GOP brings heavy-hitters to Prince William; county key to victory

[Updated] More than 200 conservatives packed the Rose Gold Events Center in Manassas for the 33rd Annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner.

Potomac Local News was invited to attend and cover the event on Friday, May 6, 2022, where conservatives basked in the glow of a Republican sweep of statewide office for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares in November 2021.

The Prince William County Republican Committee hosts the fundraising dinner. Congressional candidates in the state’s 10th District (western Prince William County, Manassas, Manassas Park) and the 11th District (eastern Prince William County, Stafford County, Fredericksburg) were invited to a VIP reception where former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli spoke.

“We could win as many as 50 seats in the House [of Representatives] in November,” he said, citing inflation and a recently-leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion indicating the 49-year-old Roe vs. Wade decision to uphold abortion in the U.S. be overturned, as key drivers that will bring voters to the polls.

“If the Alito opinion is accurate and holds, it will be an amazing chapter in our history, something we’ve been working on for many decades,” added Cuccinelli. If ‘Roe’ is overturned, the decision to allow abortion will return to state legislatures, where it lay before 1973.

Cuccinelli assured conservatives the economy and inflation would be the key campaign issues in November. Today, the national average price for a gallon of gas reached $4.37, a record high.

The 11 GOP congressional candidates in the 10th District will hold a party canvass on Saturday, May 21, to determine a candidate to attempt to unseat Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who’s had the seat since 2019.

In the 7th District, early in-person absentee voting is underway for a June 21 Primary Election to determine which of the seven GOP candidates will face Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is vying to keep the seat despite the fact the re-drawn district no longer includes her home outside of Richmond.

In addition to the 7th and 10th, conservatives are confident they can also flip Congressional seats in the 2nd District (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Eastern Shore). A straw poll conducted during the dinner resulted in Jeanine Lawson as the favorite to win the firehouse primary and Yesli Vega in the June 23 Primary Election. Lawson and Vega sit on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

DeMint, a keynote speaker

Former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, from South Carolina, was the keynote speaker for the event. DeMint now manages a conservative consulting firm and tells dinner guests the U.S. is a gift from God to be maintained.

“Virginia Republicans are my favorite right now,” said DeMint, referencing GOP wins in November 2021. “I know you’ve worked hard; there were a lot of prayers involved, but a lot of people found out the truth about what the left was doing and what the teachers were teaching children. Democrats learned the hard way you don’t make moms mad and drag them out of the [school board meeting].”

DeMint said, “America is in decline because the Christian church is in decline.” Over the weekend, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares condemned rumors of violence at churches due to the leaked U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade.

“We must accept that God loves us before we go out and speak the truth,” added DeMint.

DeMint held his Senate office from 2005 to 2013 and represented the state in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005. After leaving the Senate, Jim DeMint became President of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation from 2013 to 2017. He now runs a consulting agency that trains conservative candidates to run for elected office.

“Starting from scratch”

Denny Daugherty, the new Prince William County GOP Chairman who took over this year for Tim Parrish, acknowledged the importance of the November 2022 congressional election but is focused on 2023, when the GOP will need to find candidates to run for 28 offices. Today, just five of the 28 seats are held by Republicans.

In 2023, all members of the Board of County Supervisors (Republicans hold three seats), School Board (one Republican-endorsed candidate on the Board), and Commonwealth Attorney (now held by Democrat Amy Ashworth) will be on the ballot.

In 2017, the county began its shift from being a reliable Republican stronghold to electing an overwhelming number of Democrats in 2019. Many blamed a growing population and a more ethnically diverse population as why many voted for Democrats.

“We’re starting from scratch next year,” said Daugherty. “We ought to talk to those new people who are moving here, especially the many Asians who supported Trump, and then they’ll see there are more Republicans than people who look like me.”

Last year, Hispanics also turned out in Virginia to support Republican candidates, electing the first Hispanic and first black woman to hold statewide office, Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, respectively.

Daugherty urged candidates to unabashedly print “Republican” on their campaign signs and literature and urged committee members to volunteer to work the polls.

“We need more poeple to step up,” he said.

Morton Blackwell and Patricia Bast “Patti” Lyman, national committeeman and woman for the Virginia GOP, and state GOP Chairman Rich Anderson, who lives in Prince William County, attended the event. All three said Prince William County would be vital in future party wins.

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported an incorrect date for the June Primary Election.