Just FYI:
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart planned to fly to Alabama on Sunday evening to campaign for Roy Moore, the candidate involved in a scandal over allegations that he pursued sexual relationships with teens while he was in his 30s.
Stewart, who considers himself the likely nominee for Virginia Republicans next year against Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, was the first to announce in a field that includes Del. Nicholas J. Freitas, R-Culpeper, Bishop E.W. Jackson and Ivan Raiklin, a former military diplomat.
Stewart will help with get-out-the-vote efforts for Moore, who faces Democrat Doug Jones in a special election Tuesday to fill the seat of former Sen. and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Something else about Stewart:
A Republican candidate to challenge former vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine for a Senate seat in Virginia has suggested Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a forgery, in a tweet that paired the debunked conspiracy theory with the controversial Alabama Senate race.
Corey Stewart was Virginia state chairman for Donald Trump in 2016, then ran Ed Gillespie close for the Republican nomination in this year’s Virginia gubernatorial election.
On Friday night, he tweeted: “@TheDemocrats got cocky forging @BarackObamabirth certificate. Thought they could slip phony #AllredYearbookFraud by on @MooreSenate. Sad!!”
Stewart’s reference to the “AllredYearbookFraud” was a response to reports on Friday that one of the women who has accused GOP Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct when she was a teenager added text to what she says is Moore’s signature in her high-school yearbook.
Gloria Allred is the celebrity attorney who is representing the accuser, Beverly Nelson. Moore, who is endorsed by Trump, has denied all accusations against him.
Also, you heard correctly about E.W. Jackson (R. VA):
Jackson will announce his candidacy on Monday in the Chesapeake area, said Steven Thomas, who said he is raising money for Jackson’s campaign and filled the same role during Jackson’s 2013 losing bid for lieutenant governor.
A website registered to Jackson was updated Tuesday and announces “EW Jackson for U.S. Senate.”
Jackson did not return calls seeking comment.
“Rumors are flying that I’m going to run for US Senate in Virginia,” he tweeted last week. “Stand by for the official word sometime next month.”
Jackson has a history of controversial comments, including calling gay men and lesbians “very sick people” and suggesting that the practice of yoga invites Satan to possess one’s soul.
After humiliating loses this past year, the Virginia GOP is pushing to prevent Stewart from getting the nominee:
As Virginia Republicans gather Friday for their annual retreat, party leaders are alarmed at the possibility of fielding Corey Stewart as next year’s U.S. Senate nominee and, with help from the national GOP, they are maneuvering to recruit someone else to be the face of the party.
Stewart, who narrowly lost the GOP nomination for governor in June on a platform of Trumpism and what he called “Confederate heritage,” has promised a “vicious” campaign in 2018 against Sen. Tim Kaine (D), a popular former governor who is seeking a second term in a state that he helped Hillary Clinton carry by five points as her running mate in the 2016 presidential election.
Sen. Cory Gardner (Colo.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, recently summoned former governor James S. Gilmore III to Washington to ask him to run, while Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Mike Lee (Utah) met with Del. Nick Freitas (Culpeper) to advise him on a likely campaign.
Stewart dismissed national Republicans working against him as “Mitch McConnell’s bozos,” referring to the Senate majority leader.
Let’s make sure U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D. VA) is ready to go next year. Click here to donate and get involved with Kaine’s re-election campaign.
And let’s also defeat Stewart’s BFF, Moore. Click here to donate and get involved with Doug Jones’ (D. AL) U.S. Senate campaign.