For Immediate Release
November 16, 2018
Congresswoman-elect Spanberger praises Bedell’s community ties and legal experience in her public announcement
Richmond, VA – Today, Congresswoman-elect Abigail Spanberger endorsed Eileen Bedell – the attorney and mother of two running for Virginia’s 10th State Senate Seat. Congresswoman-elect Spanberger cites Bedell’s experienced understanding of the Commonwealth’s legal system and her demonstrated commitment to her community in her statement of support[.]
You remember this courageous story from the VA-07th Congressional district race from 2016, right? Eileen Bedell, right? Ms. Bedell ran for Congress versus Dave Brat, the horrible huckstering, arrogance slinging, women-all-up-in-my-grill, freedom-caucus puppy, who, with Steve Bannon’s help, defeated Eric Cantor in a Republican primary in 2014?
To quickly recap, as campaign time came close, and when she heard that the Democrats couldn’t field a candidate, she stood up, and, well, as Ms. Bedell put it to Hamilton (to paraphrase):
[BEDELL]
Strong words from [Brat], someone oughta hold him to it.
[HAMILTON]
I can’t disobey direct orders.
[BEDELL]
Then I’ll do it.
And she did. Eileen ran an incredible campaign at significant professional and personal risk, and did so first and foremost on the idea that no one should run unopposed.
Her late-to-the-game, out-of-devotion-to-principle, grassroots campaign did amazingly well in 2016. She earned a higher percentage than any D in that district since the early 1990s. She also did well enough that VA Ds, and perhaps Ds in general, started to realize that the self-defeating attitude of, "Why bother running anyone? We can't win there," was, in a word, wrong.
And now, one of the rock star members of the class of 2018 Democratic Party Electees to the House of Representatives, Abigail Spanberger, who followed in Ms. Bedell’s footsteps to beat the aforementioned Brat, is endorsing Ms. Bedell for State Senate.
To be clear, this is not an insignificant move by Congresswoman-elect Spanberger. Generally speaking, sitting or soon-to-be-seated elected officials don't endorse anyone before the end of their party’s primary season. So Ms. Spanberger is putting herself out there, even before she gets to Congress, and that should not go unnoticed. Again: Spanberger endorses Bedell in 2019.
I know, I KNOW. We haven’t even finished the 2018 elections. It’s safe to say, however, that if there are lessons we’ve all learned from them, it’s three things: 1. the campaign never ends; 2. no one should run unopposed; and, 3. no election can be taken for granted. Never. Never, ever, ever.
Regarding point one, the never-ending campaign. Along with other states, Virginia has elections for its legislature in 355 days. That’s the entire Virginia General Assembly. Right now Republicans hold slim majorities in both houses— 21-19 in the Senate, and 50-49 (1 vacant) in the House of Delegates. Wouldn’t it be great to continue surfing the wave?
Regarding the second point, about no one running unopposed, ever? That won’t be the problem it was in Virginia, or anywhere else for that matter, probably ever again. Ms. Bedell’s efforts in 2016 is one of the reasons why that’s the case. She went from, honestly, barely-on-the-map to making Republicans worried enough that they sent both Sessions and Pence to the district in the period immediately before the election.
A quick aside — in the column of, ‘No good deed goes unpunished,’ her efforts in 2016 mean that she will likely face primary challengers. No doubt that there are worthy contenders out there. I’ll say this — Eileen has worked for this district. She walked the district for her own campaign in 2016. She walked it again for Congresswoman-elect Spanberger. Moreover, she owns her own solo law practice in Richmond. Most important, she has a community she’s lived in for almost 20 years. And most, most important, she and her family live there.
In the third and final category, that of, ‘no election shall be taken for granted,’ count this election among them. The incumbent, Glen Sturtevant (R), elected in 2015, is, well, nice, and that’s great. He just makes the wrong choices on a lot of policy and is deep in the pocket of the VA GOP (more on that soon). In any case, nice can be hard to beat, especially in retail politics.
So, with all that as prologue, and I’m sorry (but not sorry), it’s time to start thinking about November 2019 in a very real way. And where better to start that off, than a story like this.
Find ways to be part of Bedell for Virginia: https://www.bedellforvirginia.com/.
And the most important things you can do right now is support Eileen's campaign financially, which you can do here: secure.actblue.com/...
