According to Virginia Scope:
“Terry McAuliffe is filing his own motion with a request for dismissal of the Republican lawsuit aimed at removing him from the general election ballot…The filings from McAuliffe and the Democratic Party of Virginia can be viewed here and here.”
Also, see below for some screen shots: 1) of McAuliffe campaign spokesperson Christina Freundlich’s statement (“We haven’t even made it to Election Day and Virginia Republicans are already trying to undermine the #vagov results in court“); and 2) of the filings by the McAuliffe campaign and DPVA to dismiss the GOP lawsuit. A few highlights from the filings include the following language:
- “Intervenor Defendants Terry McAuliffe and the Democratic Party of Virginia, by and
through their undersigned attorneys, hereby move to dismiss the Republican Party’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Va. Code § 8.01-276, and demur to the Republican Party’s complaint pursuant to Va. Code § 8.01-273.” - “The Republican Party seeks to improperly use this Court to deprive Virginia’s voters of their right to select their next Governor“
- “The Republican Party’s complaint is based on a legal lie.”
- “Nothing in the Virginia Code requires a candidate to sign the declaration of candidacy for nomination by primary.”
- “Even if there were a technical defect with the declaration of candidacy—and there is not—it would provide no basis for removing McAuliffe’s name from the general election ballot and preventing Virginia’s voters from choosing him as their next Governor. The declaration of candidacy is a prerequisite for placement on the ballot in the primary election, not the general election, and the primary election has already concluded.“
- “In fact, the Court has no power to hear this suit at all…Nothing in the Virginia Code authorizes an adverse political party to challenge the declaration of candidacy of another party’s candidate, nor authorizes a court to hear such a challenge”
- “The Court should therefore dismiss the Republican Party’s complaint or sustain the Intervenor Defendants’ demurrer”
For reactions to the Republicans’ lawsuit, see here, including Democratic super-lawyer Marc Elias commenting: “This is a really dumb lawsuit. I would note that not a single law firm is on these pleadings. Not even the ‘Kraken lawyers’ are on these pleadings.”
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