Sixth Senate Seat looming as a storm for GOP
By JR Hoeft | Friday, May 27th, 2011 | PoliticsSenator Ralph Northam has long been rumored to be switching parties.
He once was at that precipice when a loose tweet by a former Republican Party of Virginia chairman doomed the actual move.
But he’s decided to run again as a Democrat; so, Republicans see the newly drawn 6th District as an opportunity for a pick-up in 2011.
So, who are the possible challengers?
Wayne Coleman is the CEO for CV International, a leading global supply and logistics company headquartered in Norfolk.
Coleman is a favorite of the Norfolk GOP, not the least for his support for former Norfolk councilman Randy Wright Of the $1500 Coleman has donated, VPAP reports $1000 went to Wright and $500 to the Virginia Republican Senate Caucus.
But it’s not just Republicans Mr. Coleman seems to support. Ironically enough, he just hosted a high-dollar fundraiser for Senator Northam at his house:
Awkward.
Ben Loyola is a former Navy Captain who ran for the GOP nomination for congress last year against Scott Rigell. Loyola, who received the endorsement of the Hampton Roads Tea Party, managed to come in second in a very crowded field. He’s the owner of Loyola Enterprises and has donated more than $10,000 to Republican candidates and causes. He’s from Virginia Beach, so he may be construed by Norfolk’s Ocean View community as an outsider.
John Amiral is the only declared candidate. He is known for challenging Del. Paula Miller in the former 87th District in 2009. Advisers for both Coleman and Loyola have said that Amiral has contacted them and indicated that he’d drop out of the race should they enter it.
So far, their are more questions then answers. Needless to say, the 6th is one to watch, if only for its potential dysfunction.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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8 Responses to "Sixth Senate Seat looming as a storm for GOP"
Coleman’s company has been heavily donating to Republicans with the exception of Democrat Joe Bouchard who ran against Chris Stolle and won with just over 150 votes. And then there are some other notable Democrats that his company has found worthy:
http://www.vpap.org/donors/profile/index/119034?end_year=2011&filter_cmte=all&filter_cmte_radio=all&lookup_type=year&order=amount&page=1&start_year=2006
Maybe Coleman is an “spread the wealth” donor or a gambler hedging his bets?
Greetings,
To update everyone on the correct information, this event mentioned above was cancelled and never held.
Thanks
Pam Brown
Chairman,Republican Party of Norfolk
Pam, who is the 6th District Republican Party supporting as their candidate?
Pam — the event may have been cancelled but Wayne was 100% on board with supporting Northam until he was talked into running by Gary Byler. That doesn’t help his weakness in running for the nomination. All Coleman needs now to win is to hire Jason Miyares.
Tim J.
The Norfolk GOP will support our nominee, whoever that happens to be.
Jimmy May,
I can vouch for the character and intentions of Wayne Coleman. I know him well, and his heart is in the right place. He will continue to support Republican candidates, and our local GOP organizations.
CV International is not any different from Amerigroup, Dominion, Altria or other companies that give to candidates of both parties who have the ability to affect their business.
I think in the next few days, you will learn that all the principals involved are true gentlemen, and will come to a consensus as to which of them is most equipped at the present time to run and win against Ralph Northam.
Best Regards to all,
Pam Brown
Chairman, Republican Party of Norfolk
Loyola wins if he decides to enter. He’d be a great addition to the state senate. Can’t say the same for the mess going on in the US senate race. I think we have all seen more than enough of the same old politician in this country. They are all the same, I don’t care what anyone says.
Why would the Norfolk GOP want anything to do with Randy Wright- he has supported Terry McAuliff, Mark Warner, and many other Democrats…
In Norfolk,
Just wondering, why does talking about Randy Wright have anything to do with this? I think you need to get your political reality situation here in Norfolk straight.
1) City Council–People are free to support who they want to–not always on partisan basis. From what I can see,. Wright is not a member of either Party. Seeing as the GOP is bring people from outside Parry membership as candidates etc
2) Go check Randy’s donors against Republican donors. You will find they match to a more than consequential extent. Most (But not all) of the people voting for Randy, are also voting for Republicans in elections.
3) East Beach would not have come into existence without Randy Wright–it makes sense that people who live there would be supporting him in reelection.
Whatever you think about Randy Wright, just look at your next real estate tax bill (Due June 1!) The rate is $1.11. It could have been sixteen cents higher (yes,. that’s 16..$1.27) like it was before Randy was the driving force behind The Norfolk Tea Party II in 2008. Think about that the next time you want to disparage anyone in the Norfolk GOP for supporting Randy in 2010.
Results speak louder than all other political considerations.
Regards,
Pam Brown
Chairman, Republican Party of Norfolk
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