As the growing speculation about 4th District Congressman Randy Forbes switching districts and running for the now open 2nd District continues, another option remains.
While there is a very public recruitment effort underway to lure Congressman Forbes to run in the 2nd District, there is also public pushback against the idea from Virginia Beach political and business leaders.
Sources close to the Reagan Building, the Virginia Conservative Network, and Sheriff Wade confirm that if Randy Forbes chooses to run, then Sheriff Mike Wade will abandon his bid to unseat Rep. Dave Brat in the 7th District. Sources say that the Sheriff “has too much respect for the 4th District Congressman to run against Randy Forbes.” We assume, based on such sentiment, that Sheriff Wade will support a Forbes bid against David Brat if it indeed does happen, but that assumption remains unconfirmed.
Given that the court-drawn 7th District includes precincts Congressman Forbes has represented for years, while the 2nd District does not, a pivot toward the 7th District may be a more viable path for Congressman Forbes, if the court-drawn lines hold.
This is all up in the air no final decisions have been made by Congressman Forbes. Forbes and others with potential interest in running for these seats are undoubtedly waiting to make their next moves based on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a request to stay implementation of the new lines until the Court can hear the underlying appeal made by the members of Virginia’s Republican Congressional delegation. A decision on the stay is expected to come at any time, and could render all of the maneuvering and posturing around the new lines completely moot.
Stay tuned.
