Senate Candidates Ed Gillespie and Shak Hill
Cementing his frontrunner status in his bid for the Republican nomination to replace Sen. Mark Warner, Ed Gillespie walked away with today’s straw poll at a function of the Republican Party of Virginia in Richmond
In a show of strength, Ed Gillespie outpolled his nearest rival, Shak Hill, by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The vote was conducted from among the hundreds of activists gathered today for campaign training and education at RPV’s Spring Advance.
Neither Gillespie nor Hill were in attendance, given competing party activities elsewhere (notably Prince William County’s convention). Sen. Mark Obenshain acted as surrogate for Gillespie, and gave a rousing speech about Gillespie’s intentions for his time in Washington. Obenshain got the loudest applause when he cited Gillespie’s promise to repeal Obamacare.
Hill’s campaign was not in evidence at the event. Yesterday, Hill sent out a statement urging his supporters to boycott the event in protest of the recent spate of slating. A more cynical take would be that the Hill campaign seized an opportunity to disclaim the validity of the results of the straw poll. I leave it to the reader to decide.
The final vote percentages were as follows:
- Ed Gillespie: 68%
- Shak Hill: 30%
- Tony DeTora: 1%
- Chuck Moss: 1%
9 comments
[…] 200 republicans voted in a similar straw poll. Senate Candidate Ed Gillespie easily won the straw poll at the recent State Central Committee meeting, making it important for Shak Hill to do well in the straw poll in Loudoun. If Shak […]
Gilespie=RINO. I am sick of stinking RINO’s.
The previous statements are brought to you by ‘Re-elect Warner to the U.S. Senate campaign’.
Thank you for that example of the complete lack of respect you “insiders” have for the average Republican voter.
See that, folks? They think they can intimidate/threaten you into voting for their man. If they had any positive case to make for you to vote for their man, we’d hear it.
The Gillespie campaign is going to be an absolute archetype of this type of mafioso tactics; knowing what I can expect here, this will be absolutely fascinating to watch as it continues to unfold.
Making a joke about a candidate’s chances of winning is not intimidating or threatening. Don’t have such a thin skin.
It’s absolutely a threat. Either we nominate their man, or they will tank the race and hand it to the Democrats. That’s the RPV establishment playbook, and you should have seen it enough times by now to recognize it while it’s happening.
Did you not get the message with Bill Bolling last time around? Either the establishment pick is the nominee – or they don’t want the party to win at all.
RPV “insiders” prefer a Democrat to a grassroots Republican, EVERY SINGLE TIME. They’re at the point where they are actually hauling masses of Democrats to GOP meetings to slate off delegates at the convention, which is the only part of the system that actually puts real political power into the hands of the grassroots.
So Hill got 30% of the vote after urging his people to boycott the event?
If I were Hill, I’d be pretty happy with that number. 30% of Republicans choose him over an anointed-from-above with the party machine, copious funding, and name recognition few others can match.
I stand with the 30%. We saw this play with the latest George Allen candidacy, and I’d prefer to roll the dice with someone who can win and will actually be faithful to the electorate after winning.
Gillespie? How is he not going to be just another political corruptocrat insider? His resume is a litany of all the things the Republican Party did to drive voters into the arms of Pelosi and Obama. If the RPV nominates him it is flat-out insane, in the classic “do the same thing and expect different results” sense.
Seriously, people, read Gillespie’s history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gillespie and tell me how this ends up other than a) another lost campaign; or b) another politician who, once elected, takes his marching orders from political elites and lobbyists, at the expense of the people. There are no good outcomes of a Gillespie nomination for Republicans in Virginia.
Alexis, I share many of your concerns about Gillespie. He doesn’t let us know where he stands except on a few scant issues and therefore am very suspect of him. At this point I cannot envision any way that a Gillespie nomination will result in a victory for the GOP in November.