Tonight, I had the pleasure of spending several hours at the 23rd Annual Candidates’ Night Dinner by the nonpartisan New Dominion PAC (“The Voice for Arab Americans in Virginia“) in Tysons Corner. It was a long program, as around 50 candidates were in attendance, and each had a chance to speak. It’s important to emphasize that this was supposed to be a totally bipartisan event, with both the Arab American Republicans and Arab American Democrats participating. Despite this, it was glaring how many Democrats were there, and how few Republicans. To put it another way, it was extremely telling – although not surprising, given how the Republican Party is these days – how many Republican incumbents and candidates blew off this major dinner by the Arab-American community of Fairfax and Northern Virginia more broadly. Check out the following list and see what I mean. Also, as you read through the list, think about why this might be the case.
Prince William County Board Chair: Dr. Babur Lateef was there; Corey “the Xenophobe” Stewart was not
Braddock District Supervisor: Janet Oleszek was there; John Cook was not
Dranesville District Supervisor: John Foust was there; Dennis Husc was not.
U.S. Senate: Tim Kaine was there; George “Felix Macacawitz” Allen was not (also did not send a surrogate or record a video, as Mark Warner did)
Senate District 13: Shawn Mitchell was there; rabid homophobe (and Islamophobe?) Dick Black was not
Senate District 30: For once, the Republican (a nut named Tim McGhee who thankfully has zero chance) was there, while the Democrat (Del. Adam Ebbin, who is 99.9999% certain to be the next Senator from this district) was not
Senate District 31: Barbara Favola was there; Caren Merrick was not
Senate District 32: Sen. Janet Howell was there; Patrick Forrest was not (although he sent a surrogate to speak on his behalf)
Senate District 34: Sen. Chap Petersen was there; Gerarda Culipher was not
Senate District 36: Both Sen. Toddy Puller and Jeff Frederick were there, although you’ll see tomorrow what a fool Frederick made of himself (he might have been better off NOT attending!)
Senate District 37: Sen. Dave Marsden was there; Jason Flanary was not
Senate District 39: Neither Sen. George Barker nor Miller Baker were there, but Barker sent a surrogate (Del. Mark Sickles) to speak
House District 31: Roy Coffey was there; Del. Scott Lingamfelter was not
House District 34: Pamela Danner was there; Del. Barbara Comstock was not
House District 42: Jack Dobbyn was there; Del. Dave Albo was not
House District 44: Del. Scott Surovell was there; John Barsa was not
House District 67: Eric Clingan was there; Del. Jim LeMunyon was not
Sensing a pattern here? I’ll have more tomorrow, including video of Jeff Frederick telling us how he hadn’t showered and “stink[s].” Hahaha, no further commentary needed on that one!
P.S. In several districts, no candidate was there from either party. Also, several unopposed candidates were there, including Del. Mark Keam (35th), Del. Kaye Kory (38th), Del. Vivian Watts (39th), , Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (41st), Del. Mark Sickles (43rd), and Del. Bob Brink (48th). Note that these were all Democrats. Hmmmm.
UPDATE: I’m told that Dick Black also didn’t show at the Loudoun County Minority Voters forum on Saturday night.
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