(Richard L. (Rich) Anderson, Chair Candidate, Republican Party of Virginia)
At midnight last night, many delegates to the RPV State Convention received an email from current RPV Chair Jack Wilson. In it, he called me out by name and demanded an “apology” from me for my prior statements. I am today providing that apology.
First, I apologize to Virginia Republicans for the dysfunction in RPV and the way in which it has abandoned its will to fight since Mr. Wilson’s election in 2018. I commend him for stepping forward in 2018 to serve—but his term soon turned into a dysfunctional year in 2018, a full year of dysfunction in 2019, and a continuing year of dysfunction in 2020.
I apologize to our local, state, and federal candidates who have waged election campaigns without the strong backing of an able, engaged, and dynamic RPV. I know this as an eight-year member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2010-2018), where I served in positions of senior leadership.
I apologize to those aspiring Republicans who offer themselves as first-time candidates for public office, but who struggle under a dysfunctional RPV that leaves them without a supporting infrastructure.
I apologize to the three dozen Virginia House and Senate Districts that went without a Republican candidate in 2019 and suffered sure electoral defeats, handing our House and Senate Republican majorities to Democrats who have inflicted untold damage on Virginia families and businesses—all because RPV is disengaged, disinterested, and distant.
I apologize to all Republican members of the House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia that you had marginal support from RPV in the 2019 election cycle—a major contributing factor to your relegation to minorities in both bodies.
I apologize to attendees at the December 2020 Republican Advance that our Chairman presided over an event where seminar speakers repetitively stated that “Republicans won’t win in Virginia as long as President Trump is in office.”
I apologize to the RPV staff that Mr. Wilson has dragged you onto the field of political battle by misrepresenting my words as questioning your honesty. Each of you has labored hard—some for many years—to sustain RPV. You now work in an RPV Headquarters that is undermanned because of underfunding—a building whose professional appearance has decayed and which no longer operates as a warfighting, election-winning headquarters. Each of you has no reason to be concerned about RPV Chair Rich Anderson after August 15th because you add value to our party, have my respect, and will work with an RPV Chair who is fully engaged.
I apologize for a Chairman who earlier this year curtailed his activities to focus on COVID-19 matters, instead of leading the fight so that Republicans win again. His job is not to manage COVID-19, but to lead our party by resisting the unconstitutional orders of a Governor who restricts the liberties and livelihoods of Virginians—and who quarantines the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. Now is the time to resist this Governor through nonviolent and peaceful civil disobedience, lawsuits that uphold the rule of law, and intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice.
I apologize to our Congressional delegation that Mr. Wilson disregarded your requests to not run for election as RPV Chair in the face of dysfunction, defeat, and despair.
I apologize to the devoted Republicans of the 97th House District that the RPV Chairman intervened in your candidate selection process last year, placed his thumb on the scales, continued his practice of supporting his favored candidates in contested nominations, and used his official title to unsuccessfully direct the outcome of electoral contests. Conversely, I am proud of our courageous grassroots Republicans who stood up and said “we’re not having any of this.”
I apologize that three of our Congressional District Republican Committees—more than one-fourth—had to take votes of no confidence in our Chairman’s leadership of our state party.
And I apologize to our entire Virginia Republican family that he has failed to conduct vibrant fundraising to ensure that our party and candidates are funded for victory.
In short, I apologize that he has failed to lead.
I pledge to each and every Republican in our Commonwealth that I will work without ceasing to ensure that our state party again believes in itself, that we again dedicate ourselves to defeating Democrats, and that we work to secure the blessing of individual liberty and economic prosperity for all Virginians.
Fellow Virginia Republicans, It’s Time to Fight and Win Again!
I’m as close as your phone or keyboard, so reach out in these ways:
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call my home at 703-730-1380 or my cell at 703-282-9653
- Friend us on Facebook at www.RichAnderson.com/DelegateRichAnderson
- Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DelRichAnderson
- Sign up at www.RichAnderson.com to vote for us at the RPV State Convention.
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Rich Anderson is a native Virginian, grassroots Republican volunteer for the last 12 years, retired 30-year Air Force colonel (1979-2009), former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (2010-2018), and candidate for RPV Chair (2020). He and his wife Ruth, a retired 21-year Air Force lieutenant colonel and former member of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, live in Woodbridge. They have been married for 34 years, are the parents of three children, and have seven grandchildren.
