Get your popcorn ready.
State Senator Jennifer Wexton (D-Loudoun) entered the race against Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) four months ago as the clear frontrunner with the wind at her back and with the blessing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
….only to have eight more people throw in for the Democratic nod.
What’s a junior State Senator to do? You hold fake town halls, of course… and spend a month inviting the entire district to attend the event where 2,000 people showed up 250 angry paid staffers showed up come on not even 100 people the Washington Post reports that a mere 25 people showed up for the mock town hall, thus confirming what it truly was — a media stunt where even the media got bored.
Rumors are that Wexton’s quixotic campaign for U.S. House is stalled and may not survive the year, according to Democratic sources close to the campaign. Some of those concerns are fueled by a similar dynamic that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ralph Northam faced with prospective challenger Tom Perriello — being dragged across a cheese grater to the left by a progressive base that cannot tolerate suburban liberalism.
Case in point? Wexton was asked if she would vote for Nancy Pelosi to be the next Speaker of the House over the weekend. Wexton’s response (which is sure to please the DCCC) — a total dodge.
True story, bro. From the Washington Post article:
Another asked if she would vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for speaker of the House if she wins and Democrats take control of the chamber.
“‘For how many of you is this one of your top concerns?’ Wexton asked. No hands went up. She went on to say she hadn’t thought about it at all.
Really? You mean the first meaningful vote any freshman representative would take and an issue of life-and-death for many progressive leftists sympathetic to Bernie Sanders and tired of the Clinton-machine… Jenny Wexton didn’t give this a single iota of brain power?
No matter how next November turns out for the Democrats everybody knows what the first vote of the 116th Congress will be for Speaker of the House. To not come out and support Nancy Pelosi as Speaker either shows how toxic Nancy Pelosi really is or that the Wexton campaign has completely fallen out of favor by the Nancy Pelosi run DCCC.
It gets worse for Wexton’s bid for higher office. For starters, the Wexton campaign came in a surprising fourth place in the Democrat primary money race last quarter only raising an anemic $200K — surely setting off alarm bells at the DCCC.
Who came in first? Alison Friedman, a former Obama Administration official who is from Nancy Pelosi’s home state of California.
Friedman raised 450k in less than a month (40% of her donations came from Nancy Pelosi’s California) and has the backing of such liberal powerhouses as Nancy Pelosi BFF’s Eleanor Smeal (cofounder of the Feminist Majority Fund) who also served as President of the National Organization of for Women; Gloria Steinem, the much celebrated liberal feminist who was co-chair of the Women’s March this past January; and Donna Brazile who just recently was the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee until February of this year.
Added bonus? Friedman’s family is wealthy enough to self-fund her campaign and would prove an enticing treasure chest for the DCCC, whereas Pelosi et al. would have to almost entirely bankroll a Wexton campaign.
The National Republican Campaign Committee had a field day with the Wexton disaster, highlighting Wexton’s split with the once-and-future (?) Speaker, according to the Washington Post:
“NRCC is not going to comment further on a low tier candidate who is lagging behind three of her Democrat competitors in fundraising,” NRCC spokeswoman Maddie Anderson said in a statement. After the town hall, Wexton declined to respond.
Of course she couldn’t respond. Wexton is in an apparent war with Democratic leadership in Washington angling for better-heeled candidates who can self-fund. For the Wexton campaign to decline to respond either betrays a sense of weakness or a sense of utter disbelief.
Needless to say, the Democratic contest to throw themselves on Republican spears in VA-10 should be great entertainment.
