Fallout from President Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election may be extending into the Virginia state Senate.
Senator Amanda Chase says President Trump should declare martial law and conduct a new election, leading to some discussion about whether the Senate of Virginia should expel her.
"I know that it's been discussed among senators," says former Republican Delegate David Ramadan, now at George Mason University's Schar School. He's calling on lawmakers to take action to expel her, which would require a supermajority vote in the Senate.
"If calling for martial law after a perfectly constitutional election is not disorderly behavior, I don't know what is," he says.
Chase is not a member of the Senate Republican Caucus or a member of her local Republican committee in Chesterfield, but she is a Republican candidate for governor. The party is planning a convention to nominate its candidate for governor next year, and Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett says he doubts the party will exclude her as a candidate because she's not a member of the party.
"It would be explosive for the Republicans to exclude her as a candidate given the type of support that she has among some of the most extreme elements of the base, and so I think they will allow her to be a candidate and I think she will be a very viable candidate at that convention, and probably a first-place candidate on the first ballot," Tribbett explains. "The question is how close to 50% will she get and will the other candidates be able to consolidate behind each other?"
Tribbett also says he's not sure Democrats would be interested in expelling Chase, whose actions he describes as a gift that keeps on giving for Democrats.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
