I can’t say I’m sad to see one of the most extreme, far-right members of the Virginia General Assembly announcing his retirement. For a quick refresher on Del. Mark Cole (R)’s illustrious record in the Virginia House of Delegates, see:
- Del. Mark Cole (R) Working Very Hard to Be the Most Far-Right Extreme Member of the Virginia House of Delegates (A “parental rights” amendment, a bill that would wipe out any legislation passed by the VA House of Delegates in 2021, etc.)
- Twitter Takes Down Crazy Election Conspiracy Theory Post By Former VA House Privileges and Elections Chair Mark Cole (R)
- VA Del. Danica Roem Responds to Opponent of Her Afterschool Meals Bill: “When will it stop? When we feed every kid” (Del. Mark Cole (R), who is on the DLCC’s “seditious signatories” list, was the only delegate who voted “no”)
- Pro-Trump Republican picked for Va. redistricting commission tweeted about ‘rigged’ election, used slurs for female celebrities (“His application included a letter of recommendation from Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, who recently signed on to a letter asking Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Virginia’s 13 Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden based on unfounded fraud suspicions.”)
- Also see here for some information on Cole’s past positions, including “his sponsorship of HB53, a bill in the House of Delegates which would ban involuntary implantation of microchips into humans by their employers”; his comment that “My understanding — I’m not a theologian — but there’s a prophecy in the Bible that says you’ll have to receive a mark, or you can neither buy nor sell things in end times, some people think these computer chips might be that mark”; his sponsorship of “House Bill 663, a bathroom bill restricting public restroom use according to a person’s ‘anatomical sex’, defined as ‘the physical condition of being male or female, which is determined by a person’s anatomy’”; his vote “against a bill to eliminate a law banning sexual intercourse before marriage in the 2020 legislative session”; etc.
P.S. HD88, which Mark Cole has misrepresented for years, is pretty solid “red,” having gone for neo-Confederate Corey Stewart by 2 points over Tim Kaine, and by 10 points for Ed Gillespie over Ralph Northam in November 2017.
