The Loudoun Republican Committee chair said that special election candidates are not receiving support from the party, but Republican Party of Virginia Chair Rich Anderson is pushing back.
Anderson said the local chair is deliberately being left out of the loop because party leaders do not trust him in a high-stakes environment.
In an email Sunday, Loudoun County Republican Committee Chair Scott Pio accused RPV of not backing the GOP candidates in the upcoming Senate and House special elections.
SD-32 and HD-26 will hold special elections on Jan. 7 to fill seats left vacant by legislators who recently resigned. Democrats won these seats easily in 2023, but there is optimism from Republicans and worry from Democrats that these races could be closer in a special election.
Democrats have a 21-19 majority in the Senate and 51-49 in the House of Delegates.
“IF WE WIN THESE TWO SEATS, WE WIN THE MAJORITY IN VIRGINIA SENATE AND VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES. This means that Governor Glenn Youngkin could PASS a whole slew of bills that favor Republicans,” Pio wrote in the email to Republicans.
He then accused Republican leadership of not helping them try and flip these seats.
“The RPV, Virginia Republican Senate and the Virginia Republican House leadership have decided that they will NOT help these races,” Pio wrote. “We won’t see financial nor volunteer support from our leadership. While I believe their decisions are WRONG, they have chosen to stay out of these races even though we could flip both chambers in just 45 days.”
In a statement to Virginia Scope Sunday night, Anderson said Pio is incorrect and he is not trusted by party leaders.
“Pio is misinformed and making assumptions that are not based on fact,” he said. “In fact, RPV and the House and Senate Republican Caucuses are heavily engaged in all three special elections, but in ways not visible to Pio because many lack confidence in his political judgment in a high stakes environment.”
Anderson said he does not want to reveal the efforts the party is taking to help the Republican candidates in these two races.
“I prefer to not disclose specifics about our engagement because of the proprietary nature of campaign operations, but I think you get the picture,” he said.
House Republicans also pushed back against the claim from Pio.
“That’s not the case,” said Garren Shipley, a spokesperson for the House Republican Caucus. “We’re prepared to engage in this race, and are working with the campaign team to find out how to best do that.”
In HD-26, the Democratic nominee, JJ Singh, is running against the Republican nominee, Ram Venkatachalam.
In SD-32, Democratic Del. Kannan Srinivasan is running against the Republican nominee, Tumay Harding.