Gov. McDonnell Endorses Bill Stanley in 20th Senate District Race
By Jason Johnson | Thursday, May 19th, 2011 | PoliticsJust hours after Sen. Bill Stanley ended days of speculation about his political future by announcing his intention to run for reelection in the 20th Senate District, Gov. Bob McDonnell issued a strong statement of support for the freshman Republican:
Bill Stanley has been a tireless supporter of our Administration’s efforts to bring more jobs and opportunity to Southern Virginia and every region of the Commonwealth, and he has my strong support in his campaign for State Senate.
Since being elected to the State Senate, Bill demonstrated real leadership focusing on job-creation, eliminating government waste, reforming education, and improving our roads. I know he will provide great leadership to the citizens of the 20th District as he continues to work to bring more jobs and opportunities to Southern Virginia. Virginia needs Bill Stanley in the State Senate.
This statement comes after Sen. Stanley thanked both Gov. McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and area congressmen for their support and encouragement when deciding whether to relocate to his farm in southern Franklin County–a move that would allow him to rejoin 40 percent of his old 19th Senate District that was moved into the 20th by redistricting.
At today’s announcement in his Danville campaign headquarters, Sen. Stanley reflected on his accomplishments during his first four months in office and revealed the thinking involved in his decision to relocate:
Since redistricting, I have given a lot of thought as to whether to seek re-election, and if so, where.
I believe that it is critical this year for conservatives to become the majority in the State Senate. That is the only way to ensure that our values and way of life here in Virginia will be preserved. That is the only way we can achieve results that will put Virginians back to work here in our area.
Therefore, I announce to you today that I am relocating my home to southern Franklin County in the portion of my current district that now lies in the 20th, and that I am seeking the Republican nomination for the Virginia State Senate for the 20th District.
I do not make this choice easily, nor do I take this decision lightly. I do this today because I want to continue my service to the people of Southside. I want to stay on the job for the people of Danville, Franklin and Pittsylvania, and I want to begin working on behalf of the citizens of Carroll, Galax, Halifax, Henry, Martinsville and Patrick. As Senator, I have demonstrated the effectiveness our region needs in Richmond to return our area to economic prosperity and greatness.
I want to work for you to put our region back to work.
The new 20th Senate District is 7.1 percent more Democratic than it was before redistricting, yet Sen. Stanley appeared ready for the challenge, ignoring his primary opponents and setting his sight on the district’s longtime incumbent Roscoe Reynolds:
…[W]hen Roscoe Reynolds became the Senator for the 20th District way back in 1997, Virginia’s annual expenditures were just over 18 billion dollars. Thirteen years later? Our spending has increased nearly 73%! Yet, unemployment in our area is at an all-time high.
When Roscoe Reynolds was first elected to the Virginia State Senate in 1997:
- The unemployment rate in Carroll County was 4% – today, it stands at 9.1%;
- The unemployment rate in Patrick County was 3.5% – today it is 9.7%;
- The unemployment rate in Henry County was 3.8% – today it is 11.2%; and
- The unemployment rate in the City of Martinsville in 1997 was only 4 % – today it is an astonishing and unacceptable 17.8%.
This cannot stand.
It is time for us to do something about it.
It is time to bring economic prosperity back to Southside….
While defeating an entrenched incumbent is never an easy task, Sen. Stanley is also the incumbent senator to approximately 40 percent of the 20th District. Gov. McDonnell’s endorsement, coupled with his pledge to campaign for Stanley and provide financial support from his Opportunity Virginia PAC, could be a significant advantage for Stanley when the governor earned 59.6 percent of the vote in the 20th Senate District in 2009 and who remains incredibly popular with Virginians.
Prior to today’s formal announcement, Jeff Evans, Sen. Reynold’s 2007 opponent, who was planning on a rematch this November, was incensed that “trial lawyer Bill Stanley” would move into the district just to run for the State Senate:
When I began running for the 20th Senate District over five years ago, I made the personal commitment to sacrifice my time, money and efforts to serve as a senator and fight for the needs of the district in which I have lived and worked nearly all of my life. This is the only honest reason someone should seek office — to serve and help give back to the community that has given to them.
Southside Virginia doesn’t need a disloyal, calculated politician. We need someone who has lived in this district and will be in touch with their constituency and fight for their seat.
Gov. McDonnell’s endorsement of Bill Stanley is certain to make the primary race between Stanley and Jeff Evans even more interesting.
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About the author
A lifelong political junkie, Jason caught the political bug as a fifth grader after meeting George Allen in 1993. Since then he has studied political science at both the undergraduate and graduate level. When not perusing the blogs or volunteering for conservative Republicans, Jason enjoys cheering on his beloved Virginia Tech Hokies and spending time at his Bedford County home.
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20 Responses to "Gov. McDonnell Endorses Bill Stanley in 20th Senate District Race"
Jeff Evans had his shot and lost. We cannot afford to waist valuable resources against someone who cannot win in the general election. Get behind Stanley now and lets take the Senate back!
Thank you McD. Jeff Evans, stand down.
You forgot to mention Ret Lt. Col Doug Dunlap of Patrick County again. Doug can win.
The people of the 20th District will decide this nomination, not the Governor. I appreciate McD’s concern for our area, but people here are fiercely independent and don’t stand for outsiders telling us who our nominee will be.
@ samuel
Game. Set. Match.
Bill Stanley is a great Senator and a great Virginian. We need to keep him in the VA Senate and I am looking forward to supporting his campaign in the 20th!
The Gov may regret his endorsement in a few days.
@Aaron
If Bill Stanley gets the nomination, I owe you a steak dinner. Doug Dunlap gets the nomination, vice versa. Deal?
Hey @Aaron can I get in on that steak dinner action too?
@david gilleran: again with your idle threats, as you would rather tear down a good Republican conservative just because your guy has no chance. “if my guy can’t win, I would rather have Roscoe.”. Really? I mean REALLY? Attack an incumbent Senator who votes exactly the way you would want him to, but for the fact that you and your son were hoping for a payday? Tell us the votes Stanley made that you object to…tell us please why you love him as Fifth District chair, loved him as the 19th Senator, bucked the establishment in standing up for Chairman Jeff Frederick against the establishment, and now, because he is willing to sacrifice his current situation for us to try to change what is going on here in Southside, you are so willing to muck up the whole thing with falsehoods and innuendo, because you are bent out of shape?
This is your best hope of beating Sen. Reynolds. In the short months Sen. Stanley has been our Senator, he has served us well. We need him, and you will realize that your area will benefit from him as well. Please stop this nonsense. Please.
Southside Conservative: Would you care to define what you mean by my father and I looking for a payday?
““if my guy can’t win, I would rather have Roscoe.”” – Where did I, or my father, or Doug Dunlap say this?
Let me be perfectly clear: the Dunlap campaign fully intends to support the winner of the Republican nomination process, because we recognize that Doug Dunlap, Jeff Evans or Bill Stanley are all preferable to the ineffective representation of Roscoe Reynolds.
I just got off the phone with Senator Stanley and we are absolutely committed – 100% – to running a clean race. As I told someone else today, negative intra-party politics are destructive and never conducive to winning an election. And if you truly knew me, not some caricature that you may have heard through the grapevine, but truly me, you would know that’s how I truly feel.
I have been nothing but a loyal soldier in the fight for conservative values through our Republican Party since I was old enough to man a phone bank. And I fully intend to continue that past the nomination process, whoever our nominee is.
In light of that, why have I not advised Doug Dunlap to get out of the race? Because I stand behind everything I have posted here and more. I believe that Doug Dunlap is a candidate who can win this election, and it would be dishonorable of me to abandon him as long as there is still a path to victory. I wake up every morning and I evaluate the situation. I ask myself, ‘Does Doug Dunlap have a path to victory?’ And it may be in the next few weeks that that answer becomes no. At that point, I will absolutely counsel him to drop out of the race. But I am totally committed to Doug Dunlap because I believe Doug Dunlap can win. The second I am no longer convinced of that is the second I tell him it’s time.
Doug is a better candidate than Bill Stanley because of one word: “Carpetbagger.” Whether or not you think it has merit, Roscoe Reynolds and the liberal media around here will beat Bill Stanley over the head with it, and the people around here will eat that up. And I think it’s going to be a killer for Bill Stanley. And I like Bill Stanley. He’s an extremely affable guy. But that issue is going to eat him alive.
So if I don’t believe Bill Stanley can win the general, why have I committed to supporting him if he gets our nomination? Because Bill Stanley does espouse and practice our conservative values. And I have worked my buttocks off for conservative values when it seemed utterly pointless, and anyone who doubts that can go back and look at what I did during the summer of 2009. And no one has doubted or will ever doubt my dedication to that campaign, even when it was basically pointless. Bill Stanley, if he wins the nomination, can expect the same dedication.
Now I think I have made myself clear. If anyone has any questions for me concerning my honor – and I take honor very seriously – he or she may contact me at sdgilleran@gmail.com. If you would like to talk on the phone, I will send you my phone number. If you would like to talk face to face, I will gladly drive to meet you on your turf.
Oh, and Lee, I can’t afford to feed the whole Commonwealth. Sorry.
Alan Keyes is a carpetbagger.
Hillary Clinton is a carpetbagger.
Dave Marsden is a carpetbagger.
Bill Stanley is not a carpetbagger.
Bill Stanley saw the district that just elected him five months ago divided into four pieces during redistricting. He voted “no” on the redistricting plan – the right vote on a plan that was clearly flawed. But being in the minority party, he had no control over the plan and it passed over his objection.
Bill’s announcement today showed that he wants to continue to represent the people who elected him just five months ago. His current home is in a district that includes only 15% of the people who elected him to the Senate. By contrast, the 20th district where he is running includes nearly 40% of the people who elected him. Bill is making an extreme personal sacrifice to continue to serve the very people who elected him.
Bill moving is the action of a public servant dedicated to his constituents, not a person seeking the best opportunity for winning political office.
And Bill moving to a district where a plurality of his current constituents reside is far more honorable than the actions of the incumbent and the incumbent’s compatriots who drew a gerrymandered district in the hopes of preserving their political influence.
Bill is a patriot and an honorable gentleman. The people of the 20th district will recognize that and re-elect him to the Senate of Virginia.
@ Samuel
Frankie Rowlands.
Sounds good to me, Aaron.
Carpetbagger?
Very close. 3 out of 4 is a respectable performance. However, the correct answer is that all of those are carpetbaggers.
Bill Stanley had no problem criticizing Ralph Smith on April 30th for considering moving into his 19th district:
“This would be very disappointing if Ralph decides to do this. He should challenge Sen. John Edwards. Republicans cannot hope to win back the majority in the Senate with this type of behavior” was Bill Stanley’s response on Facebook to a Roanoke Free Press article about Ralph’s rumored move into the 19th.
Bill Stanley was fine with no longer representing that 40% until Ralph Smith came along threatening to challenge him in an primary in the 19th. Bill Stanley thought Ralph Smith should stay out of his district and face John Edwards instead. Bill Stanley wanted to stay in the 19th. He thought that Republicans could not “win back the majority with this type of behavior.” I agree.
It’s arguable as to whether those people coming into the district elected him 5 months ago. At the least it can be concluded that they did not overwhelmingly support him. It’s a near 50-50 split in how many voted for Bill Stanley or Hank Davis. Most of those 40% don’t know who Bill Stanley is.
You may find disagreement with my use of the word carpetbagger, but I have a different view of the terms: “public servant,” “honorable gentleman,” and “patriot.”
Generally, I think it’s better if the governor stays out of primary contests for General Assembly seats.
Some governors do, Warner, Kaine….I can’t recall Allen getting involved in any primaries.
McDonnell is getting involved. Gilmore and Wilder did too. I think that just sows ill will for no reason.
NAC: I believe you are misinterpreting Bill Stanley’s words: in order to run against John Edwards, Ralph Smith would have to move into the 21st District (Sen. Smith currently lives in the 23rd) so Sen. Stanley couldn’t possibly be decrying “carpetbagging” if he was encouraging Sen. Smith to move into another senate district. More likely he feared the negative effect that a bitter, divisive primary could have on the GOP’s chances to pick up must-win seats.
Now it’s possible that Sen. Stanley’s move into the 20th is going to cause one of those divisive primaries, but that’s probably why Gov. McDonnell and others are wading into this contest so soon after Stanley’s announcement–make Stanley appear to be a lock for the nomination, effectively ending the primary before things get nasty, then pivot into full campaign mode to unseat Roscoe Reynolds.
I think it is now pretty clear from the above post that @Not a Carpetbagger is an insider with the Jeff Evans campaign…so now we know how they all feel about it….
@David Gilleran; “The Gov may regret his endorsement in a few days.”
Some sort of veiled threat?
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