I'm not surprised at all, coming from Virginia. Ollie North was sabotaged by the GOPe in 1994 by Senator John Warner(R), after Ollie won the primary for Senator. Warner recruited a fellow GOPe name Marshal Coleman to run as an independent and did just enough damage to cause Ollie to lose his Senate bid.
It's part of their DNA - I've not been a registered Republican since. Team is all one way with the GOPe - glad the rest of the country is finally learning...