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Former Republican candidate for governor Denver Riggleman chats with attendees after a forum hosted by the Smith Mountain Lake Republicans at the Westlake Golf and Country Club Tuesday, March 7, 2017. (Erica Yoon/AP)

What Denver Riggleman Taught Me About Politics

written by Steven Brodie Tucker April 20, 2017

To my pro-Reeves and pro-Vogel friends: whilst my hypocrisy apparently knows no bounds,  I must say that the negative campaigning between the two camps is a serious turn-off. These are two conservative and outstanding State Senators and to pretend otherwise in order to make your candidate appear to be the only conservative choice is a serious mistake. You can’t win a general election if everyone who supported your opponent hates you.

Denver Riggleman taught me a lot about how an aggressive pursuit of issues and the no-nonsense approach to calling corruption “corruption” doesn’t have to come at the expense of your opponents. Either they are taking principled stands on the issues, or they are not. Let the voters decide.

Denver demonstrated the ability to attack the issues as if he was planning a MOAB drop in Afghanistan. He didn’t have to take personal shots at his opponents in order to make his points or elucidate his arguments.

I admit that, for most of my politically-active life, I have engaged in attacks on candidates that I felt were selling out the Founding principles of this nation or lying about their commitment to the Conservative Tradition. I believed that “the bad guys” were somehow fundamentally bad. I believed they had nefarious intentions. The more time I spend with politicians and their staff, the more I realize two very important things: one, there is a ridiculous amount of room for rational disagreement; and two, solutions in Richmond and Washington D.C. aren’t half as simple as we make them out to be.

If something is wrong and needs to be fixed, then talk about that something. If you make a convincing argument, the media will force every other candidate to take a firm position on your issues. If they take squishy positions, the voters will recognize it and respond accordingly. There is no need for personal attacks.

I have no problem with folks talking about Frank Wagner’s support of tax-increases as a negative, or Ed Gillespie’s resume as being “establishment” or assigning him “insider” status. Those aren’t personal attacks. But attacking a candidate’s marital fidelity or a father’s loving support of his daughter ought to be off-limits.

What good is it if Jill Vogel or Bryce Reeves wins the Republican Nomination for Lieutenant Governor if the Reeves people can’t support Vogel, and the Vogel people can’t support Reeves, in November? Is winning the nomination even worth it if you destroy your chance at winning in the general? Or do people run for office merely out of vanity, as opposed to running on behalf of strengthening the Republican Party and centuries of Conservative Tradition?

This is an honest question.

Before anyone starts pointing fingers and saying, “So and So started it!”, let me just make it clear that I don’t care. Because it doesn’t change the fundamental calculus in November.

Spending time with Denver Riggleman taught me how campaigns should be run. It taught me that I’ve been doing it wrong. He demonstrated a better way of running for office and representing the Republican Party. I just hope others learn as much from Mr. Riggleman’s campaign as I have. It’s a lesson that just might change all our fortunes come November.

35 comments

Steven Brodie Tucker graduated with a degree in the art of Philosophy from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, later studying economics and political science at George Mason. in 2017, he earned his M.A. in Public Policy Administration. Steven Brodie Tucker is a member of the Caroline County Republican Party and an activist for Constitutional and Republican principles.

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  • Roger

    The problem with your analysis is that it relies on Reeves premise that Vogel sent the email. If he was confident of that, he would be in court.

    Outside of the alleged email, nothing negative has come out of the Vogel Campaign.

    • Outside of the email there have been subtle, behind the scenes smear campaigns by many of Jill’s supporters and there has been no distancing or denouncement of those supporters. I’m not supporting Bryce but we should be honest about what’s really going on here. Please don’t get me wrong; Jill Vogel has been one of the kindest, sweetest, and most forthcoming Republicans in Virginia, when it comes to my interactions with her. That’s a huge plus in my book. However, those are personal experiences that, while meaningful to me, won’t mean much to the electorate at large. I think the world of Jill Vogel. I think she’s going to win. That said, I’ve also had the opportunity to get to know Glenn Davis, who is also an outstanding human being. He’s been honest. He defends his record passionately, even when the two of us disagree. Especially when the two of us disagree lol. That’s ok. I like that. Here’s the deal though – if the Reeves people hate Vogel and her supporters and Vogel wins, can Jill beat a Democrat in November?

      • Roger

        So say supporters, not campaigns. Ultimately not the campaigns responsibility to denounce “subtle” actions of people who are voting for them.

        The fact is, the Vogel campaign has been the ONLY positive one in this race.

        • There has been absolutely no shackles placed on rabid Vogel supporters. When I talked to her over a year ago, my one request was that this would be a positive campaign. Has she been positive? Yes. Of course she has! That’s just her – that’s who she is – but her supporters haven’t been and they’ve spread vicious rumors and attacked people personally (not just Bryce, but his supporters as well). This has hurt Jill more than anything else. She should have put her boot down. Look, I think the world of Jill Vogel – personally, I think she is one of kindest and warmest people in Virginia politics. But that doesn’t change what is taking place right now.

  • Richard Roberts II

    Great article and I wholeheartedly agree, but want to clarify one point. Denver was and is a class act and someone I call a friend. The Whiskey Rebellion, as his campaign was colorfully labeled, represented a lot of frustration with status quo in Richmond and good ole boy politics. Denver and his team built a brand and brought together several factions that will withstand 2017.Given more lead time he may have been consider a serious contender, but that was not in the cards this year and most of us who have been involved in Virginia politics knew that early on.

    In reality this year is a two man race for the Governor’s mansion and voters have to ask themselves who has the courage and will to FIGHT FIRE with FIRE? Virginia is the Center of the political world in 2017 and the powers of the LEFT are coalescing around Tom Perriello. Gillespie and the RPV were betting heavy on Northam being the opponent in the general, but if he fails to win the nomination we as Republicans are in for a WAR for the future of our beloved Commonwealth. We need the guy who will NEVER back down from a challenge and will fight the liberal ideology with every breath.The Democrats will stop at nothing to put a black eye on our President ahead of the midterms. We need a FIGHTER!

    • While I disagree with many people’s opinion of who they think that fighter is; that’s the tactic that campaign ought to run on. That campaign could run on that narrative without ever even mentioning their opponent because the brand of their candidacy is that of an insurgency. Love him or hate him, is there any doubt about the veracity of that narrative? Of course not! You can be a fighter without making everyone want to fight you. 😉 Just sayin’. 🙂

    • John Massoud

      Riggleman always was a serious contender. He just got in to the race too late. But Riggleman’s ideas and his ability to inspire passion in people will live on. I for one am looking forward to supporting him at sometime in the near future.

  • John Massoud

    Riggleman was a fascinating man and it is too bad that he left the race. (I say this as a Gillespie supporter) Riggleman brought in a fascinating air of freshness and his candor, charm, and wit will be sorely missed. If more politicians were like Denver Riggleman, we’d have more people interested in our political system.

    We can only hope that Mr. Riggleman will remain engaged and will one day run for something – having learned some valuable lessons about campaigning, and come back with lessons learned and continue the #WhiskeyRebellion.

  • Jim Portugul

    Did the RPV, Gillespie, or the power company, give or promise Riddleman anything to take a walk?

    Come on, SBT, it’s called investigative journalism.

    • Let me check my tinfoil hat (Come on, Jim, it’s called conspiracy theories).

  • Philip Haddad

    I greatly miss Riggleman’s class and stances, I’m guessing the LP candidate will get a boost from many who agree.

    • Denver ran an honest and common-sense campaign. What annoys me is that folks equated “common sense” with populism, as if populists have ever had much sense. The LP Candidates will only get a boost if they, too, offer common sense (as opposed to Utopian idealism). For centuries, the Conservative Tradition has distinguished itself as the only tradition that accepts natural law and human nature for what it is, and seeks to establish a government to accommodate it. We need to see this tradition continued – not replaced with fear-mongering and right-wing authoritarianism.

      • Connie S.

        Geez, it’s too bad: your disdain for populism comes through once again. And you really just don’t SEE it. Denver is a populist. As is Trump. As am I. And a whole lot of other Republicans and Virginians.

        It’s too bad you don’t think we have sense.

        Denver ran a very positive campaign, that is true. If Denver had stayed in the race, and had some money, I think sooner rather than later he would have been targeted by the other candidates, and he would have engaged back. He would have told the TRUTH, but he would have returned as good as he got.

        Denver is a fighter; not a rollover weeny.

        • Connie, over the last few months I’ve come to respect you. But don’t ask me to respect populism.

          • CVLiberty

            Populism is a vehicle for an ideology and cannot be an ideology in and of itself…the same goes for elitism. One is to democracy what the other is to a republic. Without an ideological underpinning, these two vehicles both end up with awful results and devolve rapidly into extremes…

            Conservatism, Libertarianism, Socialism…all of these things can be achieved via populism or elitism. 1 million people can rise together to implement conservatism, or a small few with power can change a system to reflect conservatism (it just so happens that elitism has hardly ever lead to this result bc power is so rarely abdicated). Western civilization is traditionally always out of balance between populism and elitism and the populace finds itself swaying back and forth as to which is preferred in any given time, with our nation’s founding coming as a result of a massive pendulum shift in response to outright tyranny (elitism) in England. The longer the pendulum stays in one side of the spectrum, the harsher the result when swinging in the opposite direction. (See the difference between the American and French revolution…) Given our nation’s founding, most Americans find themselves vocally embracing populist ideals (e.g. mistakenly referring to the US as a democracy, embracing the concept of 1-person 1-vote, stripping property or taxation requirements, etc.) but these same folks oftentimes seek elitist control in a sense of comfort (e.g. Immediate responses to crisis, Federal intervention in markets, health, etc.)

            Historically, the likes of Jefferson, Jackson, Kennedy, Reagan, Obama, and Trump used populist rhetoric and messaging, whereas Adams, Hamilton, Lincoln, FDR, Nixon, GWB, McCain, Romney, etc. all worked on elitist (autocratic) rhetoric.

            Populism is awful if it has no underlying principles attached, same goes for elitism. Theyre easily hijacked and often times either end up with a tyrannical dictator via fascism, communism, or outright monarchy.

            I personally prefer populism as the political vehicle for ideals because I find it to be most in-line with my libertarian political view, truest in relation to the constitution at the time it was drafted, reflective of my protestant faith and belief in natural law, reflects capitalism rather than cronyism, and is most respectful of the individual. I hate populism if the populace cannot articulate what it is they are trying to achieve, as it will inevitably produce a demagogue. So, with that, I think both Connie and SBT are right…Connie in her preference for populism as a vehicle, SBT in his preference for liberty based principles as a guide, but without either, neither will last…

          • I’m specifically referring to the right-leaning populism prevalent in Virginia and the United States and the authoritarian foundation upon which it’s based. However, populism usually carries with it all the hallmarks of a want for education and intellect, which is why our Founders and Framers, in their wisdom, tried to protect us from mob rule through the establishment of a Constitutional Republic.

          • David Jackson

            My God we’ve been ruled for much of the past 50 years with socialist populism. Unfortunately the leftist mob is ruling.

          • I disagree. Since the late 80s both parties have been quite Corporatist (until Obama). The Democrats wanted tax increase, the Republicans wanted deficits. Progressivism run amuck only happened between ’09 & ’10.

          • That said, you’re 100% right about the pendulum swing. I believe history bares that out.

        • David Friend

          HELL NO he would not have….He did not have to….nor would he have to today if he ran again….And I know this as a FACT….Plain and simple had he had the money HE would be our next GOV, And with the money he will be when he runs again

  • Jonathan Erickson

    Many people think Obama was the nicest, warmest and most genuine person in politics just like Jill.

  • AnninVA26

    Good article. I’m in a quandary about the Lt. Gov. primary. Is it too late to get another candidate? Right now, Vogel and Reeves are making free commercials for the democrats.

  • mezurak

    Two R’s don’t make a Right. They can, however, ensure three Lefts.

  • Franklin Fogle

    Hey, Steven Brodie Tucker: When did you start cheating on your wife, and if you go to church, does your pastor knowing that? Being accused of such debauchery demands closure, one way or the other, and the person who seems most likely the accuser will not allow forensic testing of her internet communication devices to exonerate herself. What then? Do you want her as Lieutenant Governor, and do you think enough Virginian’s would trust her to push her past the Democrat challenger? And you “don’t care” that the aggrieved party demands closure? Perhaps you’ve forgotten how Jill won her first primary for her senate seat, and this all reeks of deja vu: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/15/AR2007101501460.html

    • Franklin, the point is that the calculus remains the same in November. Accusations against Bryce were horrific. I’m not trying to sweep that under the rug, but making a spectacle out of Jill’s father and lying about her record builds the bad blood. Truly, I’m not sure I can vote for either of them in June. Jill’s rhetoric is right up my ally. Bryce has a very good voting record. But I don’t want to join a side when both sides are so viscous toward the other. And I’m not talking about the candidates themselves, so much as I’m talking about their campaigns and supporters.