At last night’s Loudoun County Republican Committee’s annual Jamboree Eric Noble for Sheriff was the big winner over the current Sheriff Mike Chapman. [read_more] Eric won with 77 votes to Mike Chapman’s 47 votes. Eric Noble also got 5 votes in the Presidential straw poll. Perhaps seeing the writing on the wall, Mike Chapman left the event early, long before any results were announced. Since most of the people who voted in the straw poll will be delegates to the Loudoun Republican Convention on May 2nd, it looks like it will be a big win for Eric Noble.
In the straw poll for President Scott Walker was the big winner. The results were:
Scott Walker 39
Rand Paul 20
Ted Cruz 13
Marco Rubio 13
Mike Pence 9
Eric Noble 5
Jeb Bush 3
Lindsay Graham 2
John Kasich 2
Mitt Romney 2
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Notable items from last night’s Republican Spring Jamboree: ***
– Eric Noble won the straw vote over Mike Chapman by a wide margin.
– Virtually all key Republican leaders were present to cast their votes, to include Barbara Comstock, Dick Black, Tag Greason, Randy Minchew, Jim Plowman, Roger Zurn, Bob Wertz, Eugene Delgaudio, Suzanne Volpe, other elected officials, and aspiring Republican office seekers. Notably absent was Scott York.
– Apparently sensing defeat, Chapman departed early before the voting result was announced. The straw vote has always been a highly accurate indicator of the result of the ensuing nominating convention vote. Given the significant margin of victory by Noble over Chapman this may well serve as an indicator of the upcoming convention vote. I find it surprising that Republican BOS Chairman Scott York, who as the article indicates just days ago came out in supporting Chapman, was not present to demonstrate such support. To me that seems like a very shallow commitment.
The upcoming Republican convention is open to any and all party supporters of either Noble or Chapman. Somewhere around 1400-1500 of these folks signed up to vote for the candidate of their choice. As men both sworn to uphold Republican principles, Noble and Chapman have both pledged to support whichever one wins the primary, as it should be. Both have stated this publicly and I would expect that both will keep their word (something which should unquestionably be expected of a law enforcement official) so there is no reason to believe that either would jeopardize the Republican candidate’s chances against a Democratic challenge in this fall’s general election. I know that regardless of pre-convention endorsements (which are the absolute right of all), once the Republican candidate is selected, all endorsers rally around the nominee. Should Mr. Noble become the Republican candidate, as a Republican official Mr. York would then fully support him in the general election campaign. For all the pre-convention banter, the true beauty of the Republican party is the post-convention unity where the unsuccessful candidates come together, demonstrate their integrity, and rally together to support their nominee.
*** Apologies for the duplication, accidently posted my observations under a different post; meant to comment to this post!