While Bolling and Cuccinelli size one another up for the Virginia governor’s race, the Virginia lieutenant governor’s race had its first somewhat official entry via Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart:
“I have made no official announcement, but I didn’t exactly make a secret of it,” said Stewart. “I can’t make an official declaration but, when I make my move… I have not yet decided when to announce or how to do it.”
Stewart has not formed an exploratory committee or began fundraising yet, though he did say at one point, “I’m going to have my own race on my hands” come 2013.
Northern Virginia businessman and two-time GOP congressional candidate Keith Fimian is also actively seeking the “governor lite” position in 2013.
Meanwhile, State Senator Mark Obenshain just received a bit of competition in the Virginia attorney general race. Delegate Rob Bell, a noted grassroots campaigner and a senior ranking member of the now-68 member House GOP caucus, has officially made his intentions for higher office known:
“I’ve spent the last ten years trying to be a crime fighter down in Richmond. I’ve written laws about keeping sex offenders out of schools and increasing punishments for drunk drivers,” he said.
An honors graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia Law School, Rob Bell served as a prosecutor in Orange County, Virginia, for five years. In 2001, Bell was elected to the Virginia General Assembly’s 58th District seat. In 2011, Bell patroned the new law to expand Virginia’s protective orders law.
It should be noted that all four of these individuals — Fimian, Stewart, Obenshain, and Bell — held suites at the RPV Advance this year.
