Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley was in Richmond Wednesday morning supporting former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Among the promises made by Trump so far is a vow to let states decide for themselves on the issue of abortion.
“Well, President Trump has said very clearly this needs to be a state issue,” Whatley told Radio IQ, pointing to the GOP's national platform which states "the States are, therefore, free to pass laws..."
Whatley stumped for Trump at McLean’s Diner near downtown Richmond. Trump, meanwhile, made a similar declaration earlier this year...
“Whatever they decide must be the law of the land; in this case, the law of the state.”
The morning stop was part of the Trump surrogate's tour of states he said were in play ahead of the 2024 election. But elected Democrats in the Commonwealth question Trump’s promise to keep abortion a state issue.
“He has proven he is a chameleon. And he will say whatever he feels like people want to hear in order to get whatever it is that he wants,” said Norfolk state Senator Angelia Williams Graves.
She joined Richmond Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan in casting doubt on Trump’s promise to keep the federal government out of women’s healthcare decisions. McClellan pointed to proposals from Republicans in the House and Senate, submitted in 2022, which would limit the procedure to 15 weeks nationwide.
“He has not said he wouldn’t sign a ban if it got to his desk," The Democrat said at an event in South Richmond Wednesday morning. "He has shown us who he is and we need to believe him.”
A late 2023 poll saw 60% of registered Virginia voters say abortion is “very important” to their vote, a 14-point increase from 2019.
Still, Whatley pointed to the ongoing crisis caused by inflation and defended Trump’s economic record as an alternative.
“What we saw prior to COVID coming in was record high engagement employment, record low unemployment among Blacks, Hispanics and women,” he said. “Right now, small businesses are suffering from inflation which was unleashed by the Biden/Harris spending packages.”
But after COVID spread in 2020, the nation faced massive shutdowns. And Trump left office with record high unemployment rates.
Whatley said Trump bore no responsibility for those bad numbers.
“COVID was unleashed, and there was a response to it from Trump’s administration,” he said “We want to make sure the recovery is going to be complete and the economic conditions that he’ll put in place as soon as he’s elected will allow the economy to flourish.
And while state Senator Graves said Trump may not be responsible for COVID itself, he is responsible for his reaction to the outbreak.
“The way he politicized it; it made a health crisis into a political fight,” she said. “That’s irresponsible.”
Early voting for the 2024 presidential election in Virginia begins in September.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.