Virginia Republican Party Will Help Local Republican Party Lawsuit Against Law Letting Incumbents Decide How a Party Nominates

Virginia has a unique election law concerning partisan nominations. Virginia lets all qualified parties decide for themselves whether to nominate by primary or convention, yet if an incumbent is running for re-election, he or she can override the party’s decision. If the party wants a primary but the incumbent wants convention instead, the incumbent’s desires override the party’s wishes.

A local unit of the Virginia Republican Party filed a lawsuit against that law earlier this year, but lost the case in U.S. District Court. The party is appealing to the Fourth Circuit. Its brief is due July 8. On June 27, the statewide Virginia Republican Party voted to support the lawsuit by filing an amicus curiae brief on the side of its local group. The case is Adams v Alcorn, 15-1478.


Comments

Virginia Republican Party Will Help Local Republican Party Lawsuit Against Law Letting Incumbents Decide How a Party Nominates — 2 Comments

  1. Hmmm.

    The ONE party hack controlling the MANY party hacks ??? —
    monarchy in action ???
    —-
    NO primaries, caucuses and conventions.

    Ballot access ONLY by equal nominating petitions – to get serious candidates.
    P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.

  2. This is how political kingmakers operate. You can be certain an incumbent office holder is going to make sure the Convention is dominated by his loyalists. It’s much cheaper than carrying out a primary and easier to get your loyal delegates to the Convention.
    All parties – whether major or minor – should be required to nominated in their nominees in a Primary Election of some type. This way the will of the party members are heard – not the favorite of the party bosses.
    Louisiana has the best “primary” of any state. All candidates – 3rd party or major party – have an equal opportunity and are placed on the General Election Ballot. If no candidate wins a 50% plus 1 vote, a Runoff Election is held some weeks later between the two candidates placing first and second – regardless of political label or the lack of it.
    Would love to have that kind of primary in Alabama.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.