Currently, there are three Virginia Republicans vying for the nomination to get crushed by to take on Sen. Tim Kaine in November. Those three are: 1) neo-Confederate Corey Stewart, who recently vowed to run a “brutal,” “ruthless,” “cutthroat” campaign and bragged, ““I’m not a nice guy anymore, I’m brutal”; 2) “Extreme Team 2013” alum EW Jackson, notorious for…basically everything, about whom DPVA Chair Susan Swecker said (correctly) that he “is notorious for his offensive, disgusting views,” including calling President Obama “‘evil’ and ‘the Antichrist,’ compar[ing] Obamacare to slavery, and call[ing] LGBTQ people ‘perverted’ and ‘very sick.’”
So yeah, Corey and EW are clearly both bonkers. But how about the guy behind door #3, Del. Nick Freitas (R-Madison/Orange/Culpeper Counties)? Is Freitas any more “moderate” or “establishment” (as EW Jackson has called him) and/or less bigoted than Corey or EW? Here are a few items that will quickly disabuse you of that idea.
- Freitas was a co-sponsor, along with our old friend “Sideshow Bob” Marshall and other anti-LGBT Republicans like Scott Lingamfelter, Mark Cole and Dave LaRock, of Virginia’s version of the so-called “bathroom bill,” which even the highly conservative Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial page called “even more extreme” than North Carolina’s infamous law. In fact, according to the Washington Post, the Virginia bill co-sponsored by Freitas went even “further than the North Carolina measure in one regard: It requires school principals to notify a parent if a student asks to be treated as a member of the opposite sex — whether by being allowed to use a different bathroom or being addressed by a different name or pronoun.” So much for Freitas being “libertarian” or “establishment,” as EW Jackson weirdly called him.
- Freitas recently bragged about a “Courageous Leadership Award” he received from the “Virginia Christian Alliance” for having “voted the right way and…stood up and spoke out for Christian causes.” Among other things, the Virginia Christian Alliance believes in “Creationism” and rejects Darwinian evolution, a cornerstone of modern science; opposes “the culture of death as in abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, suicide & doctor-assisted suicide, Abortifacients, cloning & embryonic stem cell research, and the killing of excess babies, as in in-vitro-fertilization”; promotes what it calls “Biblical Sexuality,” with articles that rail against what they call “transanity,” “gender ideology,” “leftists pushing transgenderism on kids,” “homosexual sinners,” “transgender medical abuse of children,” etc.; and pushes what it calls the “God Ordained Family,” which it describes as “respect[ing] the Godly institution of family by marrying rather than practicing cohabitation, resist[ing] the temptation of no-fault divorce, and oppos[ing] the legalization of perverted partnerships and adoptions.”
- Freitas was praised by the President of the Virginia Christian Alliance, Don Blake, who himself has a long history of anti-LGBT bigotry. For instance, Blake wrote in 2015: “Transgenderism is a serious medical mental disorder and the proper response for the child is to recognize the disorder and treat the patient. Accommodation is not the answer, nor is accommodation in the best interest of the child.” Ee gads. Blake further bragged that he had “mailed [letters] to every Public School Superintendent and School Board Chair in the Commonwealth addressing the new phenomenon of cross-dressing transgendered students attending our public schools.”
- But wait, there’s more from Blake, the “Virginia Christian Alliance” leader who lauded Nick Freitas. For instance, in 2014, Blake distributed a letter about Virginia health commissioner Dr. Marissa Levine, a transgender woman, which stated: “There are serious issues with Dr. Levine, both enforcing Virginia Law, and in his (or her) personal struggle with ‘his’ gender identity. When a man looks in the mirror and sees a woman, he has serious issues. Dr. Levine should find a job in the private sector; not in a state position requiring public faith and trust.” And in 2015, Blake went nuts about the Boy Scouts for lifting their ban on gay scout leaders, stating that “I think it’s the beginning of the end of the boy scouts” and that “Parents have to fear their children being molested.”
Bottom line: Based on everything I’ve spelled out above, Nick Freitas certainly doesn’t appear to be “establishment” or “moderate” in any way, but much more like the hard-line right wingnut he clearly is. Which means, of course, that the 2018 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Virginia is 100% guaranteed – barring entry of another candidate – to be hard-right, extreme, etc. All the more reason to work our butts off to make sure Sen. Kaine isn’t just reelected in November, but that he wins by as big a margin as possible!
P.S. Also see here for Freitas’ comments about DACA/the “DREAMers.” Again, this is not moderate in any way, but downright Trumpian.
In an emailed statement, Del. Nick Freitas, R-30th, said Trump was “right to repeal DACA,” as it was a “demonstration of executive overreach” and “an incentive for parents to put their unaccompanied children in the hands of human traffickers hoping they would make it to the United States.”
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
