Video: VA-02 Forum Sponsored by Hampton Democratic Committee; “Interesting” Comments by Elaine Luria on Voting Twice in 2016 for Scott Taylor (R)

See below for video of last night’s VA-02 Democratic forum, sponsored by the Hampton Democratic Committee. The candidates in attendance were: Karen Mallard, Elaine Luria, Garry Hubbard, Shaun Brown and David Nygaard. I haven’t had time to watch it all yet – hopefully later today I’ve now watched the debate, and was generally impressed with the candidates – but I’ve posted below the video about one thing that jumped out at me. Also, see The Shad Plank blog for some highlights from the forum, including that they all “oppose arming teachers and wanted to see a higher minimum wage.” On health care: “Mallard, Brown and Hubbard supported single player universal health care. Luria said she favored offering a public option — government sponsored health insurance as an alternative to private coverage. Nygaard said he favored free market approaches.”

So, I’m really not sure what to make of the following response by Elaine Luria to a question about why she voted for Scott Taylor in the 2016 GOP primary and in the general election as well. Among other things, I can’t fathom any Democrat voting for someone who was clearly a big-time Trump fan and right winger, as Taylor clearly was at the time (he didn’t try to hide it at all!), with policy positions that are antithetical to basically everything that Democrats and progressives believe. Also, I have no idea why Luria says there wasn’t information available about the 2016 Democratic VA-02 nominee, Shaun Brown, as simply going to the Internet Archive finds that Brown’s 2016 website contained detailed information on the following issues: The Economy, Veterans, Women’s Rights, Health Care, Energy Policy, Environmental Policy, Voting Rights, Education, Immigration, Criminal Justice, Disability Rights, Gun Reform, LGBTQ+ Rights, Workplace Safety. So what’s Luria saying here? I’m baffled. Apparently, so was Shaun Brown, who hit back at Luria (as did David Nygaard, who said he was glad to hear that there’s another candidate – Luria – on the stage who’s voted Republican more recently than he has; LOL).