It's beginning to look as though party alignment and even perhaps the big bucks don't
always win elections. And, that's a good thing.
In (Richmond, Virginia, in) order for a Democratic candidate to get party money and backing, the candidate must report daily to party brass in Richmond about how many doors they’ve knocked, how many fundraising calls they’ve made, how many hours they’ve spent fundraising on the phone — even how many thank you notes have been sent.
Lee Carter, the Democratic candidate against (Incumbent Republican Jackson Miller for a seat in the House), opted out. So his party essentially cut him off, saying that without him providing information they had no choice but to put financial resources into candidates they know are doing what the party believes is required to win.
[...]
“Early in the campaign, we ceased reporting to the House caucus after multiple information security lapses in which confidential information that we reported to the House caucus was leaked outside of the party infrastructure[," said Carter.]
“That’s something that I look forward to working with them to correct next year as an elected member of the caucus."
And maybe Carter's position had a little to do with why the Party quit supporting him.
The Democratic Party establishment is aligned with Dominion Energy, a regulated monopoly, and supportive of Dominion’s desire to build the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline across Virginia. Like their GOP counterparts, the Democrats are recipients of the cash Virginia’s top corporate political contributor pumps into the system, and the Democratic Party of Virginia received $125,000 in 2016, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Carter opposes its plan for a natural gas pipeline and opposed its plan for a high-voltage transmission line that was to go through residential neighborhoods in Prince William County; the plan has stalled under local resistance. Environmentalists oppose the pipeline plan, with some questioning whether Atlantic Coast is necessary for Virginia’s power needs.
“I’m to the left of them on economic policy,” Carter said of his party. “I am unabashedly pro-union, pro-worker. I’m openly fighting against the large corporate interests. That’s something that you don’t see a lot of politicians in either party do very much of, and that’s something that Virginia frankly has not seen very much of since the days of Henry Howell.”
[...]
“The Virginia House Democratic Caucus has been working very hard to elect as many Democrats to the House of Delegates as possible and has made substantial financial investments in Prince William County candidates Jennifer Carroll Foy, Elizabeth Guzman, and Hala Ayala.”
And so?
Lee Carter, an IT specialist and Marine veteran, beat incumbent Jackson Miller in Tuesday's election.
Richmond Times-Democrat
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