The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) continues to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. As we have covered previously, the state party’s choice of nomination style has been heavily criticized by all sides of the aisle. Some have defended their choice, saying this method lessens the chance of Amanda Chase becoming the nominee. Elections Daily has heard from one of our Virginia sources, though, that there are some underlying reasons too.
This summer, while electing a new chair, the RPV had four amendments on the docket. Three were considered uncontroversial, but there was one amendment that caused significant infighting. This amendment would have almost entirely deplatformed the College Republicans, Young Republicans and Republican Women branches of the state party from the State Central Committee. Amendment One would have reduced the size of the Committee down to 54 members. Most of these members would be from District committees. The other three branches would then be shrunk from having three members to only two on the committee.
These three branches have been the most active at promoting the primary nomination system. They are also among the more moderate members of the committee. The amendment failed to garner the necessary support this year, but now its supporters are trying to bring it back for this year. While our source stated they doubt it would reach the necessary threshold to pass, it shows issue with some in the state party itself. They have already limited college students and Young Republicans by choosing a convention in the first place. But this seems to be another move to limit them in the activity of the state party all together.