Ramadan: The Case for Terry

By David Ramadan

As a young immigrant, I came to the United States from a war-torn Lebanon, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities to grow and prosper that America has made possible for me and countless others.

One of the first lessons we’ve all learned is the importance of democracy and the institutions and bedrock principles that guide – and protect – us.

Without them, you can’t fight for life or school choice or any particular issue, and you definitely wouldn’t be able to debate whether a mask mandate is right or challenge political outcomes you think may be wrong.

What you can’t do is dance around a January 6 insurrection that sought to end the peaceful transfer of power, discredit the votes of millions of my fellow Americans, and install a monarch over a president with fists and bear spray.

And you definitely can’t say, as Glenn Youngkin has implied, that the destruction of the halls of Congress was really about “election integrity” and the need for machine audits. I know better.

During my time as a legislator serving Virginia, I was a member of the Privileges and Elections Committee in the House of Delegates. I authored in 2013 the online voter registration law, HB2341, and worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to guarantee that a vote cast would be a ballot correctly – and automatically – counted.

You should also know that although Terry McAuliffe invited me often to the governor’s mansion to work on common issues like jobs, education, and support of military families. I was a conservative thorn in his side . . . because I was a lifelong Republican who believes in smaller government, and less taxes.

Were this a typical pre-Trump Virginia election for governor, I would be working a poll and handing out Republican sample ballots. But this is hardly a routine election.

Glenn Youngkin has a small number of plans based on little more than dog-whistle rhetoric favored by the divisive former president. On the other side, Terry McAuliffe has the experience, fortitude, and vision – over 20 plans to take Virginia forward.

And when Virginians are struggling through the COVID pandemic and trying to recover, it is prudent to re-elect a candidate who’s already brought Amazon and Nestle to the Commonwealth and knows how government works.

Mind you, it’s not that Glenn Youngkin couldn’t grow to become the leader Virginia needs today. It’s just that he hasn’t.

This is the time to put our country and our Commonwealth first and vote for Terry McAuliffe.

This is why, as a lifelong conservative, I support Terry McAuliffe for Governor.

David Ramadan, a former Republican who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2012 to 2016, is an adjunct professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and a Resident Scholar at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.