Thanks for the encouraging report. Do you think Gillespie will be unopposed and chosen at a convention?
Hard to say at this point; a state nominating convention seems all-but-inevitable, but it’s hard to get a read on potential opposition for Gillespie.
Ordinarily, I think someone from the Tea Party would toss their hat into the ring, but Gillespie’s hard-fought race against Mark Warner last year earned him a lot of credibility with the GOP rank-and-file. And, with Republicans firmly in control of the General Assembly, there’s a desire to find someone the party can rally around without the expense and inconvenience of a nomination fight. So far, I don’t see name candidates like Ken Cuccinelli or Obenshain jumping in, so the nomination appears to be Gillespie’s for the asking. Given his ties to the GOP establishiment, Ed would be well advised to keep building ties to the Tea Party in the run-up to 2017, and I believe he will.
As I observed in a previous post, Republicans should also be happy that Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring took a pass on the governor’s race, clearing the way for incumbent Lt. Gov Ralph Northam. Herring is more liberal, but he’s a much more dynamic candidate and campaigner than Northam. Ralph is plodding on the stump and that’s being charitable. If the Dims think he’s going to light a fire under their base, they are sadly mistaken. A strong GOP nominee (Gillespie, Cuccinelli or even Obenshain) should be the front-runner in 2017, even with all those federal workers who live in NOVA and keep many of those counties blue.