The politically “purple” Commonwealth of Virginia has become more of an electoral battleground this midterm cycle as current and former governmental heavyweights have been campaigning for candidates of both parties in the run up to the first midterm election of Donald Trump’s presidency. In the contested race on Virginia’s coast between incumbent Republican Scott Taylor (VA-2) and Democratic challenger Elaine Luria, both candidates were gifted with appearances by vice presidents current and past to help them come out on top on Election Day.
Vice President Mike Pence will be visiting Regent University Wednesday, October 24 as a special guest at an event for Congressman Taylor between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. It will take place in the School of Communication and Arts Theatre at 1000 Regent University Drive.
While admission is free, it will be on a first come first serve basis, but an RSVP for the event is required by Monday, October 22, according to WAVY.
Pence’s appearance comes just after former Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the Newport News Shipyard on Friday to campaign with Luria. Both were joined by Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-3) and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) at a meeting with the United Steelworkers Local 8888 to meet with labor union leaders from across Hampton Roads.
Nevertheless, other congressional Republicans had the opportunity to see the vice president as he came to the Commonwealth last weekend. At a two-hour rally in downtown Richmond Saturday, Pence appeared with former Republican Governor Bob McDonnell to give his support to Ryan McAdams, the Republican challenger vying for the seat currently held by Democratic Congressman Donald McEachin (VA-4).
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA-14), had appeared with McEachin two weeks earlier at an event in Rocketts Landing on the eastern side of Richmond to bolster his campaign.
The vice president’s message was to raise the national stakes in the election for Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District.
“It’s not just a choice between two candidates,” he told a crowd packed into an auditorium in the SunTrust Center. “It’s really a choice between two different majorities,” he said according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Pence, a former congressman and Indiana governor, said to the audience, “I was in Congress the last time Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the House…and you never want that to happen again.”
