Julian Walker with the Virginia Pilot notes that all save one paid the filing fee [1].
That one? Might surprise a few folks…
The lone holdout was state Sen. Steve Martin, a Chesterfield County lawmaker running for lieutenant governor.
Candidates for that office and attorney general were asked to give the party $10,000 apiece; the voluntary fee for gubernatorial candidates is $25,000.
In addition to those donations, candidates were required to submit mandatory fees representing 2 percent of the salary of the office they seek.
That amounts to $1,452.84 for lieutenant governor candidates, $6,000 for attorney general contenders and $7,000 from those running for governor.
Contacted Monday, Martin confirmed he hadn’t paid the voluntary fee.
Ouch.
Martin was widely considered to be the insider “safe” pick from the Richmond/Chesterfield crowd. When even JMDD, Jackson, Stewart, and others considered to be “second tier” candidates file anyway?
Martin’s chances just took a huge nosedive.
Meanwhile, you can tell the big difference between front-tier and second-tier candidates by the emphasis they put on the filing deadline. First-tier candidates barely made this a news event. Second-tier candidates who struggled to get across the finish line treat this as if they just won the marathon.
…when today was just the starting block.
The final news in all of this is that Cuccinelli now becomes the official GOP nominee for Governor — and while Salahi insists on an independent bid for governor, his failure to raise $10K to participate in the convention in an official capacity suggests that party crashing may work at the White House, just not at the Executive Mansion.