As GOP Lt. Governor candidate John Reid paves the way for Virginia political candidates of different backgrounds, others from both parties are following suit and having their lifestyles thrown into the spotlight.
On the western side of the state a Democratic candidate for House of Delegates recently announced she was ethically non-monogamous in a social media post now seen by hundreds of thousands. And in the eastern side, a Republican delegate-hopeful had her background in the fetish community exposed. Both are facing down what might have been campaign ending scandals just a few years ago.
“I’ve been a model since I was 18, I’ve been in a lot of amazing spaces, met a lot of incredible people internationally in marginalized communities,” said Hailey Dollar, a candidate in the GOP primary for Newport News-area House District 70. “It makes me a real person”
And just west of Martinsville, in HD 47, Yvonne Rorrer shared her personal romantic choices before someone else could make a scandal out of it.
“We are swingers,” Rorrer told Radio IQ about her 22-year-relationship with her husband. “We date other couples, we do it ethically, we do it together. And that’s just it.”
Both candidates' openness may be all the more relevant in the face of John Reid’s campaign. A long-time conservative radio host, Reid is Virginia’s first openly gay statewide Republican candidate, but his long-term, same-sex relationship has been condemned by some religious conservatives.
As other elements of Virginia’s Republican base rally around Reid, Rorrer and Dollar are looking for the same support and argue their non-traditional histories don’t define their politics.
“When Jesus walked this earth, he surrounded himself with sinners, who may not be the idealistic version of what God announced in scripture, but you’ll never be able to help people if you meet them with disrespect,” Dollar, a single mom who has worked with the unhoused and sex trafficking victims, said. “If people have a problem with me loving my neighbor, I don’t want their support.”
Rorrer, a child victim advocate originally from North Carolina, got involved in politics after supporting a bill that would change easement laws.
“I kind of took it in my own hands… and I was like OK we'll just change the law,” she said of the dispute which led to legislation landing on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk only to be vetoed.
Dollar hopped into politics after the urging of another local Republican she didn’t name. That secrecy is in part because of the backlash her background has inspired; threats and harassment have followed since acknowledging her background in the fetish community. Still, she’s committed to serving all of the district's constituents if elected.
“I've connected with people from all different cultures and backgrounds and viewpoints,” she said. “Not everyone's the same, we're not cookie cutters.”
Dollar’s history was discovered and shared by Ken Reid (no relation to John Reid), a longtime Republican politico and former journalist in Northern Virginia. The candidate was worried when she heard about Ken Reid’s post on the Virginia conservative blog Bacon’s Rebellion but found herself grateful for the news breaking now rather than further in the election cycle.
And Reid’s headline, “Republicans, This Is the New Virginia,” likely helped.
“It’s not what party leaders expect in a candidate,” Ken Reid told Radio IQ in an interview. A longtime activist in Northern Virginia’s Republican party, he’s seen that party lose elections in the face of a changing cultural and political demographic.
“When I first saw Dollar, I couldn’t believe someone like this was running, but she’s a new convert to the conservative cause,” he said. He described new, young would-be Republicans who may not adhere to traditional principals as a “trickle, not a sea change,” but one his party would be remiss to alienate.
“We should be pursuing other people,” he said, noting NOVA Republicans have started to reach out to religiously conservative minority groups in this year's races. “But there’s still a lot of people in the GOP who think a candidate has to be like Trump or Reagan, have a family and a military background.”
“That’s changing and a lot of people in the [state Republican party] aren’t there yet,” he added.
Matt Royer is a Virginia-based operative with Young Democrats of America. He said the Democratic party has long been open to the kind of diversity Rorrer and Dollar bring to the table,
“I think it shouldn't be disqualifying,” he said of the candidates' backgrounds. “But if they are actively making other people's lives harder and harming Virginians then I think that in itself is disqualifying.”
He pointed to Democratic Party-led efforts to roll back Virginia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and an effort to enshrine abortion rights in the same document.
“Those are the things that I think are right out in the open that should be talked about,” Royer said.
Those future constitutional amendments add to the Virginia GOP's challenges with John Reid’s first-of-its-kind candidacy and the party's struggle to maintain power in the Commonwealth. As these issues enter the forefront of another statewide election cycle, and gubernatorial frontrunner Winsome Earle-Sears runs in opposition to both amendments, Ken Reid isn’t sure what that means for his party.
“If we run on [traditional conservative values] and not give voters anything else, then Dems are going to have the advantage,” he said. “But we have problems in this state caused by [Democratic] policies… ‘do we want Virginia to be like California?’”
Voters will decide which message -and candidates- resonate this November.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
