Despite the fact that Fairfax county is 42% minority, there are very few minorities holding office or running for office in the county. Almost all of the candidates who filed to run by Thursday’s deadline are white and male. [read_more]Two exceptions are Latino Republican John Guevara, running in Sully district for Supervisor, and Sang Yi, a Korean American who is also Republican, running for the House of Delegates against incumbent David Bulova. As we reported earlier, Latino Republican Danny Vargas is running to replace Tom Rust in the 86th district of the House of Delegate.
Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia addressed his concern for the need for minorities in our political parties when he issued a statement of support for John Guevara. Currently only one person of color sits on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Kathy Hudgins, an African American. If John Guevara is elected he would be the first Latino to serve on the board. Chairman Whitbeck is trying to promote more diversity in politics,
When I see candidates that I feel like are the future of the Republican Party, I have to recognize them,”
I do think the Republican Party is not doing minority engagement to the fullest extent possible if it’s not eventually nominating candidates that don’t look like me, a white male,” Whitbeck said. “We really need to have an open enough party where we’re nominating people from all communities.”
More on the lack of diversity among candidates and officials in Fairfax, here.
16 comments
As conservatives, we should be more concerned with the TOTAL lack of diversity at the top levels of the news media, the political center of gravity in this country, and not at the top echelons of a single county government. Back in 2009 I did an ethnic analysis of the 32 major decision makers at NBC, CBS, ABC, Time, and Newsweek, using their own websites and Wikipedia, which provides this type of information. Every single one of the major media moguls was white! 28 were male. And as far as ethnicity goes, they were either WASP or Jewish. That is it. Not a Spanish name, not an Italian name, not a Slavic name. Not a scintilla of ethnic and racial diversity in the great liberal bastion known as the “mainstream media.” As I have said, if the leaders of our party had a some imagination and guts, they could use Saul Alinsky tactics against our major detractor – the mainstream media.
You can personalize this issue and illogically make it about Chairman Whitbeck or focus on the question I believe he is asking – Does the Republican Party in Virginia want to expand its current socio-economic and ethnic candidate base in the face of the reality of the shifting demographic trend lines in the US and state population or continue down the path of putting up one after another Caucasian, male, Chamber of Commerce approved face in front of the Virginia voter. YES or NO really a quite simple question. This should not really require dragging in any superfluous agendas just yes I agree, or no I don’t, and here is why.
It is great that the chairman of the RPV is creating unity by calling out units for not being diverse enough. What did Whitbeck do to increase diversity in the 10th District? I don’t know of a single thing he did. Additionally, by holding a canvass instead of a primary in the 10th, it could be argued that minorities were less inclined to participate. And if the RPV pushes for a convention for the presidential selection, my guess is it will be 95% white folks, just like every other convention. Please start walking the walk Whitbeck, Jeannie, et al.
Gotta increase diversity, gotta walk the walk. Yet every time a ‘diverse’ candidate raises their hand they are treated like escapees from the insane asylum.
This cycle the GOP is pushing Hispanics in an effort to increase positive votes. They just have to be the right Hispanics as seen by the last century republicans who run the party.
Here’s a thought. Maybe the republicans would have all the positive votes they needed if they simply treated people like people instead of votes,
Last November, NoVa had 3 CDs in contention: 8th, 9th, 10th.
The D’s had 3 old white men running on their side.
The R’s had two women and a black man.
So, before you criticize the RP, do your homework.
Umm, I don’t get your point.
I never said that the RPV never nominated minorities, so you might want to read my comments again. What I said was:
1. Whitbeck is using his position to call out units for not being diverse enough.
2. What did Whitbeck do to increase diversity in the 10th district?
3. A canvass and conventions are less likely to attract minorities (no scientific evidence here, just based on my past experience)
So, I suggest you read my comments again before telling me to do my homework. Thanks!
what does it matter what he did as 10th district chair? How does that change the fact that what he is saying is true. As for your comment about canvass … that was a compromise because the 10th district committee was going to go full convention. As best he could, he fought for the best nomination process he could get that included as many people as possible. Comstock wanted a primary and Marshall wanted a convention – Whitbeck helped broker the best possible compromise under the circumstances he was operating in.
Past performance is an indicator of future results.
As for Whitbeck brokering a canvass, that is great, but it misses the point that in my experience participating in canvass, conventions, and primaries, minority participation in the first two is almost nonexistent.
my experience is minority participation in Republican politics is almost nonexistent to begin with. The method of nomination is like #37 on the list of reasons why minorities don’t vote Republican.
touche
What about concentrating on getting the best candidates regardless of sex, religion or race? That’s along the lines that MLK talked about: the character of person rather than the color of their skin. The drive to diversify caused us to ignore other characteristics resulting in the worst President in our history.
Guevara is the right character. He’s conservative , accomplished and consistent.
Good. I didn’t intend to impugn anyone running; I intended to point out that the post is complaining about the wrong things (as usual).
In Jeanine’s defense, she didn’t actually complain.
No one is attacking Jeanine. I was attacking the Post. Jeanine is just reporting on their article. (But If she says she agrees with them… :-} ).
Also, the Post doesn’t seem to understand the system. For the Republican Party, not all filing deadlines have passed. For example, in HODs 38 and 41, the deadline is 4/10. Some calls have not yet been posted so there is no telling what their deadlines will be.
That is correct. The state deadline isn’t until June. Parties can still nominate up until that time.