On May 8th, Saturday, Republicans in Prince William County will be voting for their nominees for the Commonwealth of Virginia’s statewide offices: Governor, Lt Governor, and Attorney General (see 2021 State Convention Delegate Filing Form – PWCGOP). Yesterday we considered the REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR | Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance (familyallianceonline.org). The day before that we looked over the REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL | Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance (familyallianceonline.org). This post reviews the qualifications of the candidates for Governor.

Candidates for Governor of Virginia

Who are the candidates? Virginia gubernatorial election, 2021 (May 8 Republican convention) – Ballotpedia and Elections: Governor (vpap.org) provide lists.

Virginia gubernatorial election, 2021 (May 8 Republican convention) – Ballotpedia briefly discribes the nomination process and provides biographical information on each of the candidates. In addition, you may find it worthwhile to read this link, Governor of Virginia – Ballotpedia, which describes the powers of the office and what the office holder is supposed to do. The Governor of Virginia occupies a powerful office. Hence, as one might expect, gubernatorial candidates dwarf those candidates running for Lt Governor and Attorney General with respect to fundraising and media attention.

Virginia gubernatorial election, 2021 (May 8 Republican convention) – Ballotpedia also provides a link to articles on each of the candidates. These articles include links to all their social media sites.

Nevertheless, here are the names of the candidates and links to their campaign websites.

• Amanda Chase
• Kirk Cox
• Sergio de la Pena
• Peter Doran
• Octavia Johnson
• Pete Snyder
• Glenn Youngkin

What does Elections: Governor (vpap.org) provide? The focus here is who is financing each candidate’s run for office. Whether we like it or not, when someone runs for public office, they can be effectively in the pay of the people who finance their campaign. If a candidate gets a disproportionate amount of money from just one or two sources or occupational groups, that should definitely concern us. Note Snyder and Youngkin have donated large amounts of money to their own campaigns. How we should feel about that is another question. Does that make them independent, or do we fear they are just trying to purchase public office for their own benefit?

Latest News Articles

There is plenty of news coverage of the Republican Party of Virginia – RPV‘s nomination contest.

• The 7 Republicans running to be Virginia’s governor, in their own words – The Virginian-Pilot (pilotonline.com)
• Amanda Chase Threatens to Hobble a Virginia GOP Comeback (yahoo.com)
• Key takeaways from the Republican gubernatorial forum in Lynchburg | 8News (wric.com)
• Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidates hold first debate (nbc12.com)
• ‘Trumpy, Trumpier and Trumpiest’: Virginia GOP to vote on nominee for governor in post-Trump era – ABC News
• County Expects High Delegate Turnout For GOP Convention | Elections | dnronline.com
• Debates, Tours, Endorsements, and a Florida Stop: Virginia Candidates Battle for Nomination – The Virginia Star and A Roundup: Over 50,000 Delegates Register for RPV Convention, Cox Tries Ranked-Choice Strategy, Youngkin Announces Law Enforcement Coalition – The Virginia Star
• Virginia Republican gubernatorial convention to indicate party direction – Washington Times
• Va. GOP prepares for nomination convention on Saturday | Virginia Business
• Hot dogs, attack ads and road rage: Virginia GOP’s unusual nomination contest enters home stretch – Virginia Mercury
• Hot dogs, attack ads and road rage: Virginia GOP’s unusual nomination contest enters home stretch – Virginia Mercury

Voter Guides

Please take note that three of the candidates responded to our questionnaire (see SURVEY RESPONSES FROM THE CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR, LT. GOVERNOR, AND ATTORNEY GENERAL IN THE 2021 ELECTION | Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance (familyallianceonline.org))

Also note these voter guides.

• Virginia Election Information | iVoterGuide.com
• Virginia Gubernatorial Race 2021 | Chasing Freedom – Virginia (chasingfreedomvirginia.com)

Observations

Unsourced attack ads have proliferated during this race. Probably best to ignore such speculative bile. Take the time to find out about the candidates and their verifiable records.

• Amanda Chase. This lady fashions herself as Trump in heels. Since Donald Trump has some good and bad characteristics, that can be good or bad. Which characteristics does Chase emphasize? Would she unite or divide Conservatives/Republicans?
• Kirk Cox. As a former Speaker of the House of Delegates, Cox is an experienced and respected politician. Question is whether the delegates to the convention believe he will fight for what they want. Is Cox an establishment politician or the fighter Conservatives believe the times demand?
• Sergio de la Pena. Retired Army full colonel. Immigrant born with nothing in a home with dirt floors and no running water. Trump supporter who wants to preserve the ability to do what he did.
• Peter Doran. Former think tank head. Comes across as an idea man. Big idea is to phase out Virginia’s state income tax and go to zero percent.
• Octavia Johnson. Former Roanoke Sheriff.  Apparently a tough, competent lady, but not well known.
• Pete Snyder. Social media company tycoon with a long history of supporting Virginia Republicans. Has the endorsement of a long list of Conservatives (Endorsements – Pete Snyder for Virginia). Perceived as committed to the cause, but has not held public office..
• Glenn Youngkin. CEO of a big company. Surprise endorsement by Senator Ted Cruz (Cruz Backs VA Gov Candidate Youngkin in Final Stretch of GOP Race (breitbart.com)). Attractive, disciplined candidate. Question is whether the delegates to the convention believe he will fight for what they want. Is Youngkin ambitious and risk adverse, or will he fight?

Because of ranked-choice voting, choosing between these candidates will be especially difficult. In addition to determining the criteria for their choices and researching the qualifications of the candidates, the delegates to the convention must rank each candidate, not just pick the one they like best. The advantage is that going through that process is that the election is finished in one round of voting, and the winner is effectively someone the majority would have supported in a runoff election.