Addressing a throng of supporters at the Fredericksburg Veterans of Foreign Wars Post this evening, Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) confirmed officially that he is running for the Republican nomination to succeed current Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam.
“It’s about safety and security—both physical and economic,” Reeves said when asked what his campaign was all about. “It’s about keeping Virginians safe in an uncertain economic and security environments, keeping Virginia’s 29 military installations open, and about jobs.”
Reeves spoke to a crowd of roughly 80-90 people, most from Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Fredericksburg, but including grassroots activists from all parts of the state. Pastor Travis Witt, from the 5h Congressional District, delivered the invocation for the event.
Reeves is facing a tough challenge for the LG nomination, chiefly in the form of Sen. Jill Vogel (R-Fauquier). Vogel, like Reeves, is racking up endorsements and is proving to be a prolific fundraiser. Each of these candidates will have the resources and support to compete both at the grassroots level and among the wider electorate. Del. Glenn Davis (R-Virginia Beach) is also running, but so far has been overshadowed by the candidates from the senior chamber of the General Assembly.
What this contest of equals means is that no candidate will likely be able to run away with it on natural advantages, like name identification or fundraising. Instead, this campaign will be about issues. We expect that at times those contrasts on issues might get tough, but it is a contest that will give voters an honest choice.
All the candidates will attend the Republican Party of Virginia Advance on December 9-10 in Richmond. We’ll report on the candidates’ respective presences there, and provide a first-hand analysis of the state of the race. In the meantime, the text of Reeves’ speech tonight is below:
Thank you Colonel Lintz for the kind words and introduction…
As I look at each of you, I feel extremely blessed. Blessed to have all of you here… Blessed for your support. Blessed for my wonderful wife Anne and our children, Jack and Nikki.
My fellow Virginians, I have spent the better part of my adult life working to ensure the safety and security of not only our nation and this great Commonwealth, but for our families.
I have worn the uniform of our country as an Army Ranger and Infantry Officer, worn a badge as a police officer in Prince William County and as an undercover narcotics detective, and I serve as your senator working everyday to ensure our safety.
You see, that’s what has led me here today.
I want to make sure that our Commonwealth, you, and your families are safe and secure. Secure from terrorists hoping to exploit our vulnerabilities. Secure from criminals who don’t care about following the laws of an orderly society. Secure from dangerous and un-vetted refugees. Secure from big-government politicians who burden families and small businesses with crushing taxes. It goes without saying that our Commonwealth and our Country are at a crossroads.
We’re challenged by Washington encroachment, bloated budgets that leverage our future, and assaults on our Constitutional rights from those who have forgotten their oath to support and defend the Constitution.
Now more than ever, we need strong, honest, and trustworthy leaders to put us back on the pathway to prosperity and freedom.
Well I’m here to fight for YOU. For your constitutional rights, your values… I share your values and I will always protect and defend our God-given rights.
You see, Virginia is no stronger than its people. It’s up to us.
With the help of many here today, I was blessed to be the architect and lead negotiator to restore our 2nd Amendment rights in Virginia by not only restoring, but expanding concealed carry reciprocity.
I am humbled and honored to have received the NRA Defender of Freedom Award for my work to restore our 2nd Amendments rights this year.
Virginia needs leadership like that. We all do.
In times of chaos and tribulation, steady, trustworthy LEADERSHIP is what determines how we respond to the challenges ahead.
We must revitalize Virginia and make our Commonwealth number 1 again. We must institute a new tax system that won’t hurt working families and policies that help businesses grow and hire more people.
We must scrap government regulations and red tape that tie the hands of our entrepreneurs and small business owners.
I do not believe that our best days are behind us.
We just witnessed an incredible election where people who were fed up with the status quo stood up, and let their voices be heard in order to make America great again to ensure a better and brighter future. I have faith that President-elect Trump will work to drain the swamp of Washington DC lawyers and lobbyists who put their personal interests ahead of the interests of the American people.
We must do the same in Richmond.
I believe a better and brighter future for our country and our Commonwealth is ahead of us. But it will take real, proven, conservative leadership to ensure that future. Over the past 9 months, I’ve been exploring a run for Lt. Governor and working to revitalize Virginia.
I’ve had the opportunity to tour countless cities and counties around the Commonwealth from Jonesville to Virginia Beach, and meet so many passionate Virginians. I’ve met small business owners like Cheryl Sawyer. Veterans like David Fraser in Halifax. Lifelong Virginians like Wilma Elliott and Bill Campbell, who feel their government is slipping away from them. People who truly love living here, but want to see a new direction for our Commonwealth.
I’ve seen every region and seen how diverse one region is from the next.
But everyone has something in common.
They’re tired of the failed leadership in Richmond, where decisions are influenced by LOBBYISTS, special interests, and foreign companies who try to buy access to our elected officials. As we stand here today, the FBI and Department of Justice are investigating the influence a Chinese national had over our sitting Governor.
VIRGINIANS DO NOT WANT A GOVERNMENT THAT MIMICS THE SWAMP OF WASHINGTON DC.
I cannot and will not stand by and watch this great Commonwealth fall victim to the liberal ideology of the Washington DC elites who have failed America.
We are ready for change. Ready for Virginia to reach its full potential and to feel safe and prosperous again.
It takes leadership to create that future and reach that goal. Leadership with vision. As the Bible says in PROVERBS 29:18, “where there is no vision, the people perish.” I have a vision and I know I can bring that leadership to the people of Virginia.
We must remain positive in times of trouble–leadership demands it of us.
We must uplift the down cast and never forget about the least, last, and lost among us.
We must honor the brave–Those men and women who serve each and everyday on the front line to ensure our freedoms.
As I stand here in this building, I can’t help but think of every veteran in Virginia and every service member overseas.
It has been and will always be a top priority of mine to work for our veterans and take care of those who have served to protect us and to protect our freedoms.
I’m convinced that today the majority of Virginians want what the first Virginians wanted:
1) A better life for themselves and their children,
2) Minimal governmental interference in their lives, and
3) To know they are safe and secure.
I’ll leave you all with this… a true leader, Ronald Reagan once said:
“We have the opportunity to stand for something. For Liberty, for Freedom and fairness, and these are the things worth fighting for, worth devoting our very lives too.”
I hope you will join me and fight for Virginia’s future.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m Bryce Reeves and I am running for Lt. Governor of Virginia.
God bless you, God bless Virginia, and God bless the United States of America.
29 comments
The picture. The faces in the background tell the real story of this candidate.
I totally noticed that. No one is smiling or happy and where is Reeves wife? She is never around? It’s just weird that she isn’t even in this picture.
Maybe they’re just sad that his wife isn’t nearby? I’m not ready for PictureGate here.
Or a lousy photographer.
Also, unfortunately Republicans across the entire state can’t be as pretty as those in the 10th. Rumor is that’s why our units keep winning RPV’s ‘Unit of the Year!’
A picture is a snapshot into your soul. An imprint of a person’s energy for say, a political candidate. If you ever saw a rare picture of me, it would resemble Winston Churchill after a bad night. The eyes would be smiling. The rest? Not so much. Which is why my pictures are rare.
The people in the Reeves photo had a bad week.
Sometimes, when you look into the abyss… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8c627bd3aff9dc7e802d43674a279a913edaaf96e04846b3d6a05ab47be10ba8.jpg
Now see, this is a perfect example. Look into Hillary’s eyes. Do you see a soul in there? No, you don’t. You also don’t see any energy in this picture, revealing once again Trump’s perceptive abilities during his campaign. I’ll bet Trump is an avid picture watcher too. His problem is converting what he sees into words.
This was sent to me by folks in Reeves district. Not sure everyone feels the same.
Crooked Senator Bryce Reeves!
If you thought Crooked Hillary was bad, meet the most crooked candidate ever: Senator Bryce Reeves.
Masking as a conservative, he is the LEAST responsible person with the people’s trust perhaps to ever serve in the Senate. He is not concerned with real people and always with a hand out looking for a free ride.
He recently came to Stafford asking for our support for Lieutenant Governor. That did not go over well.
He displays all of the swagger and arrogance and none of the commitment to people here who need help. We need an honest person to run to for his seat in the next Senate election and we certainly need a true conservative in the LG race and it is not him. Go support a TRUE conservative, who is ethical and knows how to govern.
Ask people who live in Bryce Reeves’s district who know the real Bryce. They watched him get elected and never come back again.
His first act was to gerrymander his district so he could do the least amount of work possible. He pulled a fast trick and tried to slip through a bill JUST for himself and he got busted.
He is a fake conservative, who campaigns for liberals and votes like one. Rather than support a person with real conservative values for President, he chose to travel around the state campaigning for Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio? He was heard bashing Cruz and other conservatives and we didn’t appreciate that.
He is a total RINO endorsed by only RINO Senators in the LG race (Tommy Norment, Emmet Hanger, Ryan McDougle). He thinks conservatives are stupid clearly.
Crooked Bryce has taken thousands of dollars from his campaigns and from his colleagues, the crooked play to get rich in office. We have watched it happen and the tragedy is that it has cost other Republican campaigns dearly. He raised money from donors telling them that it would go to support other Republicans and then he KEPT the money for himself to fund his growing lifestyle. While Republicans were being outspent and losing in tight elections, this Senator kept money earmarked for them. We in Stafford heard about that during the election and were appalled.
Never mind the money, what about TRUTH? People who know him know he also doesn’t tell the truth and seems to have no shame about it. Recently he filed a campaign report that showed his LG race raised $33,000. But he sent an email to supporters saying he raised over a hundred thousand dollars. Don’t believe me? Look it up. It takes a lot of nerve to raise 33k and tell people you raised five times more by moving money from one campaign account to another, UNLESS YOU ARE BRYCE REEVES. Yep, that is the man we know. He thinks the people he represents are stupid but he is dishonest and eventually it catches up. It will continue to catch up.
Pay attention and see what real fiscal conservative does by the way. Endless gifts to himself from money that was supposed to be raised to spend on a campaign. Expensive dinners, travel, shopping, money for himself. He has his campaign donors paying for his personal car inspection and a car. How do people struggling to survive who give him money feel about that?? Given what Republicans went through in Virginia in the biggest scandal of money taking in history, that kind of stealing out of a campaign is unbelievable.
None of that is the worst for Stafford. The worst for residents and businesses in this community is that he introduced a bill and had the nerve to tell us in Stafford that it was intended to get even with us.
Just in case you have any doubt, we have let our fellow Republicans know he will not win an election here ever again. We want someone who sticks up for real people. Who actually reads legislation, has conservative values, cares enough to fight for the community and who isn’t crooked. Who would ever stand up and tell a county he was trying to hurt them and their businesses and their families out of personal spite?
Crooked RINOS should never win reelection to the Senate and so should not come calling. Much less higher office. And this is just the beginning of what people in Stafford know about this crooked RINO.
Stay tuned!
When I’m feeling bad about my goofy district, it se ms that Stafford gets it worse.
Anyhoo, Jill Vogel’s the right choice this time around. She also will make a great successor to Governor Corey.
It’s going to take a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to Make Virginia GOP Again!
Stewart / Vogel / TBD !!!
Rocinante, you should see him go around doing push ups with his buddy. They look like men going through a mid life crisis, total meatheads. Give me a man with a brain anyday over a meathead. I’m embarrassed for them both.
You had me at Rubio — how’d he do at supporting our nominee out thattaway?
Never saw him! If it ain’t about The Reeves, it just ain’t happening.
Just Sayn
Waverly, are we supposed to believe a bunch of wild accusations by one disgruntled person? There isn’t even a name attached to that screed. Where are the facts to back up these accusations? Unnamed people making unsubstantiated accusations without any proof. This is crap.
Well what I can tell you is multiple people from Reeves district called me about this. They also told me about the Staford GOP meeting where Reeves really got an earful from the unit. Now I honestly don’t know who wrote this email but it is a whopper. You’ll just have to do a drive by Staford for more fun.
So, you just publish anonymous crap that shows up in your inbox as if it’s the gospel truth? Look, I know you are supporting Jill but we don’t need to be spreading rumors and tearing down candidates to do it. Until and unless people are willing to put their names on their accusations and have proof to back them up they shouldn’t be given the time of day. As for any meeting, I rarely attend any committee meeting where someone’s not giving an elected an earful.
My dear Lee I posted exactly what those that sent it to said was true. We just don’t know who wrote it. Now I do know who sent it to me and I know those that confirmed it’s validity. If you want more just go by that GOP unit. I’m told there’s a show.
My dear Waverly, their may have been a contentious committee meeting. The rest of the stuff in that email is crap. But you knew that when you posted it. We can argue about it at the Advance.
Whether it’s crap or not I’ll leave to the folks that wrote it and have to live in that district. As far as arguing with you, I look forward to it. ? Smooches
I will look for you at the Reeves hospitality suite.
Can’t wait. Lol ?
The RPV could make a lot of money by doing bus tours to the shining units of the party.
I want to clarify something. Bryce Reeves did appear at our Stafford GOP meeting and yes, he did get extensively grilled about his Proffers bill, and yes, the questions and statements from the audience were direct, pointed, and they wanted answers. There were a lot of other questions asked in the evening to both Reeves and Vogel. This question did take the majority of the time and was contentious but it also impacts the county coffers and thus the residents.
But isn’t that what a candidate appearing before a Unit should expect? To have their positions on issues (and bills) questioned and be able to defend those positions? An active and engaged Unit does exactly that – it questions, it probes, it wants answers. No rubber stamps.
That being said, shortly after the meeting, an anonymous email went out to a very good portion of the membership along with emails pertaining to Jill Vogel. There was an irony that was not missed by the Executive Board on these emails. It is lamented and decried about candidates being open and honest, yet the emailers choose anonymity as opposed to publicly stating the claims and position.
The reaction of the Executive Board was swift and read:
“As many of you know, over the weekend, separate anonymous emails were sent attacking two of the Republican candidates running for office in 2017. The Stafford County Republican Executive Committee was unaware of and does not condone these types of communications.
We believe that ideas, differences, and beliefs on issues need to be addressed in a constructive and transparent manner and not under the cloak of anonymity. We are the party of ideas and solutions, and we need to have the integrity to stand openly for these principles.
We stand united in encouraging all of our members to share their ideas and positions in a transparent, constructive manner going forward to victory in 2017.”
We stand by this position – then and now.
Danielle, I am not the one you need to convince. I would think you would need to spend more time commicating with the members of that unit. Apparently not all is as you say. If it were I wouldve never received that kind of email.
I am not trying to convince you of anything other than increasing your reading comprehension. I am well aware of the members of which you speak.
You threw this months old anonymous email out, threw in Stafford’s name and didn’t expect a response? So here is a 5 point breakout since you obviously have comprehension issues:
1) It was anonymous, sent by cowards and now the story behind it was clarified.
2) It was anonymous, sent by cowards and now the story behind it was clarified.
3) It was anonymous, sent by cowards and now the story behind it was clarified.
4) It was anonymous, sent by cowards and now the story behind it was clarified.
5) It was anonymous, sent by cowards and now the story behind it was clarified.
Got it now?
And finally, you might want to take care of your own house before you start poking at others.
I threw nothing. I posted that email just as it was sent to me. And just because you repeat it over and over doesn’t make it so. Or should you check your copy paste?? It’s stuck.
Now what you clearly don’t comprehend is the fact you are not that engaged with the members of your unit. Obviously you are obtuse or it’s deliberate.
Now let’s discuss my house. PLEASE do tell what’s wrong with it? I’d love for the Stolle’s to get your perspective.
Weasels will always do hit pieces anonymously — you must, like SGOP, consider the source.
They don’t want the issue discussed and reviewed, they just want the concern trolled.
I say bring it on and let’s hash it out. The cockroaches scatter when the light is upon them.
As the House of Delegates is the direct descendant of the House of Burgesses, it is the House, and not the Senate, that is the “senior” body.
While both Senators and Delegates sometimes refer to the Senate as the “upper” body, they do so with differing levels of seriousness or sarcasm.
— former House Page
Bryce Reeves is a real American hero who has answered our nations call and served his fellow Virginians well. He is a true and tested Conservative who we can count on when things get tough in Richmond. I encourage everyone to come out and meet him. He will be speaking at the Henrico GOP breakfast this Saturday morning at 8AM and also will be at the RPV Advance. Message me for details
Yay!