2013 GOP nominee Ken Cuccinelli
Ex-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
only narrowly lost the 2013 gubernatorial race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and he's
not ruling out another try two years from now. Cuccinelli tells CNN that he's only just began thinking about it and is in no hurry to make up his mind. Democrats would be thrilled if Cuccinelli somehow wound up as Team Red's standard bearer again: While Cuccinelli came close last time, his extreme social conservative record and at times weird campaign (remember that
half-hour long campaign ad that only a few braves souls dared to watch?) gave McAuliffe a major boost.
Former RNC head Ed Gillespie, who lost a shockingly tight race to Sen. Mark Warner last year, is already running, and there's little doubt that GOP bigwigs would rather have him carrying the party's banner in 2017 than Cuccinelli. However, there's a decent chance that Cuccinelli or another extreme candidate could escape with the nomination no matter what the establishment wants.
The GOP will choose their statewide nominees in a convention rather than a primary, and conventions tend to be dominated by delegates who care more about ideological purity than electability. The 2013 GOP contest originally looked like it would be a duel between the establishment friendly Bill Bolling, who was the lieutenant governor at the time, and Cuccinelli. But once Bolling decided that he'd have no chance to win in a convention, he chose not to run. Conservative delegates also picked little-known minister E.W. Jackson to be their lieutenant governor nominee over several better-qualified and better-known contenders: Jackson turned out to be a disaster, and he lost 55-45 in November. Gillespie secured the 2014 Senate nomination in a convention against a very weak field, but he could run into problems against someone with connections to the far right.
Cuccinelli and Gillespie aren't the only Republicans with their eyes on the governor's mansion. State Sen. Frank Wagner, who is favored to win re-election this year, is expressing interest in trying for a promotion. Retiring state Sen. Jeff McWaters, who is personally wealthy, also didn't rule it out last month. McWaters said at the time that he's "curious to see: Are we going to have good, talented people running for the job? And if not, I would consider it. If we got really good people, I don't have to be the guy doing it." It's unclear if he considers Gillespie one of the "really good people" or not.
Rep. Rob Wittman has been mentioned, and he actually did win a GOP convention in 2007 to get his current job. However, he may have too many establishment cooties on him now to pull it off again. Some other possible GOP candidates include rich guy Pete Snyder, Prince William Board of Supervisors Chair Corey Stewart (both of whom lost to Jackson at the infamous 2013 convention), and state Sens. William Stanley and Tom Garrett. Stanley is leading Ted Cruz's Virginia campaign and if he runs instead of Cuccinelli, he might have the best chance to stop Gillespie. On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam appears to have the nomination locked up.