for a convention among conservatives in every county and city in the 5th district. We hope that party leaders will consider this overwhelming support for a convention and vote on Saturday to allow 5th District Republicans to choose their nominee at a 5th district convention.”
Category: Campaigns and Elections
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I’m wondering when these 6 will realize that a 6 v. Hurt primary/convention guarantees Hurt the victory. Frankly, it’s pretty clear this is an easy win for Hurt UNLESS the others coalesce behind Morton. None of the others has a chance. Personally, I don’t really care who wins but this race isn’t all that hard to figure out.
I agree that Morton is clearly the one with the best chance of defeating Hurt, and I just hope that 5th District leadership realizes the serious nature of primaries where the Republicans waste millions of dollars ripping each other to shreds while Perriello sits back and takes notes.
Salem Republican
6 vs. Hurt in a primary guarantees a Hurt victory. But 6 vs. Hurt in a convention does not because a convention requires 50% + 1.
NAS – That depends on what rules they adopt. Regardless, these 6 are allowing the perception that a Hurt win is inevitable. That is dangerous. Furthermore this race is not comparable to NY-23. Hurt is far from Dede Scozz. Does that means he’s the right choice? No. However, it is insulting for to the intelligence of 5th District voters to try and force this race into that paradigm.
The irony is that the conservative reaction to NY-23 was largely to clamor for the most open nominating method possible but now they seek to largely close it to party insiders who attend conventions.
Again though, I don’t care who wins. I’m disappointed by what I’m hearing from some of the “six” but, ultimately, it’ll be Hurt or Morton and either of them will beat Perriello.
Arguing that using a convention closes the nomination contest to party insiders is like claiming that limiting those that can vote for a unit chair to members of a committee is making the process to closed.
A convention ensures that only Republicans decide who the Republican nominee is, and that is why it should be used whenever possible.
Willie
It’s simply indisputable that conventions are more closed than primaries. Does that make them wrong? Absolutely not. I’m a fan of conventions and in this current economy I’d be hard pressed to ask a locality to pick up the tab for a partisan nominating contest. We won’t be having a primary in Salem to nominate our candidates.
My point was that it takes really tortured logic to try to compare VA-5 to NY-23 at the same time you’re calling for a convention. No one in NY-23 was screaming “we should have had a convention” after that fiasco (disclaimer, may family all lives in NY-23 and supported Hoffman). If people think this race is analogous to NY-23 (which I don’t) and they’re afraid of party insider manipulation, then the best course is to completely remove it from party insider hands.
Let me say again though, I don’t think VA-5 is even remotely similar to NY-23. I think a convention makes a lot of sense in VA-5. And, I hope all 7 candidates will settle down and focus on removing one of the worst Congressmen in the entire country.
A convention gave us McDonnell, Bolling and Cuccinelli. A primary gave us Deeds, Wagner and Shannon.
A convention will be attended by regular party members, of which I am one (so therefore I must think conventions are fine).
However, the mood here in the 5th is not unlike that found in most of the country. People believe that Congress ignores them. and many people, unless Perriello has personally given them some kind of federal hand-out, are outraged with his total disregard for their livelihoods, health & future. I think these “not-necessarily-regular-Republicans” should vote on who will run against Perriello.
If we go the primary route in the 5th, then no one can whine about the NRCC “rigging” the convention.
and Salem Republican: the big reason for you to care who gets the nomination against Perriello is because not all the candidates have an equal chance against Perriello.
I believe Hurt can beat Perriello. That is why I care that he is nominated.
kelley,
I agree that Hurt would be a strong candidate against Perriello, however, there are other candidates including Morton and Verga who could also be competitive in a general.
Those who want to nominate Robert Hurt for Congress will have to do better than just saying that he is the most electable, you will have to give voters some distinct instances where Robert Hurt stood out as a leader. I can think of some such moments right now, but I am undecided and am watching this dogfight from the ground.
Apparently you aren’t the only one
http://va5thdistrict.com/2009/12/10/cantor-hold-fundraiser-for-hurt/
KiV, I think Hurt, Morton, Boyd, or McPadden could beat Ol’ Tommy. McKelvey and Ferrin have no shot and Verga would be close. Rees has no shot (never did).
Shouldn’t the way to nominate a candidate be chosen BEFORE the candidates announce their intentions to run? In theory, the nominating process could change every election if agreed to by the candidates. Smells fishy to me.
JeffConn, it doesn’t seem like most of the candidates have any say at all in what the nomination process is.
[...] from Virginia’s 5th District Congressional Race: Bearing Drift has a great article up about six of the now eight candidates running for the GOP nomination [...]
It’s going to be a close vote tomorrow. Hurt will win a primary but in a convention he will never get to 50% plus one. The front runner always takes the shots and people resent them.
I also favor conventions, since primaries, under Virginia law, allow participation of Democrats and other liberals in the Republican nominating process.
As a Republican unit vice-chairman, I have been involved in conventions and primaries, and a convention is clearly the better choice for several reasons beyond the one I just stated;
Because it takes %50 plus one to win a convention, the party comes out far more unified; in a primary, campaigning against each other requires spending millions of dollars giving Perriello ammo to use in the general against the eventual nominee that should be spent campaigning against Perriello.
A convention is very hard to rig, as all the campaigns are normally asked to agree to the convention rules beforehand, and have a chance to object to any discrepancies. Also, the delegates to the convention can throw out the rules, if they so desire and adopt new rules right from the floor. In a convention the delegates have the final say in all matters, and so majority rules, where in a primary with six or seven candidates the winner could conceivably win with no more than %15 of the vote, not a ringing endorsement from the party of the one to beat Perriello. Not to mention, open primaries gave us John McCain and hence Barak Obama. Let’s keep Republican business Republican business.
Not to mention that in a straw poll of the committee a couple months ago, the vast majority voted for a convention, and that has only begun shifting in response to pressure from the Hurt campaign, as certain unit chairs are more afraid of him than they are of their units, some of whom have instructed their Chairs to support a convention.
Its official. There will be a primary instead of a convention to determine the nominee.