RICHMOND Va. (AP) — Republican Party leaders in Virginia will hold a virtual meeting Friday to try to develop a new plan for choosing nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in this year’s elections. Party chairman Richard Anderson said Friday that they must abandon plans to hold a statewide nominating convention in Lynchburg because Liberty University lacks adequate facilities. Party officials announced plans last week to hold the convention at Liberty but university officials immediately threw cold water on the plan.
The agenda for Friday night’s meeting includes several proposals to allow convention delegates to cast ballots at multiple locations throughout the state. The GOP’s State Central Committee has been badly divided on how to proceed. Proposals for a firehouse primary or canvass have been narrowly defeated on multiple occasions, and the party has also refused to hold a conventional primary.
Gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase, who had wanted a primary, says she fears party bosses will use the confusion to simply select a nominee themselves, bypassing the voters. Other candidates have also criticized the party’s inability to choose a nomination method in a year they hope to win back statewide offices that are all currently held by Democrats. The party plans to livestream is virtual meeting Friday on its Facebook page.
