James City Republicans rally against constitutional referendum
Rep. Rob Wittman calls it a fight for the state party's existence
It’s April 9. Today we’ll tell you about the Republican fundraiser to push a no vote on the constitutional referendum. We’ll also talk about VDOT’s fight against a rash of potholes, and the more than $10,000 taxpayers spent to send local officials to a London meeting.
James City County Republicans held a combination fundraiser and pep rally against the redistricting referendum Wednesday night, fighting what U.S. Rep Rob Wittman, R-1st, called “the biggest challenge our party has faced in its entire history, and that is its very existence.”
Speakers laid out details of what they said will be a massive Republican get out the vote campaign in the final two weeks before the April 21 vote on the referendum. The referendum would amend Virginia’s constitution to allow the Democratic legislative majority to lay out congressional districts.
Democrats have unveiled a map that would give them control of all but one of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, which currently are 6-5 Democratic/Republican.
The map wipes out Wittman’s first district, dividing James City and York Counties into two districts that stretch as far north as Alexandria, in York’s case, and as far southwest as Danville for James City County.
Wittman said the move would disenfranchise voters who live in the five Republican leaning districts.
Jeff Ryer, chair of the state Republican party, credited Wittman with a nationwide campaign to get resources for the party, including a $2 million donation from the Republican National Committee that will allow them to step up their media efforts.
“You’re going to see, in the next two weeks, a (media) blitz of magnitudes that you haven’t seen before from Republicans” Wittman said, “in all different forms of media, whether it’s network, television, whether it’s streaming, whether it’s digital. We are going to finish strong.”
Vincent Passero, chairman of the Williamsburg-James City County Republican committee, told the fundraising dinner that Democrats had expected a low voter turnout for the vote on the referendum, which Ryer said would hurt Republicans.
But Passero said that as of Tuesday afternoon, a check with the James City County voter registrar showed 25.28% of registered voters have already voted early.
Jennifer Tierney, chair of the Historic Triangle Democrats, told us Wednesday she believes the referendum will pass, “but I think we still have work to do to get it over the finish line.”
She said a Republican campaign criticizing former President Barack Obama and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanger’s positions “is having an impact.”
Tuesday night’s fundraiser gathered more than 140 Republicans at the Colonial Heritage Country Club, including Wittman, State Senators Danny Diggs and Ryan McDougle, former Lt. Gov. candidate John Reid, and James City County Supervisors Barbara Null and Tracy Wainwright.
Reid said voters were starting to pay attention because they were concerned about the direction the Democratic majority is taking on a variety of subjects. Reid noted Spanberger’s approval ratings had dropped by double digits to 47 percent of voters, according to a poll released two days ago by The Washington Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government. A Post analysis said that was the lowest approval rating of any governor since the 1990s.
“The people of Virginia now know they’ve been lied to,” Reid said.
VDOT tackles 548 potholes so far
If you think you’ve been hitting a lot more potholes this spring, it’s not your imagination. This year’s harsh winter weather has created a lot of them.
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