Election Day is Over in Virgina but Some Stick Around.
Bitter Political Operatives Emerge after Election Day.
Last week Virginia Democrats were able claim a majority in both the House and Senate. A wise person would use this as an opportunity to reflect. For example, the Washington Post reports some Republicans in the House of Delegates were upset that the party went too far in voicing their opposition to abortion and wanted Terry Kilgore over the current top House Republican Todd Gilbert. Gilbert kept his spot as Republicans voted in a closed-door meeting on Sunday.
Some Republicans refuse to reflect on their loss and seek a distraction, like Matthew Hurtt of the Arlington GOP. Hurtt was canvassing on Election Day in the Washington DC suburb when a Democrat supporter yelled at him on camera for about a minute and a half.
Hurtt went on the Jesse Watter’s primetime Fox News show as Election Day results were coming in. Hurtt said that he was considering pressing charges on the individual who yelled at him. For what? I'm not sure. Hurtt would also go on the Alex Jones Show on Infowars and get a story for the New York Post with the hyperbole title “Disgruntled Democrat Voter Attacks Poll Worker.” Each story and interview made sure to include his organization, the Leadership Institute.
I suggested last week that Republican transphobia might have been the issue that led Democrats over the finish line in the path to victory. There's no bigger transphobe than the Daily Wire with personalities like Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro. On Saturday evening the Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak ran a story about Virginia Senator Ghazala Hashmi.
Rosiak story was about a “spreadsheet” from 4 people claiming to be Hashmi’s neighbors. The claim from these unnamed neighbors is that Hashmi would stay in her house overnight. Amazing journalism happening at the Daily Wire. The problem is that the house is outside of the district where Hashmi was just elected.
The story inferred that Hashmi’s Republican opponent would be awarding a default victory Hayden Fisher who was soundly defeated last week. This claim would give Republicans a 20-20 split with Lt Governor Winsome Sears the tie breaking vote but as election analyst Sam Shirazi pointed out that it isn’t going to happen. At best, the seat would be open, and a special election would be held but situations happen in legislators all the time with no action taken from courts.
Rosiak’s article was poorly researched and even he misspelled “Hashmi.” Rosiak has had a history of influencing Republicans in Virginia. In 2021, Rosiak wrote about the Loudoun County Public Schools. During that time, there was a student who committed acts of sexual assault including in the girl’s bathroom. An awful act, but Rosiak posed this as a transgender student who assaulted a cisgender girl. This was not the case, as the perpetrator is a cisgender male. This story was incorrectly cited leading up to the 2021 Virginia Governor Election with a transgender panic that resulted in Republican victory in state-wide elections.
I was considering reaching out to Senator Hashmi, but I realized this whole thing is a waste of everyone’s time. While I was seeking for the origin of this story, I found the source to be local perpetual election loser Mike Dickinson. During a broadcast the day after the Election on the Jeff Katz radio show, Dickinson outlined the same details of Rosiak’s story before it was published on Daily Wire.
It appears that Rosiak lazily took the story from Dickinson. Dickinson is similar to Matthew Hurtt, willing to talk to any conservative media to gain attention. Dickinson and Senate candidate Hayden Fisher are not allies. Dickinson was removed from the Richmond GOP and constantly calls Fisher a jellyfish Republican. Fisher is the chair of the Richmond GOP.
The lights flicker at the end of the night, telling Dickinson to go home, but he continues to stick around.
Awesome article! The perspective written on the lack of "reflecting" post-election is really key.