Yesterday’s piece by Joan McCarter was a fantastic explanation of what is happening in Virginia politics with Majority Leader Todd Gilbert and the NRA. If you missed it, you can read it here.
Plenty of people agreed that the NRA payoff for Gilbert shutting down the special session on gun safety was an outrage. In fact, one person commented the headline should have read “Domestic terrorist organization with close ties to Russia drops $200,000 into Virginia Republican campaigns.”
The news exploded on Twitter. Graham Moomaw with the Richmond Times Dispatch broke it first and the rest of Twitter took off on a rampage. 90for90 chimed in with this to say and the Virginia Mercury was on board as well stating:
(The donation) means the Republicans are worried about losing their majorities and are bringing out the financial big guns, so to speak,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington.
Local news source, The Virginia Dogwood, nailed it in their piece:
Jake Rubenstein, the Democratic Party of Virginia’s Communications Director, also accused the NRA of buying Republican loyalty. “Follow the damn money. The NRA is paying Virginia Republicans to block common sense safety measures,”
In all of this coverage, there was an important omission. Ms. McCarter and all the papers forgot to mention that Todd Gilbert has a Democratic opponent this year — for the first time in 10 years. Me. My name is Beverly Harrison and I am an ERA activist and education advocate who is taking on this obstructionist bully on November 5. You can read more about me on my first DK diary, My Wild Ride to Running for Office in a Ruby Red District or on my website.
It is an honor that this important race is finally getting the attention it deserves. I hope you will come on board and support my campaign to defeat him.
The author is running for the District 15 seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.
BEVERLY HARRISON — DELEGATE FOR VA 15 TWITTER FACEBOOK DONATE
