弗吉尼亚共和党人将为今年的州长选举挑选一名候选人选举在周六的一次会议上，测试特朗普主义在这个在前总统任期内加深了蓝色调的州的持久力量唐纳德·特朗普的任期。
在一场没有明显领先者的拥挤的竞选中，与特朗普和他的坚定支持者的关系正在塑造其轮廓。共和党的竞争者已经很大程度上拥抱了他并赢得了他的一些亲密盟友的支持，表面上是希望反映出他的选民要求共和党提名联邦最高职位的热情。
这场竞选有七名候选人，但它分为两层，上层被广泛认为缩小到四层:州参议员阿曼达·蔡斯(Amanda Chase)和州参议员德尔。柯克·考克斯、企业家皮特·斯奈德和前对冲基金投资者格伦·扬金。其他三名候选人是前特朗普手下的国防部官员塞尔吉奥·德·拉·佩尼亚(Sergio de la Peñ)、商人兼作家彼得·多兰(Peter Doran)和前罗阿诺克郡长奥克塔维亚·约翰逊(·约翰逊)。虽然没有人否认特朗普，但候选人对他的热情程度并不完全相同。
弗吉尼亚大学政治中心的创始人兼主任拉里·萨巴托说:“你可以把它们分为三类:王牌、王牌和最王牌。”。
这种动态可能在关于选举诚信的辩论中表现得最为明显，在特朗普一再声称，而且没有证据表明猖獗的欺诈让他失去了总统职位——削弱了对制度的信心——之后，选举诚信成为这场竞争的焦点。
扬金，谁赢得了背书得克萨斯州参议员。特德·克鲁兹本周，成立了“选举诚信工作队”以“确保选举诚信”斯奈德在2013年竞选副州长失败，并获得了背书前白宫新闻秘书莎拉·哈克比·桑德斯在他目前的竞选中，概述了一个选举诚信计划。他的提议呼吁收紧选民身份法，并对缺席选票实施签名匹配，以解决选民对选举系统安全性的怀疑。考克斯，前州众议院议长公认的拜登去年12月的胜利也推动了弗吉尼亚州的选举改革。
只有一名候选人直接援引了特朗普在竞选中对选举舞弊的毫无根据的指控。蔡斯自称为保守派煽动者，自称为“穿高跟鞋的特朗普”，据他说，上次选举是从前总统那里偷来的。
“直到今天，我的总统是唐纳德·特朗普，”她说说上个月，在佐治亚州众议员马乔里·泰勒·格林(Marjorie Taylor Greene)主持的佛罗里达州集会上，他也支持特朗普的选举阴谋。
蔡斯喜欢引发争议，这凸显了她的出价。这位连任两届的州议员参加了1月6日国会起义前的“停止偷窃”集会。她也是责难她在州参议院的同事在一定程度上称赞国会大厦内支持特朗普的暴徒是“爱国者”。
蔡斯对操纵选举的指控也不会在2020年结束。他们也延伸到她自己的种族。
推进公约的决定，在她的讲述中是为了“破坏”她的提名。大会比初选对成功的要求更高，因为候选人必须获得多数票，而不是多数票，才能成为赢家。
弗吉尼亚共和党的发言人拒绝对蔡斯的指控发表评论。
通往大会的崎岖道路也导致其他候选人对提名过程的完整性表示担忧。蔡斯、杨金和考克斯送来的联名信缔约国对其选票安全和计票计划表示保留。
“所有选举都必须是自由、公平和透明的。共和党——选举诚信党——必须以身作则，为5月8日的提名大会做准备，”候选人和竞争对手写信给该州的党主席。
尽管担心，该州共和党预计大会将“100%顺利”，弗吉尼亚州共和党的传播主任约翰·马奇说。
“我们的主席和其他人已经和(候选人)谈过了，以确保每个人都感到舒服，每个人都在同一个页面上，”他补充说。
在2022年中期选举前的一年一度的竞选活动中，共和党人将这场竞选视为扭转一系列全州损失的机会。和历史站在共和党一边弗吉尼亚通常从不在白宫的政党中选举州长。
但是，一位挑战这一趋势的候选人——前州长特里·麦考利夫(Terry McAuliffe)希望再次这样做，他在2013年以微弱优势击败了共和党司法部长肯·库茨内利(Ken Cuccinelli)。弗吉尼亚州的法律不允许现任州长寻求背靠背的条款。
民主党竞选的领先者麦考利夫正在与该党提名的其他四名候选人竞争:州参议员詹妮弗·麦克莱伦，前州参议员德尔。詹妮弗·卡罗尔·福伊，副州长贾斯汀·费尔法克斯和州州长德尔。李·卡特。选民将在6月8日的初选中选出一名被提名人，萨巴托预测这将是麦考利夫——尽管他补充说，在竞选的最后几天会发生“奇怪的事情”。
他还警告说，尽管民主党在过去十年取得了进展，但他们不应该认为胜利是必然的结果。
“如果你认为你不能输，那你已经输了一半了，”他说。
萨巴托称考克斯为“可信的候选人”，指出了他在立法机构的岁月，并强调了杨金的个人财富——这是获得知名度和在电视上批评最终对手的巨大财富。
萨巴托认为，过于通快最终会被证明是有害的。
特朗普本人没有在弗吉尼亚获得成功，共和党人也没有。特朗普在2020年失去的优势是最重大的在特朗普时代，弗吉尼亚州的选民让民主党人完全控制了政府。
“唐纳德·特朗普继续主宰舞台，”他说。“(不可能)人们把党和川普分开。这将会伤害到任何一个被提名的人。没办法。”
尽管如此，这四个人都在押注支持特朗普的战略，以推动他们获得提名，当时近5.4万名代表(该党的忠实支持者)聚集在弗吉尼亚州30多个投票点挑选候选人。
萨巴托称之为“大型游戏”的“未组装”大会召开前的几个月，受到了州共和党内部分歧的破坏，党内官员就州长、副州长和司法部长提名人的选择方式发生了争执。在该党的管理机构批准了代表大会的规则后，僵局一触即发，但一些人仍然坚持传统的初选直到最后。
复杂的大会过程涉及一小部分由当地共和党委员会预先批准的选民和排名选择投票。代表们在投票中按照候选人的偏好对每个候选人进行排名，从周日开始，投票将在一个中心位置进行人工计数，可能需要几天时间。
弗吉尼亚共和党主席里奇·安德森告诉记者:“我们已经准备好在周四之前一直呆在原地。”弗吉尼亚范围。“我们已经计划了最长的情况，但我的估计是，希望最迟在周二完成。”
如果第一轮没有明确的获胜者，将会有随后的几轮投票，有第二和第三个选择，或者更多，可能会起作用，直到一名候选人以50%加1票出现。
'Trumpy, Trumpier and Trumpiest': Virginia GOP to vote on nominee for governor in post-Trump era
Virginia Republicans are set to pick a nominee for this year's gubernatorialelectionat a convention on Saturday, testing the lasting strength of Trumpism in a state that has deepened its blue hue during former PresidentDonald Trump's tenure.
In a crowded race with no clear front-runner, ties to Trump and his stalwarts are shaping its contours. The Republican contenders havelargely embraced himand earned endorsements from some of his close allies -- ostensibly hoping to reflect the zeal of his base to claim the GOP nomination for the commonwealth's top job.
The race features seven candidates but it has splintered into two tiers, with the upper echelon widely seen as narrowing to four: state Sen. Amanda Chase, state Del. Kirk Cox, entrepreneur Pete Snyder and former hedge fund investor Glenn Youngkin. The other three contenders are Sergio de la Peña, a former official in the Department of Defense under Trump, Peter Doran, a businessman and author, and Octavia Johnson, the former sheriff of Roanoke. And while none are disavowing Trump, the level of passion among the candidates towards him isn't quite the same.
"You could categorize them in the three silos: Trumpy, Trumpier and Trumpiest," said Larry Sabato, the founder and director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.
That dynamic has manifested perhaps most in the debate over election integrity, which has become a focal point in the contest after Trump claimed repeatedly and without evidence that rampant fraud cost him the presidency -- eroding confidence in the system.
Youngkin, who earned theendorsementof Texas Sen.Ted Cruzthis week, formed an "Election Integrity Task Force" to "ensure election integrity." Snyder, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 2013 and scored theendorsementof former White House press secretarySarah Huckabee Sandersin his current bid, outlined an election integrity plan. His proposal calls for tightening voter ID laws and implementing signature matching for absentee ballots to address perceived voter skepticism about the security of the electoral system. And Cox, a former state House speaker whoacknowledgedBiden's victory back in December, has also pushed for election reforms in Virginia.
Only one of the candidates has directly invoked Trump's unfounded allegations of election fraud in the campaign. According to Chase, a self-proclaimed conservative firebrand who labels herself as "Trump in heels," the last election was stolen from the former president.
"To this day, my president is Donald J. Trump," shesaidlast month at a Florida rally headlined by Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who's also embraced Trump's election conspiracies.
Chase's penchant for inviting controversy has underlined her bid. The two-term state lawmaker attended the "Stop the Steal" rally ahead of the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6. She was alsocensuredby her colleagues in the state Senate for, in part, praising pro-Trump rioters inside the Capitol as "patriots."
Chase's claims of a rigged election also don't end with 2020. They extend to her own race, too.
The decision to move forward with a convention,in her telling, was a concerted effort to "sabotage" her nomination. The bar for success is higher in conventions than in primaries since a candidate must secure a majority of the vote, rather than a plurality, to emerge as the winner.
A spokesperson for the Virginia Republican Party declined to comment on Chase's accusations.
The bumpy road to the convention has also led other candidates to raise concerns about the integrity of the nomination process. Chase, Youngkin and Cox senta joint letterto the state party expressing reservations about its plans for ballot security and vote counting.
"All elections must be free, fair, and transparent. The Republican Party—the party of election integrity—must lead by example as it prepares to conduct its May 8 nominating convention," the candidates and rivals wrote to the state party chair.
Despite the apprehension, the state GOP is expecting the convention to "go 100% smoothly," said John March, the communications director for the Virginia GOP.
"Our chairman and other folks have talked to (the candidates) to make sure everybody's feeling comfortable and everybody is on the same page," he added.
In the off-year contest, a first referendum on the Biden administration and Democratic control of Congress ahead of the 2022 midterms, Republicans see the race as an opportunity to reverse a string of statewide losses. Andhistory is on the GOP's side, with Virginia typically electing governors from the party not in the White House.
But one candidate who defied that trend -- former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who narrowly defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in 2013 -- is hoping to do it again. Virginia state law doesn't allow for sitting governors to seek back-to-back terms.
McAuliffe, the front-runner in the Democratic race, is competing against four other candidates for the party's nomination: state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, former state Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and state Del. Lee Carter. Voters will elect a nominee in a primary set for June 8, which Sabato predicted will be McAuliffe -- although "strange things happen in the final days" of a campaign, he added.
He also warned that despite their gains in the last decade, Democrats shouldn't consider a win a foregone conclusion.
"If you think you can't lose, you're halfway to losing," he said.
Sabato called Cox a "credible candidate," noting his years in the legislature, and underscored Youngkin's personal wealth -- a mighty asset for gaining name recognition and criticizing an eventual opponent on the airwaves.
And being too Trumpy could ultimately prove detrimental down the line, Sabato argued.
Trump himself hasn't found success in Virginia, and neither have Republicans. Trump's losing margin in 2020 was themost significantfor a presidential candidate in Virginia in three decades and voters in the state handed Democrats full control of governing in the Trump era.
"Donald Trump continues to dominate the stage," he said. "(It's) impossible for people to separate the party from Trump. And that is going to hurt whoever emerges as the nominee. No ways about it."
Still, all four are betting on a pro-Trump strategy to propel them to the nomination, when nearly 54,000 delegates -- the party's faithful -- gather at more than three dozen voting locations across Virginia to pick the nominee.
The months leading up to the "unassembled" convention -- which Sabato called a "giant game" -- were marred by internal divisions within the state GOP, with party officials feuding over the format for selecting nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The standoff simmered after the party's governing body approved rules for the convention, but some still pushed for a traditional primary up until the end.
The complicated convention process involves a smaller fraction of voters who were pre-approved by local GOP committees and ranked-choice voting. The delegates rank each of the candidates in order of preference on a ballot, which will be counted by hand at a central location starting on Sunday and could take multiple days.
"We are equipped to remain in place all the way through Thursday," Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, toldVirginia Scope. "We've planned toward the longest case scenario but my estimation is, hopefully, at the latest, will be done on Tuesday."
If there isn't a clear winner in the first round, there will be subsequent rounds of voting with second and third choices, or more, possibly coming into play until one candidate emerges with 50% plus one vote.
