Here are the Democratic and Republican candidates running for U.S. Senate and U.S. House from Virginia this year, along with their Twitter and Facebook numbers. I’ve ranked them in terms of “power ranking,” with the strongest at the top and the weakest at the bottom based on total number of Facebook and Twitter followers.
U.S. Senate
Sen. Tim Kaine (D): 963k Twitter followers (by far and away the most); 284k Facebook “likes”
Corey Stewart (R): 18.5k Twitter followers (that’s how many hard-core neo-Confederates there are in Virginia?); 156,580 Facebook “likes”
Nick Freitas (R): 10.5k Twitter followers (and gaining on Corey…); 87k Facebook “likes”
Ivan Raiklin (R): 34.8k Twitter followers (how does he have so many? very strange…really wonder how many of these are real followers); 552 Facebook “likes” (that extremely low Facebook number makes the Twitter numbers look even stranger)
E.W. Jackson (R): 5,431 Twitter followers (not impressive at all..way behind Stewart and Freitas, even Raiklin!); 13k Facebook “likes” (also not impressive compared to Freitas and Stewart, let alone Kaine)
Bert Misuzawa (R): 153 Twitter followers (yep, only 153!); 2,301 Facebook “likes” (super low compared to his main competitors)
VA-01
Rep. Rob Wittman (R): 25.7k Twitter followers; 9,875 Facebook “likes”
Vangie Williams (D): 1,466 Twitter followers (not bad); 880 Facebook “likes”
Edwin Santana (D): 773 Twitter followers (would definitely recommend cranking that up); 1,245 Facebook “likes”
John Suddarth (D): 89 Twitter followers (I mean…yeah, that’s super, super low); 203 Facebook “likes” (also super, super low)
VA-02
Rep. Scott Taylor (R): 14.3k Twitter followers; 63,417 Facebook “likes”
Karen Mallard (D): 1,269 Twitter followers (decent); 2,627 Facebook “likes”
Elaine Luria (D): 1,166 Twitter followers (ditto); 1,834 Facebook “likes”
David Nygaard (D): 20 Twitter followers (oh, and he has never tweeted); 1,582 Facebook “likes” (almost as high as one of his main competitors, Elaine Luria)
Shaun Brown (D): 163 Twitter followers (lame); 595 Facebook “likes” (very low)
Garry Hubbard (D): 65 Twitter followers (REALLY lame); 170 Facebook “likes” (super low)
Ernest Porter (D): No Twitter account (you can’t win if you don’t play?); 146 Facebook “likes” (even lower than Hubbard)
VA-05
RD Huffstetler (D): 69.1k Twitter followers (impressive – many times larger than Garrett’s Twitter following); 4,406 Facebook
“likes” (almost the same as Garrett)
Rep. Tom Garrett (R): 3,784 Twitter followers (very low for an incumbent); 4,517 Facebook “likes” (also very low for an incumbent Congressman)
Leslie Cockburn (D): 785 Twitter followers (not impressive – at all); 1,297 Facebook “likes” (significantly behind Huffstetler)
Andrew Sneathern (D): 635 Twitter followers (ditto); 1,106 Facebook “likes” (ditto)
Ben Cullop (D): 419 Twitter followers (ditto); 1,123 Facebook “likes” (ditto)
VA-06
Ben Cline (R): 3,487 Twitter followers; 2,916 Facebook “likes” (ahead of Dunbar in both social media categories, but will that matter in a bizarre one-round convention?)
Peter Volosin (D): 627 Twitter followers; 1,738 Facebook “likes”
Cynthia Dunbar (R): 582 Twitter followers (weird; usually the crazies have a lot more!); 1,733 Facebook “likes”
Chaz Haywood (R): 730 Twitter followers; 1,223 Facebook “likes”
Jennifer Lewis (D): 367 Twitter followers; 875 Facebook “likes”
Kathryn Lewis (R): 32 Twitter followers (lame); 401 Facebook “likes” (not impressive at all)
Sergio Coppola (D): 109 Twitter followers; 159 Facebook “likes”
Eliot Pope (R): 32 Twitter followers (alrighty…); 187 Facebook “likes” (bad)
Charlotte Moore (D): No sign of a Twitter account (#FAIL); 180 Facebook “likes” (lame)
Douglas Wright (R): No Twitter account (#FAIL); 168 Facebook “likes” (#FAIL)
Mike Desjadon (R): 20 Twitter followers (LOL); 109 Facebook “likes” (LOL)
Ed Justo (R): 26 Twitter followers (uhhh…); 58 Facebook “likes” (uhhh…)
VA-07
Rep. Dave Brat (R): 14.6k Twitter followers; 29,575 Facebook “likes”
Abigail Spanberger (D): 3,648 Twitter followers; 5,343 Facebook “likes”
Dan Ward (D): 2,335 Twitter followers; 1,039 Facebook “likes”
Helen Alli (D): 539 Twitter followers; 2,213 Facebook “likes”
VA-09
Rep. Morgan Griffith (R): 1,648 Twitter followers (not impressive for an incumbent Congressman); 10,493 Facebook “likes”
Anthony Flaccavento (D): 318 Twitter followers (not good); 2,101 Facebook “likes” (better)
Justin Santopietro (D): 186 Twitter followers (even less good); 985 Facebook “likes”
VA-10
Rep. Barbara Comstock (R): 10.4k Twitter followers; 16,534 Facebook “likes”
Lindsey Davis Stover (D): 10.7k Twitter followers (impressive!); 3,528 Facebook “likes”
Shak Hill (R): 7,337 Twitter followers; 5,336 Facebook “likes”
Jennifer Wexton (D): 4,481 Twitter followers; 6,469 Facebook “likes” (strong)
Dan Helmer (D): 1,951 Twitter followers; 1,649 Facebook “likes”
Alison Friedman (D): 1,355 Twitter followers; 1,646 Facebook “likes”
Julia Biggins (D): 2,328 Twitter followers; 275 Facebook “likes (very low)
Paul Pelletier (D): 297 Twitter followers (not good at all); 2,065 Facebook “likes” (much better than his Twitter following; slightly ahead of Dan Helmer)
Shadi Ayyas (D): 2,324 Twitter followers; 38 Facebook “likes” (basically negligible)
Finally, the Top 10 overall are: 1) Tim Kaine; 2) Corey Stewart; 3) Nick Freitas; 4) Scott Taylor; 5) RD Huffstetler; 6) Dave Brat; 7) Ivan Raiklin (although I really question his Twitter numbers); 8) Rob Wittman; 9) Barbara Comstock; 10) E.W. Jackson
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