Drive thru elections

by ZenTrainer

Community

(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021 at 4:02:07pm PST

This is our own DK favourite, Susan Hippen, collecting votes at the drive thru Firehouse Caucus for VA HD89.

Yep, they have them in Virginia, (a Firehouse Caucus, Covid style). In a quick and odd series of events, Jay Jones, who won reelection in November for the 89th House district, announced that he was stepping down a little over a month after the election.

Jones said he was leaving office “to spend more time with his family”; his wife is pregnant with their first child. One odd thing is that his wife was pregnant in November when he won the election. Why wait and step down? Why burden the taxpayers with the cost of a special election?

I have always thought that “spending more time with family” was a political euphemism for “there’s a whole lot more to this story”, but what do I know?

Another odd thing was that Jones seemed to try to pick his successor and got a ton of the Virginia Dem power players to endorse her.

DownWithTyranny! wrote about it here www.downwithtyranny.com/…

The controversy centers around residency requirements and whether all candidates looking to carry the party’s nomination are qualified to hold office if they are actually elected.https://t.co/82XRFo3XZu
— WAVY TV 10 (@WAVY_News) December 21, 2021

Still another odd thing was that Jones chosen candidate did not live in the district. In fact, of the 3 candidates running in this Democratic caucus, only one of them did live in the district. That was Jackie Glass, the candidate recruited by one of my favourite political operatives. She was the only progressive running in this solidly Democratic district.

Jackie Glass, a very well qualified Democratic candidate, Navy veteran, and resident of HD 89 in Norfolk, has stepped forward to run in this special election. https://t.co/0fmbbQjXwR
— 90 For 90 (@90For90) December 20, 2021

It was a crazy whirlwind of events! I do like that the Democratic primary candidate was chosen by votes in a Firehouse Caucus. The Republicans chose their candidate in a back room somewhere.

Candidate filing by noon on Monday, Drive-thru caucus 4-8 on Tuesday and certification by 5 on Wednesday, @NorfolkDems will make it happen!https://t.co/42HGOSlk49
— Charles "Thank You Brandon" Stanton (@CharlesFStanton) December 18, 2021

And… Jackie Glass wins the primary!! A very exciting night and she’s sure to win the general election in January.

Congrats to future Delegate @jackie4norfolk on winning tonight's election caucus.

We're so excited to help you keep the 89th District BLUE on January 11! pic.twitter.com/SuGS6BzLkt
— Virginia Teen Democrats (@VATeenDems) December 22, 2021