I’m very disappointed in the Republicans of Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. As it turns out, they couldn’t get it together to nominate a candidate to lose to Congressman Gerry Connolly. The ultra-conservative site Fairfax Free Citizen reports on their convention that took place over the weekend:
One Republican candidate, John Michael Wolfe, from the 11th District filed to run against incumbent Democrat Gerry Connolly for Representative to Congress from the District. Delegate balloting chose no nominee over his candidacy because he failed to show up at the convention and had previously run as an independent.
You might think that I’d be ecstatic that my Congressman is going to have an easy ride to re-election this year. But actually, I wish the GOP could come up with a candidate so we’d have a competitive race. When you don’t have an opponent, your campaign organization can atrophy. It’s important to have a strong team of volunteers and more so the campaign can sustain itself.
Ever since we reclaimed this Congressional seat in 2008, the quality of the Republican candidates has decreased. Keith Fimian, Chris Perkins, Suzanne Scholte, and now… nobody. The district has been in existence for 24 years and this is the first time this has happened. Understandably, since the district was redrawn after 2010, you’d have to be crazier and crazier to take on Gerry. I can only imagine Tom Davis fuming at the local GOP today. Maybe there’s still time to install a candidate but I doubt they’ll get it done. Perhaps it’s best for them to circle the wagons and focus on other races, seeing as how their conservative standard-bearer in the 8th district is imploding right now .
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