A couple weeks ago, Elliot Harding made a phenomenal argument for drafting Zach Warrell as RPV chairman. I’ve already seen how popular Zach is with the majority of the liberty wing and the conservative movement. Elliot’s article got me thinking about other alternatives to the established wisdom within the party. There are many folks who have been frustrated with the Republican Party of Virginia, primarily because John Whitbeck tried to make everyone happy, leaving everyone equally frustrated that their wing of the party didn’t have monopolistic control of the party.
The Republican Party is losing Virginia’s Statewide elections, primarily because we’re losing with women, independents, and Millennials. We desperately need central leadership that can guide the Republican Party through a period of growth and inclusion over the next difficult decade.
Delegate Glenn Davis can give us that.
Now, I know that we conservatives are upset over his Medicaid Expansion vote. However, there is no one who watched Delegate Davis’ campaign for LG who wasn’t impressed with his optimism, his inclusiveness, and his honesty. While other candidates lied about many of their positions as they tried to win the party’s nomination, Delegate Davis was truthful. Even after his Medicaid vote, Delegate Davis was transparent and accessible. He took his case for his vote to his constituents and absorbed much of our frustration.
Glenn Davis never responded with anger to our frustrations. He genuinely believed that his vote was rational and he listened thoughtfully to rational differences of opinion.
Attitude and character matters. There is no faction of the party that wouldn’t have a seat at the table if Glenn Davis was RPV Chairman. In this, he would have something in common with John Whitbeck. However, Davis would bring a culture of inclusiveness and optimism that is desperately lacking from the party today. One of the things that women, independents, and Millennials hate about the Republican Party is our constant negativity. It’s our attitude, not our policies, that often lend credence to attacks against our collective character and that casts shade over our ideas and policies.
Republican policies are superior to Democrat policies. That is why I’m a Republican, when all is said and done. I want good policies and I want a Republican Party of Virginia capable of explaining why these policies are superior to segments of the Commonwealth no longer predisposed to voting Republican. Glenn Davis can do this. He’s already been doing it.
I know that the SCC is longing for someone who can simply run the business of the party and motivate the local committees, who can work with the RNC on national elections, and who can help fundraise. However, any chairman that fails to help grow the Republican Party of Virginia will not be able to raise the kind of money that we need. We need to grow this party. We need to become more policy-focused and oriented. Glenn Davis can do this. It’s not all about money. We need more voters.
We need to grow the Republican Party and we need to promote our philosophies and policies in way that will appeal to the majority of Virginians. We will not accomplish this with nasty rhetoric and attacks. We will do this by bringing everyone together and working toward making Virginia the best place in the United States for business, for education, and for infrastructure. That’s what average Virginians are looking for, because most of them are sick and tired of all the partisan and factional bickering.
Glenn Davis can give us that.
48 comments
Why no E-Verify bill from the Republican House in our General Assembly?
Glenn Davis – the establishment’s pick once again. While pretending to be inclusive and innovative. LOL Well, RPV Chairman Davis would finally kill once and for all hope of the SCC ever passing a censor resolution against the Medicaid Expanders in the General Assembly. Would Davis still keep his day job as representative in the State Senate? Talk about the Party being too in bed with our elected officials – now there’d be NO degree of separation!
Chuck Smith is the way to go. In a crowded field of State Party nervous nellies – who are afraid to openly commit, or even worse, feign disinterest in the position – Chuck Smith is the only person BRAVE enough to boldly step forward and PUBLICLY announce his candidacy for the State Party chairmanship. We need a positive change in VA GOP: We need to START WINNING! And what a great start we have here – above-board, transparent, and with no fear.
Chuck Smith is fully behind President Trump & fully behind candidate Corey Stewart. We should accept nothing less from our RPV leadership. No more #NeverTrumps & No #NeverStewarts.
Please get to know about Chuck Smith. And then get a hold of the SCC members (see their emails in link below) and tell them, “We want Chuck Smith!” http://virginia.gop/state-central-committee/
Yes yes! Censure all of them!
Davis could not last a 40 hour work week in my job.
I would work his weak butt into tears and beading blisters.
Go to his site innovation my big Ole butt.
He went to MIT or was educated there, one or the other.
How come his “innovation” has not lead us to software that the VEC can use in their Audits to detect unlicensed subcontractors and illegal aliens?
How come his “innovation” has not lead us to software that has the Department of Labor and Industry detection of unlicensed subcontractors and illegal aliens when they issue these State violations to them?
How come “software” does not automatically notify the Department of Commerce?
Dept of Taxation?
The Workers Compensation Commission?
Does the Delegate not wish to combat fraud or is he a different form of “software”?
Just the thoughts of an uneducated man.
Maybe you should bring back that guy at Bearing Drift who used to hold the job to drive the nativists out of your party. That will make you more popular. And what illegal immigrant that Bearing Drift Man wants to legalize is not yearning to vote for the next Yeb Bush?
Answer: None.
They like their government like your boy Davis wants to serve up… spending lots of money for government programs.
Deport Shaun Kenny!
Expanding Medicaid was a Democrat policy and your boy voted for it. So that must be superior to Republican policies then.
I object. To SBT calling himself a conservative after endorsing Frank Wagner for Governor in 2017.
Pragmatic he called him.
Uh, we still have Santurary Employment in Virginia.
So much for States Rights on enforcement of State Law.
He’s the only one I felt was honest. I didn’t vote for him because I thought he was conservative.
A guy who is in the hip pocket of the insurance lobby and was the deciding vote in favor of disallowing people from purchasing insurance across state lines is honest? Face/palm.
Of course. He was promising higher taxes and spending. Same thing Gillespie and Stewart would have given us, except he was honest about it.
I appreciate Steven’s comments in this post and everyone’s thoughts on the subject, both positive and negative. While I respect all of the opinions offered, I would like to correct a couple statements and offer some additional insight. First, I’ve never misstated or misled anyone related to my position on Medicaid. I never claimed to be against drawing down federal funds for Medicaid. Actually, I introduced a bill with Del. Tom Rust during the 2014 Special Session that was debated on the House floor to reform Medicaid by drawing down those funds. Additionally, I attended numerous events and debates during my LG campaign discussing my 2014 bill and why Virginia cannot just keep putting its head in the sand on this issue and think that the problems will just go away. Which leads me to some additional insight. The present system, prior to this year was completely broken and was on track to bankrupt our Commonwealth. In 2006 Medicaid had about 875,000 recipients and cost about $4 billion. In 2016 those numbers were about 1.5 million recipients at a cost of $8 billion. Just about every Senator and Delegate has voted to expand Medicaid in both recipients and cost every budget they have been in office since 1997. Additionally, if Virginia did not pass the 2018 Medicaid legislation, just about every Delegate and Senator were prepared to vote for a budget that would have increased Medicaid spending in the Commonwealth by over $1 billion in the next biennium. So what is indisputable is that just about every Delegate and Senator had been expanding Medicaid every year they have been in office since the 90’s, and that the Medicaid system had become a runaway budgetary train wreck. While not perfect and while there were items not included that I hope to see in the future, our proposal this past year had a lot of very good reforms in it. If anyone does not like this year’s Medicaid proposal, I would ask what ideas you may have that realistically could have been passed, because the “head in the sand” approach of doing nothing or proposing to take some action in the future assuming that everything in the universe first align is no longer an option.
As far as this issue relating to RPV, I know our Party has the right beliefs and vales to create a prosperous nation for all Americans, but we are terrible at messaging! As much as I hate the internal fighting in our Party, that is not why we lose elections. We lose elections because we are terrible at messaging externally. RPV’s place is not to interpret our creed as it relates to legislation. That debate belongs at the local committee level. RPV’s job is to create an organization that through proper messaging, financial growth, and local committee support gets Republican’s elected, period. Any role that deviates from those three items is, and should be, held at a different level in our party. As an aide to both then Delegates Frank Wagner and Bob McDonnell in the 90’s, I remember having 34 Republicans and 66 Democrats in the House. I’ve watched as those numbers completely flipped. Now, I’m witnessing the pendulum begin to swing back in the other direction, and I’m not about to just sit still and be a spectator watching it happen. We have two choices, we can either focus our energy on effectively communicating our beliefs and values in a manner that brings people back to our Party and welcomes new ones, or we can continue the internal friendly fire and wait to get flattened when that pendulum finally come barreling down on us. For the sake of our children, I hope we don’t do the latter.
Your duplicity is so easy to document.
YOUR OWN campaign ad — “I’ve been working to limit the scope of government, bring high-paying jobs to Virginia and stop the expansion of Medicaid.”
https://www.wavy.com/news/meet-the-candidates-republicans-seeking-lieutenant-governor-nomination_20180320061945305/1061051146
“Davis said he voted six times against expanding Medicaid, stating that the monies spent on Medicaid in the Virginia budget have already doubled in less than 10 years and needed to be reined in.” (Alexandria Gazette – http://www.alexandriagazette.com/news/2017/may/31/debate-can-be-civil-too/)
“It’s unsustainable and eventually will bankrupt the Commonwealth. Do we expand the present system? No. I don’t support it and won’t support it.” (Loudoun Tribune – https://www.loudountribune.com/exclusive-interview-with-republican-lt-gov-candidate-glenn-davis/)
“Glenn Davis – “I voted against Medicaid 6 times” (VA Freedom Caucus — https://virginiafreedomcaucus.com/2017/03/02/fact-checking-the-lieutenant-governors-forum-in-virginia-beach/)
So you were lying then and you are lying now.
24.5% — that’s your conservative score by Middle Resolution. Well deserved.
You say Medicaid expansion is inevitable. Because of people like you who won’t put a stop to it. Federal funding will stop in a few years, so you are paving the way for a VA-run Medicaid program that we and our children will pay for.
Also, you spin out this highly insulting and ludicrous rationale that people will learn personal responsibility and give up their free stuff. In defending your indefensible endorsement of Medicaid expansion, you are pushing the lies of socialism.
“they can’t take a promotion because they lose all their benefits, which far outweighs the small increase. If we put a plan in place that allows them to walk off Medicaid, then the able bodied, able minded gets off that system.” Loudoun Tribune — https://www.loudountribune.com/exclusive-interview-with-republican-lt-gov-candidate-glenn-davis/ )
Your mask is off. We have had it with RINOs of your ilk. You need to be censured and thrown out of the Republican Party for violating the Creed.
Censure resolutions are being passed against those who voted for Medicaid. Vogel censured by Culpepper Co., Hanger by Greene Co., Bedford will censure Garrett and Austin, and Appomattox Co. censured all of them. I personally know of others that are in the works.
“Whereas these Delegates and Senators are, through their votes for this budget, in clear and direct violation of the first and third points of the Republican Party of Virginia Creed affirming the free enterprise system and upholding fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraint at all levels of government”
I’m not going to bother to hit every point above, when all you’re doing is cherry picking online quotes and using half of them to support your mis-guided attack, like you did with the Loudoun Times trying to demonstrate an attempt to hide my 2014 legislation or future thoughts. You printed a couple sentences related to my opposition to straight medicaid expansion legislation in the past, and left out all the rest about us needing to do something which included my next statements, “But we also can’t put our head in the sand, because Medicaid, unless we do something to completely reform it, it will sink Virginia’s budget. That’s why we have to put reforms in place.” Which is what I tried to do in 2014 and supported this year. Additionally, having to utilize a Vogel hit piece on me and Bryce for back-up demonstrates how far you had to go to find collaborating support for your attack. However, you are correct about one thing, I don’t hide behind a mask which is why I do not ever post under a protective alias. I also have never turned down an invitation or request to discuss any of my votes or defend my identity as a Republican. From your alias, I do not know who you are. Regardless, I will offer you the chance to come out from behind your mask and to have an open discussion on your assertions. I’d even be happy to do it as a public forum and would be happy to live stream the event.
It would be nice to see the Federal Government withhold Virginia’s Unemployment funding and gang task force revenue because of the payroll fraud and santuary Virginia Republicans are complicit of.
Non enforcement of Virginia Commerce and employment laws is in no way Liberty but the equivalent of Clinton in Benghazi.
A. Never pick an active politician to lead the general party.
B. Davis is a guy with big ambitions. RPV leader isn’t one of them.
Broken clock, twice a day.
No way. He has alienated too many people and voted for Medicaid expansion. If he is chairman, you can forget about me and many of my CS supporting friends, as well as party members angry about his Medicaid expansion vote. Several local party units have already censored those who vote to expand – ie: Vogel and I think Wagner.
He’s got to double his efforts to adequately piss everybody off.
Yes he did vote for ME, but I thought he was always up front about it (unlike the traitors who’ve already started their retirement process.)
He’s always supported the nominee, thinks outside of the box, and has demonstrated that he cares about all of Virginia as well as his constituents.
He and his family has been to every Republican event and has been to just about every unit. He’s put his money where his mouth is and just keeps plugging along.
I think he’s a fair guy and wouldn’t be a tool of any faction. And I’ll wager he wouldn’t leave democrats unopposed.
Let’s face it, our conservative party leaders and SCC have sucked so far — why not try a Republican to chair the Republican Party?
Mr. Tucker, you couldn’t be further off base, i.e. wrong. On July 15, The Bull Elephant published Middle Resolution’s (you must know who that is) Conservative ratings for all Delegates and Senators and Davis’ score is a pitiful 24.5%. Chap Peterson, Democrat Caucus Vice Chair scored 24.4%. See TBE’s piece titled “Middle Resolution ranks General Assembly members”.
The reason statewide candidates have lost in the past is because they got clobbered in Fairfax County, the state’s largest. In fact, the Republican leaders didn’t even run a candidate in 9 of 17 Delegate races!!! No wonder only Tim Hugo survived. There is new leadership there so that miserable performance should improve.
Saying “One of the things that women, independents, and Millennials hate about the Republican Party is our constant negativity” is silly. If anyone is negative it’s Democrats, not Republicans. Make America Great Again is a very positive message. It sounds like you have a personal stake in Davis getting the Chairmanship.
Davis could really help us in NOVA and and Hampton Roads. Again, I don’t agree with his voting recors, but I want to turn Virginia Red Again and we won’t do that unless we change the kind of leadership we have. Glenn Davis and Zach Warrell can give us this.
Or get something we could call leadership in the first place.
How about we get them both?
Yeah the crap about all the “Diverse” demographics we need to bring in. I am a woman, and he still sold our state out on Medicaid expansion and is poised to be at odds with our Senate nominee.
I think Corey would allow it and Glen would not ‘phone it in.’
Do remember, our SCC did not vote to condemn Medicaid Expansion.
I could believe that, the SBT article didn’t bash Trump, or populists, so I could go with hidden agenda.
I respect and appreciate the analysis that the Middle Resolution does on legislation and consider many of their members friends. However, I don’t govern based on a scorecard. The only numbers I care about are those related to the prosperity of those that I represent. Good and intelligent people can disagree, and I will, and have defended, my votes including Medicaid to them and any others that wanted to discuss them. I understand what us as conservatives may want our Medicaid system to entail and not entail, however there were only two choices this year, the proposed Medicaid reform legislation and doing nothing. I can assure you that while this year’s Medicaid legislation may not have been perfect, doing nothing would have been worse (see my above comments).
“our Medicaid system”
You don’t get it. We don’t want a Medicaid system. We want govt out of our healthcare. But you are a RINO so you won’t understand.
Your 24.5% score is a measure of how much you care about the prosperity of the people you represent.
I think he lacks knowledge as a Delegate to deal with the illegal Santurary Employment in Virginia therefore he would make a piss poor Republican Chairman.
He might be able to lead Republicans to the bank to deposit PAC Checks, nothing more.
If he can bring in big money, the units will pick up the slack.
Home Builder Association money is made off of the employment of illegal aliens.
I was on the Virginia Beach City Council right after the incident I mention in this video I did on Sanctuary Cities. There’s a reason I’m strong on this issue and I think you’ll agree it’s not because of a “lack of knowledge.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZluFQX1i4g
Hey if you are genuine then research;
1)Rogue Subcontractors Undermine Va’s Legal Workforce by Kenric Ward.
2) McAuliffes notification policy of VOSHA/DOLI to DPOR implemented on July1st, 2015.
3) JLARC427
Now why did DeSteph try to stop these notifications with sb483 the following General Assembly?
Santurary Employment exist in Virginia because of the weak Republicans in our General Assembly.
As a Virginia licensed Contractor, how many illegal aliens can I employ under a single 1099?
Wouldn’t I be in violation of Statute 54.1-1100 Prohibited Acts Conspiring with an Unlicensed contractor in the delivery of Contracting Services?
Or would I be in violation of The Va Employment Compensation Act?
Why did 5 Virginia Republican Delegates vote NO on hb1106 (employee misclassification bill) ?
To provide Santurary Employment?
SBT you are out of your frigging mind.
Davis betrayal of his own repeated campaign promises to never vote for Medicaid expansion is excusable to you? Something that has been a fiscal train wreck for all other states and now Davis defends it — and you smoothly gloss that over??
Davis is an outrage. There is no forgiving his betrayal. Your support of him show you have no compass.
The “R” Delegates and Senators who voted for Medicaid are looking to position themselves favorably with Dems in advance of likely redistricting after the 2020 census. Betting they will consistently vote with the Dems next session. Their courting will fail because Dems will vote for Dems.
They are more than willing to throw us under the bus for their own personal gain. For this betrayal, kick them out in 2019.
And you, SBT, would place one of the worst of the betrayers at the head of the RPV. Out of your frigging mind.
Chuck Smith ~ All the way !!
This isn’t about legislative records. It’s about party building and winning elections. Does anyone even want to try to win statewide elections anymore, or have you just given up?
Okay, so, other than his legislative record in the Gen. Assembly, he’s a “great guy” who will bring outsiders into the party in droves to make up for all the current supporters (myself incl.) the RPV will lose. Oh, and he apparently lies too, having promised not to vote for Medicaid exp. But when the chips are down, he’ll sell us out. And you can be sure he’s not going to help our current Senate nominee.
But other than that, he’d make a great RPV Campaign chairman.
Probably wiser to not even field candidates for statewide office for the time being and focus resources on winnable Congressional and state legislature races. Resources are finite and accepting that they cannot be wasted on unwinnable races is a painful but necessary realization to reach. No Republican is going to win a statewide election here for the foreseeable future. You have at least ten more years of Democratic dominance to endure before people get so tired of their incompetence, lies, and corruption they will consider the GOP to come in an fix it. It took ages of one party Democrat rule turning my home state of Massachusetts into a fiscal basket case before people wised up and started electing Republicans to fix it.
I stand corrected, Davis is unacceptable.
Upon further consideration, I deleted my comments advocating him.
Another swamp creature.
A good man.
SBT – I’ll take your word for Delegate Davis’ good qualities, but there is no rational argument that a vote for Medicaid Expansion (Obamacare) is in accord with the republican creed. Votes matter.
I’m not making that argument. Glenn knows how much I disagreed with that vote. I want to grow this party though and it’s his like Glenn Davis and Zach Warrell who offer us such opportunities.
If I want to grow the city’s opera club, we could increase our numbers by adding hip hop, cowboy songs, children’s songs, and Oriental string-plucking tunes.
Should work. What could go wrong?
An orchestra of tuba players would flop.
…and Glen Davis yelling at our Senate nominee.