You know what the irony is here? We can't find any prominent conservative politician willing to step up to the plate in Virginia for a Senate race, yet TONS of prominent politicians in Washington D.C. claim to be "from" another state that they're representing, when it reality they live in northern Virginia 11 months out of the year. Liz Cheney pretending to be "from" Wyoming because he dad was Congressman there 30 years ago is a perfect example of that. Before Newt decided to reinvent himself as a devout Catholic from Virginia, he was another beltway pol who claimed to be "from" Georgia when he spent the vast majority of his time in Virginia. It seems to become pretty commonplace when these guys become comfortable and entrenched DC insiders.
Rick Santorum was yet another example, one of the reasons he got killed in his 2006 re-election bid is that he claimed to represent Pennsylvania, but he was living in Virginia year-round and his constituents knew it. I said for years that Santorum and George Allen should have swapped states after they lost their re-election bids, and Santorum could have made a comeback by running for local office in Virginia (obviously a senate race for Santorum is a non-starter after his failed Presidential bid though)
In short, since none of the politicians who admit to being "from" Virginia seem willing to do it, the only big name powerhouse politician you could run would be someone who has lived in Virginia for decades but claims to represent someplace else where they grew up.
You’re right. There was a time in this country when congressmen and senators spent little time in Washington. Most of their time was spent with constituents back home, where they owned estates.
I think we’re going to end up with a hapless candidate in Virginia who can’t raise money.
A good example of this would be Kurt Bills in Minnesota in 2012. This guy was a f&cking awful candidate. He couldn’t campaign at all, he relied on money from Ronulan donators.
Al Franken is now up for reelection in MN, and it looks like once again, we’ll be running a nobody.