Hit the Brakes: Virginia Republicans Might Have a Chance to Retake the State Senate Now

Townhall ^ | 11/13/2023 | Matt Vespa

[SeekAndFind]

The 2023 election cycle wasn’t pretty for Virginia Republicans. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attempt to control both chambers of the state legislature in Richmond went up in smoke when Democrats retained control of the state Senate and retook control of the House of Delegates. Was it an "earthquake?" No, Democrats have a slim majority in a lower chamber. Overall, Virginia returned to its 2021 political landscape. Or did it?

Republicans likely gain one senate seat and lose a few house seats in Virginia, a state Biden won by 10 points, and Twitter is treating it like a political earthquake. https://t.co/x7OjtJWqFO— John McCormack (@McCormackJohn) November 8, 2023

We have reports that some funny business with a Virginia Democratic state senator might give control of the upper chamber to the Republicans. The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak wrote that there might be serious questions regarding the validity of Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s residency. You must live in the district you’re representing, and multiple sources say Hashmi’s paperwork is inaccurate. Hashmi represented Senate District 10 but opted to run for the 15^th district this cycle post-redistricting. The reason is apparent: this is a slam-dunk blue district encompassing parts of Richmond and Chesterfield County (via Daily Wire): 

Virginia Democrats last week took control of the state House and retained control of the state Senate by one seat — but a winning senator may have lied about residing in the district, a situation that could lead to the chamber falling into Republican hands. 

Democrats are slated to control the state Senate 21-19, but if Ghazala Hashmi is ineligible to hold office because she lied on her campaign paperwork, then a situation could arise where she is replaced by a Republican, and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears would cast tie-breaking votes. 

[…] 

…four neighbors filed a complaint saying she actually lives outside the district on Bosham Lane in Midlothian, and they provided a spreadsheet saying they had driven by the house 62 times during the month of October to document her residency. The notes include her car being there late at night and early in the morning, and her leaving the house shortly after 8 a.m. It also includes photographic evidence. 

Putting Hashmi in a particular bind, if she did live in the Chesterfield apartment, then she may have committed a felony by concealing her ownership of the Midlothian home on sworn election forms. 

[…] 

Hashmi won her election against Republican Hayden Fisher last Tuesday with 62% of the vote. Fisher told The Daily Wire, “I plan to stop them from certifying the election. She’s disqualified, that means I ran unopposed as a matter of law.” 

[…] 

The complaint by four neighbors, which Fisher was not involved with, was dated October 31 and was addressed to Chesterfield County Registrar Missy Vera. Vera did not return a request for comment from The Daily Wire. Hashmi also did not return a request for comment. 

There could be a special election, though Republican candidate Hayden Fisher, an attorney, told Daily Wire that it would waste taxpayers’ money due to the early voting law, leaving the 15^th district with no representation for months. He hopes Hashmi’s votes will be declared null and void, leaving him to be certified the winner by default. 

So, maybe there might be some good election news in the Old Dominion. We shall see.  

[oldplayer]

Rules? RULES? Rules don’t apply to Dims.

[mikelets456]

Yup-—Sometimes I believe stuff like this is done on purpose to show us “we’re in charge and there’s nothing you can do about it”!

They are begging for the “Bubba effect” to kick in....

[Starboard]

Yep, she’ll get a pass. Now if she were a Republican she would already have been removed.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Pleased to see that someone was paying attention.

[Political Junkie Too]

There could be a special election, though Republican candidate Hayden Fisher, an attorney, told Daily Wire that it would waste taxpayers’ money due to the early voting law, leaving the 15th district with no representation for months. He hopes Hashmi’s votes will be declared null and void, leaving him to be certified the winner by default.

Calling for a special election would only reward Democrat cheating. Hashmi’s candidacy should be disqualified and the next vote-getter should be declared the winner.

Imagine a Democrat strategy of running illegal candidates in swing districts just to gauge the voter turnout and trends. Then, when their candidate is declared invalid and a special election is called, Democrats know just where the votes are in what will be a lower-turnout election.

The Democrat get-out-the-vote machine will overwhelm the Republican winner in a smaller turnout "special" election that was only special because the Democrats failed (intentionally?) to run a valid candidate in the general election.

That's why they shouldn't be rewarded with a special election. Their candidate should be disqualified and the Republican should be declared the winner.

-PJ

[Dr. Sivana]

Unfortunately, residency challenges rarely go anywhere. Isn't Feinstein's replacement in California a Maryland resident? Wasn't it less than nothing for Cheney to declare himself a resident of Wyoming when he was living in Texas but was George the Younger's VP Pick?

Freeper BlackElk (RIP) ran against Congressman Bob Giamo in CT's 3rd District in the '70s. The high point of his shoestring campaign was a Press Conference at "Bob Giamo's House", including food. This got the press curious. Why would Bob Giamo allow his opponent to feed them at his house?

It turns out that Giamo's listed address that he used for 20+ years in Congress as his CT address belonged to his mother. She died. The property was sold, and BlackElk held the Press Conference at the same address . . . Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips. Giamo also owned 11 other properties in Connecticut. All were vacant lots or cheap urban tenements where Giamo was never seen. In those days the MSM would follow-up on that just for the amusement value. Giamo did win handily (it was the Watergate year, a bad time to be a Republican), but he retired after that race.

[Liz]

....…four observant neighbors filed a complaint saying Democrat Hashmi actually lives outside the district she was elected to represent. Her ownership of the house since 1999, is on Bosham Lane in Midlothian, a fact she concealed on sworn election forms she was required to fill out.

Neighbors provided a detailed spreadsheet, documenting they had driven by the Hashmi house she willfully concealed, a total of 62 times during the month of October to document her residency.

The notes include (a) her car being there late at night, (b) early in the morning, and (c) her leaving the house shortly after 8 a.m. (d) It also includes photographic evidence.

Hashmi is in a legal bind, b/c if she did live in the Chesterfield apartment she belatedly rented, then she may have committed a felony by concealing her ownership of the Midlothian home on sworn election forms.

[gibsonguy]

Yep it would have done 5 minutes after it was discovered

[Liz]

Democrats shouldn’t be rewarded with a special election.
The candidate should be disqualified and the Repub declared the winner.

---

Her opponent asserted that she was not qualified to run (b/c of all of the above).

Ergo, he ran “unopposed” and is, in fact, the winner.

[vpintheak]

Some people are so optimistic. We KNOW for a fact that rules and laws do not apply to Dims. The result will remain the same. The Rat will serve the term. The people will continue to be abused.

[Verginius Rufus]

Winning the seat with 38% of the vote would be better than Lincoln winning the Presidency with 39% of the popular vote. That’s assuming there were o other candidates besides Fisher and Hashmi.

[rllngrk33]

I’m almost certain that Republicans can find a way to screw this up and lose again.

[Liz]

Hah....... a state 2020 Biden (cough) “won” by 10 points.

[Deplorable American1776]

Democrats can live wherever they want. Maxine Waters lives outside of her district...

[fieldmarshaldj]

Minor correction: Bob Giaimo stayed on until 1981. The Dem nominee to succeed him was none other than Joe Lieberman. Lieberman lost to liberal Republican Larry DeNardis that year, who in turn lost reelection after a single term to Bruce Morrison.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Rules are different for federal vs. state. To get elected to Congress, you merely need be a resident of the state your representing. For state legislatures, you usually have to explicitly live within the district lines of the seat you’re running for. That’s why gerrymandering was often so ruthless that it wasn’t unknown that the majority (usually Dem) would draw the lines around the home of an incumbent or challenger to disqualify them from running (or forcing them to go house-hunting for a new residence within - a pain in the ass, especially if you’re not wealthy).

[Dr. Franklin]

Calling for a special election would only reward Democrat cheating. Hashmi’s candidacy should be disqualified and the next vote-getter should be declared the winner.

If we were a nation of laws, and not the ruling class elite, yes. But if the president is illegitimate, then what's a an illegitimate state senator? How many more illegitimate "elected" lawmakers do we have?

[Dr. Sivana]

Minor correction: Bob Giaimo stayed on until 1981. The Dem nominee to succeed him was none other than Joe Lieberman. Lieberman lost to liberal Republican Larry DeNardis that year, who in turn lost reelection after a single term to Bruce Morrison.

Thank you. It was a long time since Black Elk relayed that story to me. I should have remembered both Morrison and DeNardis. The latter ran a column in the weekly Advisor (a "free" version of the Bargain News composed mostly of consumer classifieds). Morrison was rated the most liberal member of Congress for a while.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Bruce Morrison was the worst-ever performing Democrat nominee for Governor in CT when he ran in 1990. After getting the nomination following Bill O’Neill’s retirement, he got a paltry 20% in the general. No general election opponent for Governor got less than that since 1825 (and that only because the defunct and split Federalist party fielded 3 candidates), and it was also the first time that a major party candidate (in a unified field) placed 3rd.

It looked like Lowell Weicker took more Dem votes running 3rd party than Morrison. John Rowland got 37%, almost winning, just 3% behind Weicker. I doubt that Morrison would’ve been any worse as Governor than Weicker, who was just a truly despicable individual.