John Bell is running for the Virginia House of Delegates to represent the 87th District, which covers an area running from Bull Run in Prince William County to Sterling and areas of eastern Loudoun County.
Bell promotes himself as a fiscal hawk and (without saying it out loud) a conservative problem-solver:
[Bell] will use his expertise to streamline government, cut waste, and save taxpayer dollars so we can focus on what matters to Northern Virginia – strong schools that ensure our kids are prepared for the jobs of the future, a sustainable long-term transportation plan that gets Northern Virginia its fair share, and a strong economy that encourages job creation and growth.
Emphasizing his military service, Bell uses these words and even conspicuously avoids identifying himself as a Democrat or as a progressive. Instead, online and in his campaign literature we see lots of pictures of him with old, white military veterans wearing their veteran ballcaps, and lots of language about “Major Bell’s” own service, juxtaposed alongside very reasonable sounding language on spending, transportation, and economic growth.
But Bell is anything but a moderate. In fact, he’s probably one of the more extreme candidates running, and he will apparently stop at nothing to get elected.
So just how extreme is he? First, he proudly touts endorsements from public sector employee unions and the SEIU, along with the League of Conservation Voters (yes, the same crowd that strong-arms conservatives in neighboring Fauquier). That should be your first clue.
Another clue is that, despite his attempts to moderate his image, there is that pesky thing called the internet that allows us to peek back in recent history when Bell previously ran for this seat and lost to Del. David Ramadan. What that tells us is that among Bell’s largest donors are (i) organized labor; (ii) public employee unions; (iii) the gun control lobby; and (iv) the abortion industrial complex.
In fact, the abortion lobby has taken an especially keen interest in Bell. This year, Bell has received strong support from the butchers at Planned Parenthood and the extremists at NARAL. This weekend Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington Action Fund & NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia are even holding a fundraiser for him.
What’s probably more troubling is Bell’s use of his opponents’ ethnicity. Back when he ran against Ramadan in 2013, instead of the standard progressive line about running against “the extreme anti-woman views of [insert GOP candidate name here],” Bell’s campaign got more creative against the General Assembly’s only Muslim, who also happens to be an immigrant from Lebanon. In that campaign, they accused their opponent of “religious extremism.” When deployed against a Muslim Republican (who happens to be among the most patriotic Americans anyone has ever met), Bell may as well have straight-up called Ramadan a terrorist.
That didn’t work on Ramadan, and won’t work on Chuong Nguyen, the talented attorney who is the GOP nominee for the 87th. Nguyen is working hard to expose Bell’s true beliefs, despite Bell’s attempts to deceive the voters into thinking he’s a centrist (or even a Republican). It’s disappointing that the nominee of a party that so brazenly hustles minority candidates out the door is using tons of money from extremist groups to attack a rising conservative star from the Vietnamese immigrant community (part of a larger pattern this year from Virginia Democrats).
That’s what we’re up against folks. We’ve written about Chuong before, and are excited about his prospects. But he’s not going to get across the finish line without our help to combat the national abortion lobby and the political labor movement. If you can spare a donation, or better yet, if you can spare some time, visit his website and help him defeat his false-flag opponent.
