Voters from across Virginia went to the polls yesterday to pick candidates in a statewide primary for U.S. Senate as well as a handful of congressional races.
College professor and war vet Daniel Gade is now the Republican candidate who will take on incumbent U.S. Senator Mark Warner this fall. Gade beat back two other candidates in the statewide primary winning every city and county in Virginia.
“I think the key lesson here is that I’m a new kind of candidate with a new kind of unifying message," he explains. "And from the beginning I’ve sought to unify all the parts of the party, people who are social conservatives and the people who are fiscal conservatives, people who are national defense and the people who are libertarians and the people frankly, who are Trump skeptical and the people who love the president.”
But it’s probably a mistake to try to be all things to all people, says former Republican Delegate David Ramadan, now at George Mason University’s Scharr School. He congratulates Gade on his victory and thanks him for his service, but he says it’d be best for everybody if he left the divisive social issues out of the campaign.
“Stay away from the polarized national issues that are not kitchen table issues," says Ramadan. "People in Virginia care about jobs. People in Virginia care about transportation. People in Virginia care about COVID-19.”
In the congressional primaries, former Republcian Congressman Scott Taylor won the Republican primary to have a rematch with incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria. And in the Fifth Congressional District, where incumbent Republican Denver Riggleman lost in a drive-thru convention, Cameron Webb will be the Democrat to take on Republican Bob Good.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
