David Nygaard, a businessman and Republican-turned-Democrat, has apparently failed to qualify for the ballot in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District primary.
According to individuals within the Nygaard campaign, the Chair of the 2nd District Democratic Committee disqualified over 300 petition signatures, with entire sheets being discarded for “notarization errors.” That number eventually turned into nearly 600 disqualified signatures with no further explanation.
According to my source with the Nygaard campaign, they turned in 1,300 signatures, well over the required 1,000. It’s not hard to imagine that Nygaard being a former Republican and a rare pro-life Democrat could have played a part in the Democrats wanting to keep him off their ballot.
Nygaard will now seek election to Virginia Beach City Council, challenging incumbent John Uhrin in Beach District. He’ll join RK Kowalewitch and John Coker in what has become a crowded field, which only boosts the well-funded Councilman’s chances of re-election. It’s worth noting that City Council races in Virginia Beach are non-partisan.
The Democratic Primary field now consists of Elaine Luria and Virginia Beach teacher Karen Mallard, one of whom will then face the tough task of taking on Congressman Scott Taylor, or Mary Jones of James City County, in November.
UPDATE: The Nygaard campaign reached out with the following statement from David Nygaard….
“I wasn’t thrilled with the outcome of our efforts in the Democratic primary but I accept them completely. I agreed to abide by their rules and I am not going to complain after the fact. I’ve suffered far worse setbacks and have learned to move on.
“While campaigning, I discovered there are a lot of issues still worth fighting for and they aren’t partisan. As a new Democrat and former Republican I can appreciate these issues and I believe I have solutions that aren’t partisan either as I shift into a city council race. I’ve been talking about Public Safety, Public Health, and small business; I believe we can find creative and original solutions that nobody else is looking at, so that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”