This is an interesting point by Sam Shirazi, for several reasons:
- In 2018, Riggleman was busy running for Congress as a Republican in VA05 (against Democratic nominee Leslie Cockburn). Riggleman’s campaign was hard-right pretty much all the way. For instance, in this debate, Riggleman expressed opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to ANY gun restrictions, environmental protection, etc. And in this debate, Riggleman declared, “I do not believe healthcare is a basic human right” and expressed his desire to join the far-right-extremist Freedom Caucus. And Riggleman was even endorsed by Donald Trump, albeit in a characteristically error-filled tweet. So…yeah; back in 2018, the thought of Riggleman endorsing Kamala Harris for president six years in the future was VERY hard, if not impossible, to even imagine.
- In Congress, Riggleman’s voting record was very “Trumpy,” as Riggleman voted 91.9% of the time with Trump, far higher a percentage than one would expect based on the district’s partisan lean at the time (Riggleman’s predicted voting-with-Trump score based on Trump’s 2016 margin in VA05 was 67.2%, so Riggleman was 24.7 points “Trumpier” than he should have been if he were accurately reflecting his district). Of course, Riggleman was very conservative AND was presumably concerned about a potential primary from his right. Which, in the end, is exactly what happened, was far-right-extremist Bob Good ended up ousting Riggleman in the 2020 VA05 Republican nomination contest.
- It wasn’t just voting, either; Riggleman’s rhetoric, including on far-right/MAGA radio, was harsh. A few examples? See Audio: More Looniness, Courtesy of Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05), This Time on Impeachment, the USMCA and “Far-Left Twitter Trolls”, Audio: Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Demonstrates the Depths to Which Republicans Have Sunk in Defense of Trump’s Indefensible (Riggleman rants about media, “socialism,” the “far left,” “justice Democrats.” Riggleman also rips the Virginia GOP, says they’re going to lose the Virginia legislature in 35 days.), Audio: Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Mocks AOC as a “Kid,” “Far-Left Idiot”; Says It’s Likely She’ll Be Primaried and Lose in 2020, Audio: On Trumpster Radio, Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Rants at Ralph Northam, “you don’t get to preach to me about white privilege, you just don’t”, etc.
Anyway, you get the idea: back in 2018-2020, Riggleman was pro-Trump (and endorsed by Trump…as well as the likes of “Gym” Jordan), pretty much hard-right all the way, etc. So back then, if you’d written a blog post predicting that Riggleman would end up endorsing Kamala Harris for president in 2024, you’d have been written off as delusional, an imbecile, etc. And yet here we are – LOL!
P.S. In all seriousness, though, I think Riggleman’s views changed for a few main reasons: 1) he lost to Bob Good, showing Riggleman how insane his party was and also demonstrating that unless you were a totally unhinged far-right extremist like Good (who just lost a primary to someone as bad or worse than he is, believe it or not), you had no future in the Republican Party; 2) he saw what Trump’s rhetoric and actions could lead to, namely the January 6, 2021 violent insurrection/coup attempt, and presumably was shaken by that; 3) he worked as part of the January 6 committee, presumably pushing him even further away from the Trump GOP, as he saw what a menace it poses to our democracy…
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
