Saturday’s Young Republican Federation of Virginia (YRFV) convention in downtown Richmond saw a slate of YRFV candidates headed by Kishore Thota sweep the event, winning every position and picking up three seats on State Central Committee (SCC). Erika Dyer won as YR rep for SCC.
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A straw poll held during the convention saw Ed Gillespie for Governor with a convincing win (84 percent) followed by Corey Stewart (9 percent), and Frank Wagner (6 percent).
In the Lieutenant Governor’s race the straw poll went to Jill Vogel (46 percent), Bryce Reeves (28 percent), and Glenn Davis 24 percent).
The Republican primary will be held on June 13.
UPDATE from Andrew Hull, YRFV Delegate:
The Young Republican Federation of Virginia convention in Richmond was held in an unexpected place: a hall in the Suntrust Center, thanks to some liberals at the original venue (University of Richmond) getting bent out of shape over a bunch of scary Republicans visiting their campus.
All in all, however, the convention ran smoothly considering the venue change and so forth. What’s more, the event managed to avoid the drama and infighting that so many GOP functions I’ve attended in several different states have been prone to. The candidates for the various YR offices kept their speeches relatively brief and civil, focusing on what they wanted to do if elected, instead of slinging mud (a strategy a certain candidate from Prince William County would do well to emulate).
The only sleazy incident involved a slanderous email sent to various delegates by one Jeremy Hodes, who decided it was a good idea to dig up the involvement of Dustin Rinehart, who won a spot on State Central today, in the slating controversy at 2014’s Virginia Beach Mass Meeting. Evidently, Mr. Hodes doesn’t seem to recognize that simply throwing around “slating” like a four letter word is a lazy tactic that won’t win you an election. On a personal note, Dustin Rinehart is a friend and a former coworker who I respect highly, and he is owed an apology for being subjected to such a squalid attack by Mr. Hodes.
The Elevate YR ticket won in a clean sweep, with Kishore Thota being elected Chairman, Thomas Turner won 1st Vice Chairman, Aaron Spradlin as 2nd Vice Chairman, and Stacie Gordon as Secretary. The two State Central Committee seats were won by Erika Dyer and the aforementioned Dustin Rinehart.
The YRFV also held a straw poll for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Of course, John Adams will now undoubtedly be the Republican nominee for Attorney General, so there wasn’t a straw poll for that. The results for Governor and Lieutenant Governor were as follows:
Governor:
Ed Gillespie 84%
Corey Stewart 9%
Senator Frank Wagner 6%
Lieutenant Governor:
Senator Jill Vogel 46%
Senator Bryce Reeves 28%
Delegate Glenn Davis 24%
The large margin for Gillespie is unsurprising as he continues to be the odds-on favorite to win the GOP nomination for Governor. He also had a couple of volunteers present with signs, literature, stickers, and other such items available.
Stewart notably had no staffer or volunteer presence whatsoever at the convention, without even so much as a volunteer to hand out stickers to the attendees or at the very least have signage in the halls.
Senator Wagner had two staffers (as far as I saw). All three of the LG candidates had a presence there, as did AG candidate John Adams.
I wish our newly elected statewide YR officers the very best going forward. We have an opportunity to do some great things in 2017 and 2018, and YR chapters here in Virginia will be very important to the success of the party as a whole.