Can Pete Snyder Ride the Trump Wave?

The candidate for Virginia governor is running a campaign straight out of the MAGA playbook.

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ARLINGTON, Virginia—Anyone who wondered what Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Pete Snyder’s closing message would be in the final days before the state convention on Saturday needed to look no further than the banner displayed at his campaign event Wednesday at Smokecraft BBQ.

It proclaimed that Snyder and his “gang of conservative outlaws” are wanted for “breaking the teachers unions,” “making woke liberals cry,” and “backing President Trump’s policies.” 

That wasn’t the only page taken from the MAGA playbook Wednesday evening. “Friends, are you excited about meeting Sarah Huckabee Sanders or what?” conservative commentator Martha Boneta yelled at the crowd. “Friends, how many of you wish that Donald J. Trump was in the White House right now?” Hoots and hollers arose from the attendees, who spent Wednesday evening gearing up for an exciting weekend ahead.

The Virginia Republican Party’s roughly 53,000 registered delegates will cast their votes on Saturday for their preferred gubernatorial candidates in an unassembled convention that will take place in 39 locations across the commonwealth. The state party’s decision to run a convention is a departure from 2017, when Republican voters nominated former GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie in a statewide primary.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Jason Gibson

    Very good information. I really like these deep dives into what’s happening in other states I generally know what’s going on in Michigan but these are helpful to get a bigger picture of what’s going on outside of Cuomo DeSantis and Caitlyn Jenner

    However I don’t think he has a prayer. I am not very optimistic about the republican party right now which I know might seem like an understatement. But I really think the Chris Stirewalt article is pretty much on target. I think they’re going to blow it. I think they are in the process of doing so

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    Paul Britton

    Excellent reporting.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Eston

    This is all a sad sideshow.

    The dems will win again, and again next time until reason returns on the Virginia right.

    The worst part is that without a functioning GOP in Virginia the dems are drifting further right ever more quickly.

    Sad.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Eston

      Oops -- meant dems drifting further left.... Dems drifting toward the center would have been a great development.

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    Victor Clairmont

    I do not know this man. I do like BBQ. But BBQ and this man do not go together.

    Thus I pick the BBQ over this man.

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  5. CWB3

    I'll rank my choices from the least to the most "Trumpy" candidates. Sad its a race to the bottom.

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  6. Nickson

    No, Pete Snyder cannot ride the “Trump Wave” in VA as long as Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria and Loudon are part of VA.

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  7. Stevemiller747

    Pro-Trump is going to describe all the Republican candidates who will be successful in the primaries. I hope that means many of them lose.

    I am hoping for Tim Scott to be the nominee in 2024 but I think it will be DeSantis, who is just a competent Trump, which still makes him a hateful person. Scott is someone I could vote for.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Jack

      Don’t forget, he’s not morally reprehensible! (As far as we know)

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    2. Peter

      Sadly I don’t see that happening.

      I would not vote for Scott personally, but Biden vs Scott ticket would tell me we’re largely heading in a different direction than what we are fearing.

      I’d be perfectly fine with Scott as a potential president though.

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      scott

      The activists and active party members/donors demand Trumpiness. They will accept no less. The disease has reached the lymphatic system.

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      Pat Riot

      Trump is the presumed nominee unless he dies.

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      1. Stevemiller747

        Geraghty brought up exactly this point over at NR.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Rick Schwartz

    I am glad they are using ranked choice voting. The real scare was that Chase appeared to be in decent position to win a primary. I think Snyder will pivot towards the center whereas Chase would run a general election by advocating an armed overthrow of the federal government. Youngkin just got Corey Stewart's endorsement so he's playing in the Trump sandbox as well. Corey was Trump before Trump (heavy on anti-immigrant policy) who was destroyed as a Senate candidate by Tim Kaine. Cox would be the least Trumpy of the candidates and he has a fair shot of winning.

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