A Letter from a Conservative(and life long Republican who understands we are called to support the lesser of two evils on election day) Mother of three who is concerned about the candidacy of John Reid.
As I write this, I know that I might upset some, perhaps many, in the Virginia GOP. I probably will upset some dear friends and individuals I have volunteered alongside and normally agreed with. To those friends- you are absolutely entitled to your opinion and I am grateful for robust dialogue in our local, state, and national GOP organizations. As a timestamp – we are over a month out from the scheduled primary (now off the table with a candidate withdrawing) and not even near October (when most ‘surprises’ come out). This is not November. This is not election day. There still is time.
Over the past few weeks, many of us read of some shake ups in the Virginia Lt. Governor Republican Candidate race. With Springfield Supervisor, Pat Herrity, withdrawing from the Mid June Republican Primary for Virginia Lt. Governor, John Reid was left mid April as the presumptive nominee. With slightly less than two months to go prior to the original primary date, this left Reid’s supporters and fans a time to celebrate, but also left conservative mothers like myself particularly concerned. Right after Herrity’s announcement, the party did, in fact, come together and Governor Youngkin put forward a public statement in support of the Sears, Reid and Miyares ticket. Governor Youngkin has been viewed by many social conservatives as rather moderate or at times even left leaning on the issues of gay marriage and abortion.
Hence, what followed has surprised many and left our party in a rather mess. There still is time.
The news articles coming out on two weeks ago with Reid defiantly stating he would not step down in the wake of the discovery of a lewd pornographic tumblr photo channel shook up conservatives in the state and provided Democrats with opposition research on a silver platter. I personally always want to give each and every candidate the benefit of the doubt, so I listened to this video response to Governor Youngkin’s private phone call and ask for Reid to step down due to how distracting such news is and how damaging even the potential of Reid being tied to a gay pornographic tumblr channel could be.
John Reid issued this video statement. You can watch it here.
Reid came across as defensive, pointing fingers first at those with concerns over the tumblr channel to people of faith who were not comfortable with Reid’s personal choices from attending drag show brunches, to viewing porn, to his sexuality and plan to one day “marry” another man. He dismissed those concerns simply saying that was his personal life.
The response I heard was not one that gave me any sense of comfort that Reid would be a champion of pro family conservative values or be any different than the radical Democrats who hope to run Richmond and our state into the ground in support of a gay marriage constitutional amendment, abortion up to birth (and maybe after) on demand in the constitution, and goodness knows what library books they would love to preserve to promote the destructive LGBTQUIA agenda in our schools!
After Reid’s angered response (I get it! No one wants to be falsely accused if in fact having nothing to do with the photo channel.) lacking an acknowledgement that social conservatives might just have discomfort with his “liberal in the bedroom” personal life, attendance of drag shows, viewing of porn and plans to marry his boyfriend, the gaslighting and attacks within the party began.
From the back and forth between political consultants, to the local party committee leaders each making their own statements on the matter, to the twitter battles, and the phone calls revealed, lawsuits and discussions of extortion, some facts still remain and will always remain the same until John Reid either steps down from the race OR has a moment to come to God and acknowledge that his private lifestyle choices are not God-honoring and do not give confidence to the vast majority of pro family, conservative members of the Virginia GOP. Those who take part in local party committee votes only represent a small slice of the pie of voters. The vast majority of even GOP voters have no understanding of political consultants, twitter wars, lawsuits, inner party dynamics but do see the news headlines, do see how a candidate is digging his heels in and living his life with pride alongside his partner, and certainly see the history of what conservatives have fought hard for during this administrations to remove the distractions of the pro drag, pro trans, and pro LGBTQUIA+ radical agenda in our communities, libraries, schools and even churches.
Regardless of what Reid claims to state in terms of being a conservative fighter, his personal life choices are not in line with conservative values. It is not homophobic to have concerns that a man claiming to be homosexual would like to marry his male partner someday will not attempt to block a gay marriage and “anything goes amendment” to the Virginia Constitution. We simply know that those amendments open the door to anything from child marriage, polygamy, marriage to animals, you name it. I am not old fashioned to state that marriage is between one man and one woman. I am not intolerant to have a healthy level of skepticism about whether Reid will truly stand up for families and the protection of innocent children from drag and porn. A big tent party means to welcome everyone but not change the principles of the party to their liking and not put forward with pride (no pun intended) a candidate who is not living out conservative values. There is a big difference. I guarantee you that Reid has certainly stood for conservative issues but questions remain about his ability to live a private life fully in contrast to conservative values and then carry out conservative values as Lt. Governor. How is that possible?
The Lt. Governor is to serve as the tie breaking vote in the Virginia State Senate:
We know that Democrats would like to enshrine abortion on demand as well as same sex marriage into the Virginia State Constitution. Reid claims that he would like to marry his partner someday – will he be the tie breaking vote to enshrine same sex marriage into the Virginia State Constitution?
Would Reid have the courage and conviction to write a statement like Winsome Sears did below:
We must also look at the huge impact any salacious finding has on any candidate whether they are completely innocent or not. May we not forget the disaster of the 2024 Gubernatorial Election in North Carolina with Mark Robinson refusing to leave the race after he made comments on a pornographic website. North Carolina turned from a potential swing state to 54% (Stein) to 40% (Robinson) and 6% going to other candidates.
We can assume that the democrats will use this whole mess to try to taint the entire ticket (Gov, AG as well as all House of Delegate candidates). Remember: Democratic candidates can literally get away with murder (let’s consider the Clinton body count) and Republican candidates best not even have a past parking ticket or they will be burned to the ground by the leftist media.
It might take one unsavory news headline to turn away swing voters and apolitical voters who we absolutely need to win in a purple (blue at times) state. Virginia, by the grace of God, a lot of blood sweat and tears and wonderful candidates (without baggage) went RED in 2021, but still swung for Kamala Harris in 2024.
John Reid may garner support statewide from conservatives fans who know him, but will cost support of conservative Christians who are upset with his flippant brushing off of porn, drag, and gay marriage, will provide democrats with fodder for many attack ads and finally may cause independents and apolitical folks to not show up in November. Recently, an attack piece came out on a pastor who wrote a piece questioning the viability of Reid’s candidacy. The article claimed that very pastor had a messy past and perhaps even present – that still does NOT change the current concerns conservatives and people of faith have on Reid and his candidacy and the mere potential of a lewd photo channel.
Will your moderate neighbors, apolitical friends from church who have needed a nudge to get to the polls in November jump at the chance to vote for a ticket with John Reid on it, or will they do a simple google search and consider otherwise and not show up to vote? There still is time.
Bottom line – the tumblr channel news (whether it was Reid’s channel or not) sparked an opportunity for conservative voters to learn more about Reid and his liberal personal life choices which are far from conservative. We must find a path forward to salvage any chance to win in November from top to bottom on the ticket. The best path may not be the most convenient. There still is time.
21 comments
Pro personal freedom and individual freedom, until you’re not……. As in, it’s ok to bang a porn star but not watch porn. The circle jerk of “conservative” logics lives on 🤦♂️
Anyone who thinks Reid won’t be a drag on our GOP ticket this Fall is living in la-la land.
I will not vote for John Reid. John Curren is a great candidate and should be allowed to be put on the ballot considering the circumstances of campaign interference and sabotage. Why are we settling ourselves up for failure?
Kim Bowman,
You wrote on May 8, 2025 at 8:43 am
I will not vote for John Reid. John Curren is a great candidate and should be allowed to be put on the ballot considering the circumstances of campaign interference and sabotage. Why are we settling ourselves up for failure?
The issue of voting for Reid or not is shared by many others on TBE. What are the FACTS of campaign interference and sabotage? By whom? How was RPV involved? How was Virginia State Board of Elections involved?
What “the other side” says is though Candidate Curran, a self proclaimed millionaire, had money in his campaign account per some campaign report filed, Curran did NOT pay his campaign employees or vendors.
Politics is all about MONEY, if a Candidate does not pay MONEY to the Political Class who control elections, then the campaign is going to be hurt by “sabotage” to use your word. From what I heard months ago, is when folks learned Curran had money, campaign operatives rushed to “join” his campaign. When the money was not forthcoming, Curran was abandoned, or even “sabotaged”. “Opposition Research” on novice candidate Curran “reported” other disturbing stories from his past that no political consultant was paid to cover-up or explain by citing the facts that refute the negative stories.
We do have time…there was a third candidate who worked hard campaigning that everyone is forgetting about, John Curran, Jr. He was purposely kept off the ballot by his campaign manager that stole his petitions and signatures three weeks before they were supposed to be turned in. He turned in 5,600 signatures and 6-7,000 were not returned to him by his campaign manager. This, another debacle and sabotage within the Republican Party is and has been under Virginia State Police investigation. Therefore with no protection from the RPV chair or the Va. Board of Elections for this crime he was not allowed on the ballot. There should have been a primary between Reid and Curran. Curran is a Christian man and married to his wife with two daughters. He is a Navy vet and has over 30+ years of business experience. He holds a high office with the Knights of Columbus and has the conservative values of a patriotic Republican. He is planning to run as a Republican write in. So we do have another choice.
Deidra Reynolds-Journey. Thank you for adding this information to the discussion. Did Mr. Curran ask you or authorize you to post this information? I would like to learn more. Could you communicate with me? James Manship VOIP call or text to 703-672-1776. I too am a Navy Veteran who our former RPV chairman Rich Anderson violated Roberts Rules to get his favored candidate to win “steal” a low-level party position vote at the SCC after a stolen election at the District level. Lieutenant Governor is not a low-level party position.
DEIDRA REYNOLDS-JOURNEY — I wrote a reply to you hoping to get facts about your side of this campaign question, and John Curran’s side of the story, that is not present in your comment or other comments here on TBE. The Other Side was quick to contact me with emails cast in a defensive tone that alerted me to “more to the story”. Researching further, I found “The Other Side” of the story from what you post above is that Mr. Curran was NOT paying campaign employees and vendors even though he had “money in his campaign coffers” per some filing (the political leader did NOT provide a link so I could read it for myself),
Money is the “Mothers’ Milk of Politics”, and if a candidate (such as John Curran) does NOT timely pay the political class, then the campaign would get no support from the RPV, and is DOA (Dead On Arrival).
By the way, the RPV rules do not allow a “Republican write-in”, though an “Independent write-in'” may be possible, but a win in November is highly improbable, though possible if results not EVM (Electronic Voting Machines – that Elon Musk wisely states must be removed from American Elections) manipulated like most elections in Virginia.
Being a political novice with lots of money, Curran may have assumed if a political novice with lots of money could win (or buy — with the help of EVMs with software from a company his investment portfolio includes) as was the case with the Governor’s race in 2021, then Curran could win the Lt. Governor’s race in 2025.
I’m completely confused that the Conservative Party would welcome the ungodly life style of John Reid to run on the Republican Party ticket, just over look the unconservative life style and get the win regardless 😔 I’m on a Republican Committee in SWVA and I’m going to make a lot of moderate republicans happy because I’m leaving the committee and stand on the word of God. Great Article!!
This entire post is irrelevant and moot. You don’t “command” someone to stand down, and Reid has stipulated he’s not leaving.
So this post is the equivalent of shaking your fist at the sky.
Serves zero purpose.
Boy, are we screwed in this election if folks commenting here represent a sizable portion of the Republican vote.
We weren’t in great shape before with all the government layoffs. Now we’re in even worse shape because of this debacle. If we lose big in November that about kills Youngkin’s political future. BUT, it’s a long time until November and much can change between now and then.
Jeanine Martin, To ‘spice up” the discussion, one political prognosticator I spoke with gave an interesting alternative explanation. Since Youngkin less “won” in 2021 than McAwful LOST big time by shooting himself in the mouth by saying Parents do not have any right to determine what their children learn in Public Schools, and GovY was a quite acceptable alternative to the UniParty Globalists who control Election results with Electronic Voting Machines (My added note: that Elon Musk wisely says must be eliminated from American Elections if We are to have truly honest election results.)
So as a Billionaire or Mega-Millionaire Globalist, by the Reid (intentional) SNAFU by GovY that near assures a Demoncrat victory over the GOP ticket in November 2025, GovY garnered favor with fellow Globalist Mega-Millionaire Mark Warner, who will announce at some late date to handicap other candidates that he, Warner, is NOT running for re-election to the U.S. Senate, to open the way for Youngkin to run and buy the Election for U.S. Senator. Interesting Political Prognostication, yes?
As I wrote elsewhere, MONEY is the Mother’s Milk of Politics, and GovY has plenty to buy Rigged Choice Vote (some describe as Ranked Choice Vote) elections as with the Rigged Choice Vote (drive-through) Republican Primary in 2021 where Y “beat” Amanda Chase, and others.
GovY does have the money, but what did the Youngkin money do to help the GOP grow in seats in Congress in 2022 or 2024, or in the House of Delegates or Virginia Senate in 2023?
There was an Independent candidate for Secretary of State of Ohio who was sort of a “Whistleblower” who revealed that as a “Government Contractor” (to CIA?) she was involved with electronic “flipping the elections” of 45 nations. If “We” in the USA can flip other nations elections electronically, why is it not probable that China where our Electronic Voting Machines are manufactured, could electronically “flip an election” anywhere in the USA, including for Governor of Virginia? May We be wise to “think on these words”?
Republicans are the only thing standing between our friends and neighbors and the Democrats who have proven for decades they are hell bent on destroying the lives of Virginians. We are a political party, not the Harper Valley PTA.
Glenn Youngkin stepped on himself and generated the whole disaster. He should have kept his mouth shut. The only question now is “Did Reid support and campaign for conservative causes? If the answer is unequivocally yes then he deserves our votes.. if the answer is equivocal then the Republican leadership needs to have a meeting with him to make clear that they and we expect him to support the party platform period. If he can’t swear to that then he needs to be told to withdraw. This was so damnably unnecessary and I blame Youngkin, not Reid.
Michael,
Your point is very fair. You are right. John’s lifestyle does not lean toward his political views. If you did not have an opportunity to listen when he was in the radio, you can still search for it and make your assumptions. He is a long conservative fighter and that is why this whole set up happened. They are afraid and don’t want him in politics. I was warned even before he made official his campaign not to support him. Supposedly because he is too similar to President Donald Trump and that was not “convenient for Virginia”. I still supported him. I know President Trump appreciates very much John. He called his name and made him stand during the rally in Richmond. Please follow his page in FB and you will know the kind of candidate he is. He is fully against transgenderism of children. He has made very strong remarks against it.
Because of those like you, Virginia will stay blue
The author is almost apologetic or even defensive in supporting her points. The points are nonetheless valid. My perceptions are:
– Use of the word “homophobic,” has never been understood. I neither understand it nor do I know how to use that word. Did someone make it up for a reason?
– Acceptance of homosexuality as being normal is a burden to lay on our children.
– Variations and deviations by people to satisfy sexual desire takes a toll on mental stability. Healthy heterosexual relationships are needed to perpetuate humans. This point has been a taboo subject but is often overlooked.
– Healthy heterosexual relationships are needed as role models for children.
– According to Rush Limbaugh, less than 2% of the people, in the U.S. are homosexuals.
– I believe that in that 2% there are three categories:
o 1. Sexual gratification
o 2. Experimentation
o 3. A very small number of people who cannot make relationships with the opposite sex, and fall into believing that same sex relationships are for them
Why can’t we get better candidates to run for office vs having to deal with issues?
Joined a meeting with John Reid and 70 of his closest friends in Loudoun last evening. A good time was had by all there was not even a hint of “we wear no pants”. Social conservatives forgoing John Reid for his 30 years lifestyle versus what progressive democrats have done is beyond comprehension. Instead of making this a feel-good story about how diverse the Republican ticket is you cast aspersions over what might come to pass. I would venture forth and say you would not have had these feelings without knowledge of Youngkin’s call. His call was based on faulty information and so is your stance on John Reid!
Can’t vote for this candidate. I will not vote for Lt. Governor if John Reid is the Republican candidate.
So you’d prefer the corrupt baby murdering party has the tie breaking vote in the senate? Brilliant.
She (assuming it’s not a bot) does not say that she’s a republican. I have no doubt that there are democrat leftists infesting this BLOG for the sole purpose of generating dissension. I’ve seen a couple of these a few times.