Scott Parkinson, a former congressional staffer and advisor to now-Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republican officials, has announced plans to seek the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine next year. Parkinson now works for the conservative economic policy group Club for Growth; he told The Associated Press that frustration over pandemic-related school and business closures “changed his worldview” and pushed him to seek public office for the first time. The Democratic Party of Virginia has already released a statement about the Parkinson announcement, calling him, “an ex-DeSantis staffer and Trump acolyte, has railed against the Affordable Care Act and Virginians’ right to choose.”
