Today is a big news day in Virginia Republican politics, with the 10th District Canvass, and conventions in the Second and Sixth districts.
The big news, and doubtless a source of ongoing controversy and dispute, is that the Second District GOP Committee met this morning at 11:00 am and ruled to sustain the appeal brought by over a hundred Republicans disenfranchised at the Virginia Beach mass meeting, handing a defeat to Sen. Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach) and his allies with Eric Cantor’s YG Virginia. The committee voted to invalidate the slate of just 32 people, and allowed the credentials committee report to proceed in seating all 1,049 properly pre-filed delegates.
Supporters of Frank Wagner just lost their bid to elect Dave Hummell as temporary convention chairman. Hummell is the individual infamous for carrying the slating motion at the Virginia Beach mass meeting. Votes for temporary chairman usually indicate how a contest will be decided, and if that holds true in this instance, Curtis Colgate will be elected as the new Second District Chairman. John Moss, a Colgate supporter, was elected temporary chairman by a vote of 472-397 delegate votes.
Also holding a convention today were the Sixth District Republicans. There, incumbent Chairman Wendell Walker fended off a challenge from former Virginia House Speaker Vance Wilkins, in a contest that featured a lot of personality issues and (uncharacteristically for recent years) did not revolve exclusively around each candidate’s preference for primaries or conventions. Walker votes consistently for conventions, but was opposed by some convention supporters who questioned his leadership. Wilkins, for his part, seemed unable to escape the cloud of past controversy. Justin Higgins covered that angle last month.
And in the 10th, all indications are that turnout is good, and may break the 10,000 vote mark by the time the polls close in a little more than 30 minutes. You’ll find results first at The Bull Elephant’s live blog of the events as they unfold, by our own Jeanine Martin.
We’ll continue to post updates as they come in.
UPDATE – 2:40 pm: I am told that Virginia Beach Chairman Ken Longo was ejected from the Second District Committee meeting for “dilatory behavior.” A proxy was allowed to replace him. More details when they become available.
UPDATE – 3:35 pm: Credentials finally adopted, seating all prefiled delegates (not the slate), but recognizing potential for challenge, votes will be recorded for both the full VB delegation and for the slate of just 32. Candidates for 2nd District Chairman now giving their speeches.
UPDATE – 3:50 pm: Votes for Second District Chairman are being tabulated. Will post results as soon as they’re in.
UPDATE – 4:24 pm: Ballots are on paper and are taking a long time to count. Then, raw totals must be weighted to reflect relative delegation strengths. So, no results yet.
UPDATE – 4:49 pm: Virginia Beach delegation still balloting. Meanwhile, an interesting twist reported by John Fredericks, who says that a College Republican rep was improperly not allowed to vote on the Second District Committee vote to overturn the slating. According to Fredericks, had she been allowed to vote she would have voted to uphold the slating, meaning Committee would have deadlocked and the slating would have stood.
UPDATE – 5:41 pm: Ineptitude.
UPDATE – 5:43 pm: Finally, results: Curtis Colgate elected as Second District Chairman over Sen. Frank Wagner by a vote of 508-362.
