Richmond played host to a long day of Republican Party business, with both the Young Republican Federation of Virginia and the State Central Committee in town for meetings. An anticipated vote by the aforementioned SCC on whether the 2018 Senate nominee will be chosen by way of a convention or a primary was naturally the main topic of conversation throughout the day.
The YRFV quarterly meeting actually ran well ahead of schedule, with votes regarding the selection of delegates to the national YR convention, the chartering of three new clubs, and other fairly routine business being decided by simple voice votes with minimal debate.
In a meeting that spanned three hours and change, featuring appearances and speeches by Ed Gillespie and John Adams, the State Central Committee voted by a 45-35 margin to hold a primary to decide the Republican nominee for Senate against incumbent and 2016 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, Tim Kaine.
With the potential 2018 candidates already beginning to test the waters, a primary will likely favor a more mainstream candidate as 2017 has. Of course, the roughly 150,000 people who voted for Corey Stewart won’t simply disappear, and they are intensely loyal, putting him in a considerably strong position should he choose to run. A recent social media push by Nick Freitas supporters to get his hat in the ring would need to boost his statewide name ID significantly in a relatively short amount of time to make his candidacy viable, which one would assume said Facebook promotion is the beginning of. Naturally, a convention among mostly party insiders who follow the politics across the state and know most of the players already would be advantageous to candidates without such a profile.
So here we go, friends. Here’s hoping (likely in vain) that 2018’s primary won’t be as contentious as the one just last week.