No, the biggest losers were not Brian Schoeneman and John Litzenberger who came very close to winning. Had either John Litzenberger or John Guevara not been in the race the remaining John would have garnered over 60+% of the vote. [read_more] John Litzenberger ran an honest, gentlemanly, campaign and came within 17 votes of a win. He is definitely not a loser. He has pledged his full support in helping John Guevara to keep Sully for Republicans, and that makes Litzenberger a winner.
Of course John Guevara was the big winner in Sully. He won the election the old fashion way, by working hard day after day. He knocked on hundreds of doors, made hundreds of calls, and listened to the voters. He heard them, they want lower taxes. Over and over he heard that and he has pledged to represent those Sully voters who cannot live with Fairfax county’s high taxes. We might say the voters in Sully have been ‘Taxed Enough Already’ and John Guevara has heard their pleas!
The second biggest winner in the Sully primary race was John Whitbeck, Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. He was right to support Guevara and right when he said yesterday at Guevara’s victory party, “John Guevara is the face of the future of the Republican party in Virginia”.
The biggest losers in the Sully race were former Congressman Tom Davis, Supervisor Pat Herrity, and Congressman Barbara Comstock. All three of them encouraged their chosen candidate to move to Sully district and run for office five days later. Worse, none of them vetted their chosen candidate. No one called the folks on the ground in Sully to learn what the party activists thought of Brian Schoeneman. They didn’t bother to look at the outrageous things Brian has said on his blog, Bearing Drift. Clearly they didn’t bother to read his posts because if they had they would know that he regularly calls people names, he hates Governor Scott Walker, he is open to tax increases, and he supports illegal immigration. None of things make for a winning candidate in a Republican primary. They didn’t do even minimal homework on their chosen candidate.
Supervisor Pat Herrity worked hard for Brian Schoeneman. He endorsed Brian, sent out mailers for him, and spent the entire day at the polls campaigning for Brian. His reputation was at stake. He should have done his homework. Can we expect him to now work just as hard to elect John Guevara to keep Sully district Republican? I hope so.
The biggest loser in this election was cycle Barbara Comstock. She has endorsed three losers and angered a large part of her base. And for what? Why did she endorse anyone, and why did she endorse without checking with anyone on the ground? She was assured by Pat Herrity and Tom Davis that no one would run against Brian Schoeneman once they got him moved into Sully district. How ridiculous. How could anyone promise that and why would any experienced politician believe it? Barbara went on not only to endorse Brian Schoeneman but to do a robocall for him the night before the primary. Had Barbara, or someone on her staff, made two or three phone calls to activists on the ground, or if they would simply have made one call to the Republican Chairman in Sully, they would have learned the truth about the man they were backing. Comstock’s team didn’t do their homework.
In Loudoun, Barbara endorsed Shawn Williams for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors and we all know how that turned out. Barbara endorsed Shawn before we learned the truth about him. Had Comstock called just one or two of her ardent supporters on the ground in Loudoun she would have been told to stay out of this race because both candidates for Chairman of the Board were popular men in the Loudoun Republican party. Choosing one of them does nothing other than anger a large segment of her base, those who support the opponent. But she didn’t do her homework. She didn’t call people on the ground. Again, why endorse in a primary race when it is bound to anger a large segment of your supporters?
Congressman Comstock’s third big mistake was endorsing Mike Chapman for sheriff in Loudoun County. He has been a very unpopular sheriff. The deputies who work under him have had a very difficult time. Morale is at an all time low. From everything I’m hearing his opponent Eric Noble will win big at next week’s convention. As one elected official said “it’s going to be an old fashion ass-kickin”. The Commonwealth Attorney, the elected official who works most closely with the sheriff, has written a letter to the convention delegates explaining exactly why he supports Eric Noble and not sheriff Chapman. The sheriff has alienated voters across Loudoun County and Barbara Comstock has lost much of that same support. Again, for what? Many people in the 10th district were upset with her after her recent votes on Capitol Hill. For many of them endorsing Mike Chapman was the last straw. Again, if Comstock had made even one phone call to one of her supporters on the ground in Loudoun she would have known better than to endorse Mike Chapman for Sheriff. But she didn’t do her homework.
We all hope that these three disastrous endorsements by Congressman Comstock will give her pause and make her think about taking a page from Senator Dick Black’s handbook and stay out of primary endorsements. There is rarely anything to gain and much to lose.
