GOP Senate Candidate Ed Gillespie
The Gillespie campaign is flexing some grassroots muscle today, releasing an extensive list of local GOP chairmen who have endorsed Ed Gillespie for U.S. Senate.
A chairman of a local GOP committee is, in most counties, the lowest level of elected party leader. For the most part, these people are grassroots leaders not afraid to get their hands dirty with the hardest work in politics. They are the leaders closest to the people.
That’s why it’s significant when a local chairman endorses a statewide candidate. It doesn’t always happen. So, when a candidate gets 51 such endorsements, it’s pretty big news.
Below is the list of Virginia GOP chairmen endorsing Ed Gillespie:
Lance Asbury, Bland County
Jeff Stritesky, Botetourt County
Kevin Corbett, Bristol City
Bobby May, Buchanan County
Connie Warner, Charles City County
Josh Hendrick, Carroll County
Donald Williams, Chesterfield County.
John Wood, Colonial Heights City
Nick Freitas, Culpeper County
Gary Hall, Dickenson County
Dean McCray, Dinwiddie County
Martha Dodd-Slippy, Emporia City/Greensville County
Dave Rector, Essex County
Becky Stoeckel, Fairfax City
Ken Feltman, Falls Church City
Scott Russell, Fauquier County
MichaEl Hirsch, Fredericksburg City
Brandon Boyles, Galax City
Mae Midkiff, Giles County
Ben Slone, Goochland County
James Wagoner, Grayson County
Pat Barksdale, Halifax County
Nancy Russell, Hanover County
Mac Nichols, Harrisonburg City
Don Boswell, Henrico County
Bill Coburn, Isle of Wight County
Bill Rilee, King & Queen County
Ray Duncan, King George County
John Breeden, King William County
Roger Elkins, Lee County
Graven Craig, Louisa County
Zach Martin, Lynchburg City
Sharon Ashurst, Manassas City
John Salm, Northampton County
Robert Fultz, Norton City
Jordan Marshall, Orange County
Charlotte Homer, Page County
Alex Stanley, Patrick County
Pat Harvey, Petersburg City (Interim Chair)
Angie Hall, Pulaski County
Chris Obenshain, Richmond City
Roger Jarrell, Rockbridge Area
George Newman, Salem City
John Kilgore, Sr. , Scott County
Adam Tolbert, Smyth County
Matt Fitzgerald, Staunton City
Steve Trent, Suffolk City
Vernon Teall, Sussex County
Wanda Lowe, Tazewell County
Stephen Kurtz, Warren County
Kim Mullins, Wise County
As far as we know at The Bull Elephant, most of the roughly 130 local GOP unit chairmen (including this author) have not made any endorsement, which suggests that this list represents a very significant majority of those who have. Clearly very good news for the Gillespie campaign to be able to show this kind of strength a local level.
