With under 100 days until the crucial 2022 midterm elections – which very well could determine the future of democracy in our country, as well as the future of the planet’s environment, the future of women’s reproductive freedom/autonomy, LGBTQ equality, contraception, gun violence, and many other things – Virginia Republicans have nominated candidates for Congress who don’t just differ with Democrats politically speaking, but who have said and/or done things that should automatically disqualify them from holding public office of any kind in America. In short, if you are hostile to U.S. democracy itself, or if you deny climate science and/or oppose taking any action to protect our planet from disaster, then you should be *automatically* disqualified from holding public office. Now, of course there are other crucially important issues – for instance, if the candidate is either explicitly or implicitly racist/homophobic/xenophobic (like Rep. Bob Good, for instance); if a candidate opposes women being able to control their own bodies (like basically every single Virginia Republican candidate for Congress this year); if a candidate opposes any/all gun violence prevention measures; etc. – that should result in every sane voter rejecting that candidate. But democracy and climate are so fundamental/existential (and since every other issue will be doomed if we don’t have a democracy or a habitable planet!), I believe they should go in their own categories. See below for specifics.
- Hostility to democracy and/or promotion of Trump’s “Big Lie” should be an automatic disqualifier for holding any public office in America.
This one should automatically disqualify pretty much all Virginia Republican candidates for Congress, given that nearly all of them are “Big Lie” promoters who are hostile to democracy, voting rights, etc. For more on this topic, see Virginia’s Four Republican Members of Congress All Get “F/Very Poor” Ratings On New “GOP Democracy Report Card” and Grading VA’s Leading Democratic, Republican U.S. House Candidates, Nominees on Arguably the Top Two Issues Facing Us: Democracy and the Climate Crisis. Also, see below for specifics on the GOP(Q) nominees.
VA01 (Rob Wittman): After Signing Amicus Brief in Support of Seditionist TX Lawsuit, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01) Gets Ripped on His FB Page For Laughably Claiming He “Defended Our Constitution”
VA02 (Jen Kiggans): Was one of only 3 Republicans who voted to spend $70 million Virginia taxpayer dollars on false claims of election fraud”; “Refused to say who won the 2020 presidential election, embracing the fiction that the 2020 election was stolen”; “Supported a slew of ‘election integrity’ bills which were aimed at restricting the right to vote and appeal to far-right conspiracy theorists; and “Refused to censure conspiracy theorist Amanda Chase for saying the Capitol insurrectionists were ‘patriots.’”
VA05 (Bob Good): Rep. Bob Good Votes Against Honoring Police Officers Who Protected The Capitol From Rioters; Charlottesville Dems Call For Rep. Bob Good (R-VA05) to Resign, Saying He “Emboldened” “White Supremacists” Who Attacked the US Capitol; Far-Right, Insurrectionist, Extremist Rep. Bob Good (R-VA05) Endorses Conspiracy Theorist, 1/6 Trump Rally Attendee State Sen. Amanda Chase for Reelection; Far-Right Extremist Rep. Bob Good (R-VA05) Has Been Endorsed by a Rogue’s Gallery of Extremists and Insurrectionists. Oh, and also see The crowd outside the Capitol last week included Rep. Bob Good’s district director and this tweet by UVA Professor Larry Sabato (“@RepBobGood
(R-VA-05) was one of the 21 Republicans who voted against giving the Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol Police who defended Congress at the Trump Insurrectionist Coup Attempt on #January6. Words fail me.”).
VA06 (Ben Cline): Rep. Cline to Support Objections to Presidential Electors on January 6; Despite denouncing ‘violence,’ Cline wants to overturn democratic U.S. election; etc.
VA07 (Yesli Vega): See here, in which Vega says the 1/6 insurrection was “actually a group of Americans exercising their 1st amendment right…and as a result of doing that, they’ve been persecuted, they’ve been shamed, they’ve been forced out of their jobs…the double standard is sickening.”
VA08 (Karina Lipsman): She has actually argued that Anthony Fauci should be JAILED, demonstrating complete contempt for science, democracy and the rule of law. Appalling.
VA09 (Morgan Griffith): See Appalachian Women of Action Demand Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09) Step Down Following the 1/6 U.S. Capitol Riot; For Signing on to Seditionist TX Lawsuit, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09) Rightly Ripped on His FB Page as “TRAITOR. COWARD. DOUCHEBAG”; “Spineless Jellyfish,” a “Disgrace to the Office,” etc.
VA10 (Hung Cao): Click here to listen to Cao opine about how it’s “very difficult for me to understand what happened in 2020, when the person sits in their basement for the whole election cycle and they got more votes than Barack Obama…I’m just saying it’s just very hard for me to understand and decipher that …and you know you can’t change the rules halfway through like in Pennsylvania.”
- Climate science denial/minimization/inaction also should be an automatic disqualifier for holding public office in America.
VA01 (Rob Wittman): This guy has a lifetime 11% score from the League of Conservation Voters, obviously putting him into the climate crisis denier/minimizer category. Just atrocious. Also, Wittman in 2013 said “As a scientist myself, I recognize that the earth’s climate is changing,” [but] cycles of heating and cooling have been going on well before man appeared on Earth.” WTF?
VA02 (Jen Kiggans): She received an “F” grade from the Virginia Sierra Club in 2021 as well as in 2020, so obviously she’s godawful on this issue
VA05 (Bob Good): This guy’s about as wrong as you can get on every issue, including the climate crisis. For instance, see here for Good ranting, “Democrats want to increase federal funding for transportation and housing by over 12% to fund electric cars for unelected bureaucrats and their dangerous and extreme climate agenda.” And here, Good falsely claims that the Paris Climate agreement “Jeopardizes millions of American jobs Eliminates American energy independence Drives up energy prices.”
VA06 (Ben Cline): Cline has repeatedly mocked and/or expressed his disapproval for any climate action. For instance, see here, here, here and here.
VA07 (Yesli Vega): Has completely ignored the issue, which effectively puts her in the “denial” camp.
VA09 (Morgan Griffith): On the climate crisis, Griffith is an embarrassment, not to mention a fossil fuel industry tool, who among other things once rambled on about the Vikings, Mars and “global cooling.”
VA10 (Hung Cao): This guy has said some beyond-bizarre/super-extreme sh*t on both topics. For instance, on the climate crisis, Cao said “I believe in god and…why we have a rainbow is because that’s god’s covenant to us…he’ll never wipe out the world again, so it’s kind of arrogant for us to believe we can we can destroy god’s creation” and “”The left just wants to come up with crazy ideas about, you know, wind power well…what happens when there’s no wind? Solar power; what happens in the winter time? Also what what do you do with the lithium?” Yikes.
In sum, all of these people – plus the Republican nominees in VA03, VA04 and VA11 – should be automatically disqualified from holding public office in America due to their egregious antipathy to democracy and to climate action. Fortunately, voters have excellent options – all of whom SUPPORT democracy and SUPPORT strong climate action, plus of course women’s reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention, LGBTQ equality, etc.
- Herb Jones in VA01
- Rep. Elaine Luria in VA02
- Rep. Bobby Scott in VA03
- Rep. Donald McEachin in VA04
- Josh Throneburg in VA05
- Jennifer Lewis in VA06
- Rep. Abigail Spanberger in VA07
- Rep. Don Beyer in VA08
- Taysha DeVaughan in VA09
- Rep. Jennifer Wexton in VA10
- Rep. Gerry Connolly in VA11
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
