Virginia Mercury
Virginia Republicans decided Saturday to choose their nominees for statewide office via a convention instead of an open primary, setting up the possibility that Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, will run in the general election as an independent challenger.
Chase, one of two announced GOP candidates for governor, has made her opposition to the Republican establishment a theme of her hard-right campaign, warning her supporters that party leaders would rig a convention against her.
“Over the past decade, I’ve seen too many of our grassroots candidates get cheated by the Republican establishment elite and political consultants who control these Republican Conventions and I refuse to be another casualty,” Chase wrote in a Facebook post Saturday morning before the meeting of the GOP’s State Central Committee, reminding her supporters of her plan to run as an independent if party leaders opted for a convention.