Less than three months ago, President Joe Biden — you remember him, right? — stepped down from his bid for a second term and threw his support behind Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, radically redefining this fall’s presidential race.
Just before that happened, we were beginning to write this month’s cover story about the race, which at that time was shaping up to be a rematch between the oldest U.S. presidential candidates in history — less the Thrilla in Manila and more the Scuffle over the Scooters.
What a difference a debate makes.
Let’s not kid ourselves: None of the Trump-Biden debates in 2020 or 2024 were exactly Lincoln-Douglas affairs. It’s been quite a while since presidential debates were more about substance than soundbites and scoring points. But what the June 27 debate did do was illuminate the toll that age has taken on Biden, sparking efforts from within the Democratic Party’s most powerful players to seek his graceful exit from the campaign.
Biden’s debate performance was “the worst performance ever by a major party candidate in a general election presidential debate,” opined University of Virginia political sage Larry Sabato, though he was quick to qualify that didn’t “necessarily mean Trump turned in a good performance.”
Although Virginia was still trending blue, Biden was continuing to lose ground before Harris, 22 years his junior, took his place.
And then, on Sept. 10, following the first — and likely only — Trump-Harris debate, Trump’s campaign appeared to be going to the dogs. And cats.
The average American voter might not be able to remember exactly what the candidates said about abortion or supporting Ukraine, but they’ll likely remember this Trump quote about Haitian immigrants in Ohio: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
ABC News debate moderators were quick to point out that Springfield city officials say there’s no factual basis for the outré allegations, which, as it turns out, were based on a Facebook post about a rumor from a friend of a friend of the poster’s neighbor’s daughter. The person who wrote the original Facebook post has since disavowed it, but that hasn’t stopped Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, from continuing to insist that it’s true, prompting everything from silly memes to school bomb threats.
Here in Virginia, the presidential race is a high-stakes matter, with the careers of tens of thousands of Virginian federal workers potentially on the line, along with another trade war with China and the future of renewable energy projects such as Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farms. Read more about what the Trump and Harris campaigns are saying about key issues of importance to Virginia, as well as the latest on this year’s congressional races, in our October cover story by freelance writer Mason Adams.
But lest you take the wrong message from this short column, consider this: After 2016, it’s probably best not to trust polls. The smart money would never rule out former President Donald J. Trump and his loyal base — just ask Franklin County entrepreneur Whitey Taylor, whose Trump Town store you can read about on our StartVirginia page this month. Housed in a former Boones Mill church with a giant Donald Trump standing next to its entrance, Trump Town draws MAGA merch buyers from far and wide. And Taylor expects he’ll still be selling Trump ballcaps for decades to come.
The 2024 presidential race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump carries hefty consequences for Virginia’s economy that will be even more pronounced than in previous elections.
Presidents are limited by the constraints of Congress — particularly if either chamber is held by the opposing party — and the clunkiness of the vast federal bureaucracy. Yet Harris and Trump’s sharply contrasting views could reshape everything from the size of Northern Virginia’s federal workforce and the pace of carbon-free energy transition to a military realignment that could dramatically affect Hampton Roads.
“Given the candidates’ proposals, I think we could be looking at one of the most consequential elections for the Virginia economy in recent decades,” says Robert McNab, director of Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “The question is, how much of each candidate’s proposals are actually passable through Congress, and how much could be done through executive action?”
As of early September, a CNN poll of six battleground states showed a tight field, with Harris ahead in Wisconsin and Michigan, Trump ahead in Arizona, and an even split in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
In Virginia, a Roanoke College poll in August showed Harris leading Trump 45% to 42%, a lead within the margin of error. The commonwealth isn’t exactly a battleground state like Pennsylvania or Michigan, and Republicans haven’t carried the state in a presidential election since 2004. In September, Axios reported that the Trump campaign appears to be scaling back efforts in Virginia while putting more money and work into Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
No matter which way Virginians vote, experts say, the next presidential administration could have big impacts for federal workers, government contractors, maritime businesses, agricultural enterprises and other industries in the commonwealth.
Federal workforce impact
Perhaps the biggest implication of the presidential race in Virginia involves its more than 140,000 federal workers and their families — the second highest number in the nation, just behind California’s 142,000 federal workers.
If Trump is elected in November, his Agenda47 plan includes several proposals that would dismantle the federal government’s presence in Washington, D.C. Those include shifting numerous agencies and departments to other parts of the country and removing civil service protections for wide swathes of employees to allow their replacement by administration loyalists.
“You’re talking about the potential relocation of tens of thousands of federal employees who work in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas,” McNab says. “That would be a significant blow to Northern Virginia and would potentially shave tenths of a percentage point off growth for Virginia’s gross domestic product and would also impact income taxes and sales taxes in the commonwealth. Whether it would happen and the scope of how it would happen remains to be determined, but it is certainly within the purview of executive action that could be done.”
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris appears on stage at a Harris for President campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Aug. 29. Photo by Kyle Mazza/NurPhoto via Associated Press
Some of that impact might be buffered by the pandemic-era shift to remote work, which already has led some federal employees to relocate from pricey Northern Virginia. Yet Virginia’s economy relies heavily on the federal government. Six of the top 15 congressional districts with the highest concentrations of federal workers in the U.S. are located in Virginia. Many of those are well-paid jobs, offering median pay about twice as high as that of the private sector.
“It’s not just the quantity but the quality of those jobs and how much they support the larger economy,” says Hamilton Lombard, demographer at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
In response to questions about federal workers and defense spending, Jeff Ryer, a Trump campaign spokesperson in Virginia, sent the following statement: “President Trump’s commitment to modernizing and rebuilding our military, as well as his promise to build a missile defense shield, will directly benefit Virginia’s economy. He has made a very specific pledge, highlighted in the 2024 Republican platform, to restore the safety and beauty of our nation’s capital, a change that will benefit the entire region. Five of the 10 wealthiest localities in the United States are in the Washington metropolitan region, which won’t change.”
But U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat running for his third term this year, tweeted in July that Trump’s plan to move 100,000 federal jobs outside of the D.C. region “is unacceptable and would punish the many public servants in our commonwealth who keep basic services running. We can’t afford a second Trump presidency.”
It’s not as easy to predict how a second Trump administration would impact the plethora of federal contracting companies that are a significant part of Northern Virginia’s economy — whether a decentralized federal government would mean more outsourcing of work to contractors or lead to staffing cuts among federal contractors isn’t known.
Hampton Roads, home to Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base, also has an economy that relies heavily on military spending, and the presidential election presents divergent futures for that region. Both Harris and Trump back more funding for the military but have different global priorities.
Harris represents a continuation of Biden’s foreign policy, which includes taking a leading role in the NATO alliance as a counter to Russia in Europe. Like Biden, Harris wants to continue providing funding for Ukraine to resist the Russian invasion that began in 2022. But Trump, who has enjoyed a warmer relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, claimed in 2023 that he could solve the crisis “in 24 hours.” Both Harris and Trump have expressed wariness of China, but Trump has taken a more hawkish stance, prompting concerns about military escalation.
Such a shift in focus from Europe to China could potentially affect military operations and defense contractors based in Virginia. The implications could be enormous, but geopolitical shifts inevitably take time to play out and are contingent on factors far beyond the reach of a lone president.
Also, as most political observers know, campaign promises are subject to change, especially when the president’s party doesn’t control Congress. On top of that, the 2024 presidential election has two unusual factors: a new candidate, Harris, who hasn’t rolled out all of her policies or specified how they differ from President Biden’s; and Trump, whose policies and views historically have fluctuated somewhat with polls and popular opinion.
Regarding the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint — a 900-page document that was compiled by dozens of powerful Republican thought leaders, including at least 140 former Trump administration officials — it’s difficult to tell how much of it would be enacted in a second Trump term.
Trump himself has made repeated attempts to distance himself from the document, calling some of its restrictions “dismal,” but his campaign’s Agenda47 platform has some similarities to Project 2025, which calls for eliminating up to 1 million federal jobs, slashing funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and rolling back green energy legislation supported by the Biden White House. Also, Project 2025 and Agenda47 both advocate restricting family-based immigration, as well as severely limiting work visas — which would have a major impact on some Virginia industries.
Harris, as vice president, focused on creating a diplomatic solution to address the root causes of migration from Central American countries, including high rates of violent crimes in those nations. She also advocated for a bill that would have lifted visa backlogs for family- and work-based green cards, but it stalled in Congress.
“I guess one of the problems with the current presidential election is there’s a lot of things being tossed out there,” McNab says. “Engaging which things would come to fruition is difficult, because what is rhetoric and what is an actual policy stance seems to be vague for both candidates.”
Energy priorities
The biggest priority for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and its roughly 31,000 member businesses is to boost the national gross domestic product to at least 3% annual growth, says chamber President and CEO Barry DuVal. In Virginia, that means investing in workforce training, child care and affordable housing.
DuVal calls for an increase in infrastructure investment, particularly around Virginia ports. That includes a second proposed inland port in Southwest Virginia supported by state legislators in the region, and the rail infrastructure needed to link it to the coast.
DuVal also cites energy as a major issue for businesses, particularly the need to bolster the power grid for growing demand from data centers and the cloud-based economy.
“We are very hopeful that candidates will take an all-of-the-above approach [to energy generation] that would include wind and solar and renewables but also natural gas and nuclear,” DuVal says, echoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s stance on energy.
Under Biden, Congress passed two major bills investing in infrastructure and clean energy. That legislation included sizable tax credits for wind, solar, battery storage and the shift to electric vehicles. Electric vehicle and battery companies have started construction on factories across the Southeast, mostly in other states.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin shakes hands with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during a June 28 campaign rally in Chesapeake. Photo by Associated Press/Steve Helber
The Biden White House also approved auctions of leases for offshore wind plots in the Atlantic Ocean; currently, Dominion Energy leases the acreage for the Central Virginia Offshore Wind project under construction off Virginia Beach and also is securing offshore wind farm leases adjacent to that project and in North Carolina.
Harris, if elected, would presumably continue rolling out the investments laid out in the federal infrastructure packages, but Trump has promised he’d claw back the funding and roll back clean energy laws. He has specifically called out electric vehicles, which he views as an economic threat to American vehicle makers, and offshore wind farms, which he pledged to stop on “day one” of his presidency.
In his July speech at Radford University, Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, referred to Harris’ support for the “green new scam destroying energy jobs in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and driving up the cost of goods.”
Vance offered a different solution: oil and gas. “It’s simple: Drill, baby, drill,” he said on stage. “It’s not that complicated. We’ve got it right here. Our own workers want to get it out of the ground. Why don’t we just let them? It’ll make our country stronger.”
As of early September, Harris had not clarified her climate and energy stances, but the Democratic platform advocates for continued investment in clean energy, including solar and offshore wind, and strengthening the electrical grid. The Biden administration also issued a rule that would require 56% of all vehicle sales to be electric cars by 2032, up from less than 10% as of 2023.
Immigration questions
Looking broadly, “across the board, Americans care deeply about economic policies, about inflation and the cost of goods, followed by immigration and health care,” says Amanda Wintersieck, associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University and director of its Institute for Democracy, Pluralism, and Community Empowerment. “We’re seeing both candidates finally talk in a little bit better detail about the issue of inflation and economic issues.”
But immigration is still a flashpoint in the presidential race, with most of the rhetoric focused on the United States’ southern border. Trump regularly attacks Harris’s role in the Biden administration’s border enforcement, while Harris accuses Trump of using his influence to torpedo a bipartisan reform bill negotiated by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican former Senate majority leader. According to the vice president, Trump got wind of the bill and convinced House Republicans to vote it down because he feared it could hurt his campaign, and Harris vowed to sign the bill if it comes to her desk as president.
Despite the political heat surrounding immigration, it’s more of a workaday issue for businesses in Virginia, from the tech industry to hospitality to agriculture, that need real immigration reform to help them address their workforce demands, DuVal says.
“From an economic perspective, America has to grow its workforce,” DuVal says. “We want workers to be legally imported workers. We don’t have a big enough funnel. Immigration reform is a top priority for us. We’re calling on our federal representatives to find bipartisan support for improving the immigration process.”
That call was echoed by Hobey Bauhan, president of the Virginia Poultry Federation. The state’s poultry farms and facilities in the Shenandoah Valley and Eastern Shore rely heavily on immigrant workers.
“Our nation needs legal immigration for healthy economic growth,” Bauhan says. “We also need secure borders. Unfortunately, the political climate in recent decades seems to preclude bipartisan compromises that would achieve both objectives.”
In particular, the poultry industry would like to see the establishment of a guest worker program geared toward nonseasonal employment.
“That would allow guest workers to stay in the United States for longer periods of time to address nonseasonal agricultural needs, such as poultry, which is year-round,” Bauhan says. But, he notes, “it tends to be polarizing and difficult to get enough people on the same page and get it across the finish line.”
Trade and the port
Both Harris and Trump contend they’d do a better job than their opponent in leading the U.S. economy to new heights, and a stronger economy would lift individual industries.
That’s the case at the Port of Virginia.
“More than anything, for us, what affects trade is the economy,” says Joe Harris, the port’s spokesperson. “Right now, we have a very strong dollar. We’re able to buy more abroad. The value of our goods going overseas is greater, which makes it harder for people to buy our exports. Our collective ability to purchase is great.”
The American Association of Port Authorities has pushed back on a new 25% tariff on cranes imported from China, an order from the Biden White House that was set to go into effect Aug. 1 with other tariff increases on Chinese-made electric cars, semiconductors and solar cells. However, the increases have been delayed to an uncertain future date, due to industry pushback.
According to a news release, the AAPA is concerned the tariff could cause “grave harm to port efficiency and capacity, strained supply chains, increased consumer prices and a weaker U.S. economy.” At the Port of Virginia, all 27 cranes are manufactured by Chinese state-owned ZPMC, and eight more cranes are on order from the company, set to arrive in December and next year.
Both Harris and Trump have expressed support for tariffs to some degree. A Harris spokesperson said in a statement to The New York Times that Harris would “employ targeted and strategic tariffs to support American workers, strengthen our economy, and hold our adversaries accountable.” The Biden administration kept some of Trump’s tariffs on China and even proposed an increase.
Trump, however, has proposed much higher tariffs on most imports, up to 60% on Chinese products — a position Harris has called a “Trump tax” that would cost middle-class families almost $4,000 a year. Economists say that may be a bit overblown, suggesting the true cost to families may rise to $2,600 a year, according to a USA Today article.
“President Trump’s commitment to make America the dominant energy producer in the world, strengthen and modernize our military, and roll back the Biden-Harris administration’s oppressive regulatory burden on our businesses and family farms will supercharge Virginia’s economy,” his Virginia spokesperson said in an email to Virginia Business.
Port spokesperson Harris was careful to distance the port from partisan politics.
“We try to stay outside the political fray,” he says. “We want to live and do business with whoever is in control of the White House and the governor’s office. More than anything outside of politics, the greatest influence is the economy.”
He does, however, note that potential issues also could arise “if someone in the White House wants to enact tariffs, or all of a sudden we find ourselves in a trade war.”
RELATED STORY: Spotlight on 2024 Senate, House races
With the support of Republicans and Democrats, the Virginia State Senate on Wednesday censured Sen. Amanda Chase, R- Chesterfield County, for “failure to uphold her oath of office, misuse of office and conduct unbecoming of a senator” based on a laundry list of controversies extending over the past two years.
In a 24-9 vote, with six Republicans abstaining, Chase became the first state senator to be censured in Virginia since 1987, when Norfolk Democratic Sen. Peter Balabas was sanctioned for not disclosing a conflict of interest.
The vote also placed Chase last in seniority, a move that is even more rare than censure, although it is unlikely to have much of a material effect on the senator, who has been stripped of all committee assignments over the past two years since leaving the Senate Republican Caucus.
Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said, “Since taking her oath in 2016, Sen. Amanda Chase has over and over again engaged in behavior unbecoming of a senator. She propagated conspiracy theories; lied to her constituents, followers, and colleagues; praised those who espoused racist and anti-Semitic sentiments; and on many other occasions brought disrepute upon herself, and by extension, the Senate of Virginia. Sen. Amanda Chase’s conduct had to be held accountable, and that’s what we did today.”
The vote came after more than an hour of speeches against Chase — with some of the the most forceful delivered by Chase’s fellow Republicans.
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, the leader of the Senate Republican Caucus, accused Chase of “absolute hypocrisy” and of violating “personal integrity,” based partly on Chase’s actions over the past few days as she has battled the censure motion.
Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City County
Despite Chase’s comment last week on the floor that she had not filed a resolution to censure Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, for her attendance at a social justice protest last summer, Norment said he had found out that Chase had attempted to file the resolution twice but had not been allowed to do so because it would have exceeded the limit on the number of bills a senator can file during the short session.
“Violation of personal integrity is totally unacceptable, totally unacceptable,” said Norment, who voted to censure Chase.
“How dare you!” said an indignant Chase, addressing Norment. She then referred to years-old ethical controversies Norment was involved in, as well as criminal charges against Lucas — since dropped — that stemmed from a Portsmouth protest.
“The reason I left the caucus was because of your improprieties. Your affairs, your lies. … Your behavior, sir, does not become a sitting senator,” Chase said. “To the senator from Portsmouth, who was arrested on two felony counts this year, give me a break! You should be on the floor defending me. I was never even charged with a crime. I was never even arrested for a crime.”
Laundry list of controversies
On Tuesday, chief sponsor Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun, added an eight-paragraph list of controversies to support the resolution’s charges. It started with Chase’s 2019 conflict with a state Capitol police officer over parking and also mentioned Chase’s anti-masking stance during the pandemic, as well as a series of comments and social media posts by Chase that have been broadly criticized for denigrating Black people, rape victims and state Democrats. The censure resolution also chastised Chase for “propagating unfounded claims” about the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump supporters. The censure resolution’s revised wording was accepted by a voice vote Tuesday, despite Chase’s objections that the First Amendment covers her right to make such statements, “inflammatory” or not.
Chase continued to deliver the same argument Wednesday, saying her conduct is protected by the Constitution and threatening to sue the state Senate if it went forward with the vote against her.
In an interview Tuesday night, Bell said he made the changes to address other senators’ freedom of speech concerns and expected to receive more votes on the reworded resolution, including some Republican support. Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, said the Senate Democrats Caucus had a “knockdown, drag-out fight” over what warranted censure that resulted in the rewording of the measure. While he supported the censure resolution, Morrissey added that he believes some of the criticisms of Chase listed in the censure are “protected” speech, including Chase’s comment that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen.”
The first draft of the resolution, introduced on the first day of the General Assembly, sought Chase’s censure “for fomenting insurrection,” citing her speech and attendance at the Jan. 6 pro-Trump demonstration that preceded the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and her social media posts about it. However, the revised censure resolution dropped the “insurrection” accusation and instead sought to censure and place the gubernatorial hopeful last in seniority “for failure to uphold her oath of office, misuse of office and conduct unbecoming of a senator.”
In comments Wednesday, Chase also called out other senators — including Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania County, and Morrissey — for actions she argued were not becoming of a senator.
Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun
“What a double standard,” Chase said with a raised voice. Addressing Morrissey, who has had multiple legal run-ins over the years, including serving three months in jail as a former state delegate for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (stemming from his relationship with a then-17-year-old girl who is now his wife), Chase said that she was always “kind” to Morrissey.
Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Prince William, interrupted Chase mid-sentence, saying that she was breaching decorum and called for a brief break. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, serving as president of the Senate, reminded the legislative body of its rules requiring that they observe decorum during debate “and to treat everyone with respect.”
Chase resumed with a more chastened tone, saying that she was disappointed in her colleagues who “never once” came to her privately to discuss their grievances as they occurred. She said that she prays and added that “my heart is right with the Lord.”
Chase then specifically denounced white supremacists among the people who breached the U.S. Capitol. “I don’t support any of those groups. I don’t support any groups that support hate,” Chase said. She also condemned everyone “who broke the law” during the siege and said they should be arrested.
It was a change in tone for Chase, who, after the Jan. 6 insurrection, used the the word “patriots” in regard to the rioters in a post on her official Facebook page and said that pro-Trump rioter and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt had been “brutally murdered by Capitol Police.”
‘A call for help’
Before Wednesday’s censure vote, several Republican senators took to the floor and condemned their colleague but ultimately abstained from voting. Some said that although they didn’t support the resolution on freedom of speech or procedural grounds, they also didn’t want to show support for Chase by voting against censure.
“She has long ago exhausted any remaining reservoir of trust and credibility with most of her colleagues, if not all of her colleagues,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg. “And I am not sure, that at this point in time, she can claim a single member of the General Assembly — not just [in] the Senate, but the House of Delegates and the Senate — as an ally.”
Obenshain also decried the senator’s “narcissistic behavior” and “total unfamiliarity with truth,” while indicating that he would abstain from voting. Under different circumstances, Obenshain said, he likely would have voted against the resolution on First Amendment grounds but would not do so because he did not want to endorse Chase’s “antics.”
Sen. William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin County, decried Chase’s “sense of entitlement,” as well as “greed and ambition.” Although he did not support the resolution, he added, “I will not vote ‘no’ because it is a reward for bad behavior.”
Others said they hoped Chase would seek help, including Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Bedford County, who suggested that Chase’s behavior both inside and outside of the Senate “represents a call for help.” Newman objected to the process of the resolution, which was changed significantly on Tuesday in substitute text, but that the charges — focusing on Chase’s overall behavior during the past two years — should have all been debated in committee before coming to a final floor vote.
In a statement issued by the Senate Republican Caucus after the vote, party leaders said it was “disheartening” to spend time in the Senate on the censure instead of business affecting the state. “Sen. Chase’s selfishness and constant need for media attention, with which the Senate Republican Caucus is keenly familiar, brought us to the situation in which the Senate found itself today.” Although GOP senators voted differently — three supporting the resolution, nine voting against and six abstaining — “all … are united in their disappointment in Sen. Chase and their disdain for her actions,” the statement said.
‘Politically motivated hit job’
The censure resolution shifted focus Tuesday to Chase’s overall behavior over the past two years, instead of only on her conduct Jan. 6, when she spoke at a rally on the National Mall hours before the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol, which led to five deaths. Chase left the area around the Capitol before the takeover and departed Washington, D.C., shortly after. But in a Facebook post that evening, she wrote, “These were not rioters and looters; these were Patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great republic turn into a socialist country.”
In a news release from her campaign Wednesday, Chase threatened to sue the Senate if it moved forward with the censure, calling the entire process “a politically motivated hit job.”
She says she’s being targeted because she is “the Republican frontrunner in the race for governor” and has outraised former House of Delegates Speaker Kirk Cox, who entered the gubernatorial race in November. Chase was the first GOP hopeful to declare her candidacy, announcing in February 2020.
As of Dec. 31, 2020, Chase had raised $668,982 and Cox had raised $393,631, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, and her balance at the end of the year was $229,745, while Cox had $341,896 on hand. The field of five Republican candidates are competing for the nomination that will be decided by convention May 1.
On Jan. 22, in an effort to avoid censure, Chase made an apology to the Senate in a speech on the floor, saying, “If I have offended any one of you in this room because I am very passionate about the Constitution, I apologize.”
Bell had offered to strike the resolution if Chase made a full apology and condemned violent actors in the Capitol siege, but he and other Democrats felt Chase’s speech “fell far short” of what they required. In her speech, Chase continued to defend her conduct and also criticized a public radio journalist whom she said misattributed a quote to her.
Later Friday, as the resolution went forward, Chase returned to her defiant stance, tweeting that she would “wear [the censure] like a badge of honor.” On her Twitter account, she hurled criticism at Lucas for taking part in a social justice protest last June in which a Confederate statue was taken down by demonstrators hours after the president pro tempore had left the area; and Norment, who was embroiled in ethics controversies several years ago but was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing after a federal investigation in 2015.
“Sen. Norment, it’s not good to throw rocks in glass houses,” Chase tweeted Tuesday night, adding that he, too, should be censured.
In her campaign’s announcement Wednesday, Chase said the censure was “nothing more than a failed attempt to tarnish my good name, reputation and solid conservative record. We are going to fight this unprecedented political hit job and prevail.”
A newly reworded resolution to censure state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, seeks to place the ardent Trump supporter and gubernatorial hopeful last in seniority “for failure to uphold her oath of office, misuse of office and conduct unbecoming of a senator.” It no longer seeks censure “for fomenting insurrection,” as a previous version read.
The Senate resolution now includes a list of controversies surrounding Chase, including: her conflict with a state Capitol police officer in 2019; her anti-masking stance; statements seen as derogatory toward rape victims, Black people and state Democrats; and “propagating unfounded claims” about the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Chase spoke at the pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C. that preceded the violent insurrection and left the National Mall in the early afternoon, before the breach of the Capitol building. In a social media post, she used the word “patriots” in regard to the rioters and said that pro-Trump rioter and charged that Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt “was brutally murdered by Capitol Police.”
“The inflammatory statements and actions of Senator Amanda F. Chase during her tenure in the Senate of Virginia have created and aggravated tensions, misled constituents and citizens, and obstructed the Senate’s business in service of the commonwealth,” the resolution now reads. “Such behavior … has caused a material effect upon the conduct of her office.”
In eight paragraphs, the resolution outlines Chase’s “pattern of unacceptable conduct,” including her criticism of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Jennifer McClellan’s status as vice chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, saying she is “not for all Virginians.” The resolution also mentions Chase’s widely circulated quote, “I don’t do COVID,” implying that the coronavirus is a choice. And it calls Chase out for making “baseless claims of a ‘stolen’ [presidential] election,” without proof and contrary to state election certifications and nationwide court rulings against claims made by President Donald Trump’s campaign.
The censure resolution is likely to be voted on by the full state Senate on Wednesday or Thursday.
The bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun County, explained that he adjusted the wording after a discussion with Senate colleagues about their concerns that the original resolution may have treaded on Chase’s freedom of speech, as it criticized her for speaking at the Jan. 6 rally. He also said on the Senate floor Tuesday night that he was continuing to pursue the censure — which would be the first such measure in 35 years if passed — because Chase’s speech last week “fell far short” of an apology and full condemnation of violent actors at the U.S. Capitol. Bell and Chase had previously discussed a deal, in which if she gave an unconditional apology and clarified her comments about the Capitol breach, he would strike the resolution.
Bell added in an interview Tuesday that the changes are likely to gain the measure more votes, including from some Republican senators. Chase, who left the Senate Republican Caucus in 2019, has strained relations with her party. She was kicked out of the Chesterfield County Republican Party after butting heads with the county’s Republican sheriff and criticizing him on social media. In 2020, a Republican senator’s aide formed an anti-Chase political action committee, the Unfit Virginia PAC, to oppose her bid for this year’s GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Chase on Tuesday attempted to get the censure resolution discarded by arguing that the new wording was an attempt by Bell to “come up with another reason to try to embarrass me before the commonwealth of Virginia.” She added that all of her comments, “inflammatory” or not, are protected by the First Amendment and that the substituted resolution is not germane to her Senate duties.
In his role as Senate president, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax ruled that the censure’s new wording was germane and allowed the measure to go forward with the changes. Chase then asked to postpone the vote by one day, giving her more time to build her argument.
Kicking off a brief parliamentary discussion, Bell objected to the delay, as did Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City, who noted that Chase did not speak when the resolution was before the Senate Privileges & Elections committee last week. “I don’t think it disadvantages her that she can make the same spurious argument when we take the matter up,” Norment said.
Arguing in favor of the delay, however, was Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Henrico County, saying it was a typical Senate courtesy to allow a one-day delay at the request of a member.
“While I respect what was said on the floor today, on a personal level, my mother-in-law had open-heart surgery today,” Chase said, her voice choking. “I need to go check on my mother-in-law, and I will not be preparing statements for this tonight.”
Bell agreed to withdraw his objection, as did Norment, who said that he did so out of respect for Bell and “not attributable to tears.” Bell said later it was a “surprise” when Chase mentioned her mother-in-law. “She never mentioned that to me or to anyone else. I reversed, taking her at her word.”
Although Chase has been stripped of all committee assignments due to her departure from the GOP caucus, Bell said that being placed last in seniority would be “a major issue” for Chase “because it’s such a rare thing. What I hope changes is her behavior. The honor of the body is at stake.”
In a bid to avoid becoming the first state senator censured since 1986, state Sen. Amanda Chase on Friday apologized to her Senate colleagues, saying she was sorry “if I offended any one of you.”
Her words were not enough to avoid censure, the chief patron of the censure resolution said in an interview with Virginia Business on Friday afternoon, confirming he would not withdraw the measure. It’s likely to come up for a vote by the full Senate on Wednesday.
The Washington Post reported Thursday night that Chase, R-Chesterfield County, and Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun, chief patron of the censure resolution, had struck a deal that if she apologized and “clarified” her remarks about participants in the violent siege of the U.S. Capitol, he would withdraw his resolution to censure her for “fomenting insurrection against the United States.”
In her speech on the floor of the Senate on Friday, Chase continued to defend her participation in a Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally at the National Mall that led to a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Chase posted on Facebook on Jan. 6 that pro-Trump rioter and Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt “was brutally murdered by Capitol Police today. . . . These were not rioters and looters; these were Patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great republic turn into a socialist country.”
Bell said he sponsored the measure because, as a retired military officer, “this was something that really hurt me to my core” and that he considers Chase’s words and actions as “aiding and comforting the enemy.” He spoke three times with Chase about the resolution — including once in person Thursday at the Science Museum of Virginia, where the Senate is convened, and on the phone Thursday night. He made it clear that if she gave an “unconditional” apology and condemned the people who committed violence and those who wore anti-Semitic and other offensive garments, he would strike the resolution to censure her.
“I believe in second chances,” Bell said, and he said that Chase had taken notes when they met in person and agreed to Bell’s terms. Thursday night, he contacted her because he had received an interview request from a journalist for comment on the situation and wanted to let her know that he had not talked to the press about their agreement. “It’s a disappointment,” Bell said, and added that he was “a bit surprised about how disjointed her comments became.”
Chase spoke about nine minutes Friday, addressing numerous topics, from the 2020 election to calling out a member of the media by name.
“I have not come in here storming the Senate of Virginia in any type of insurrection-type behavior,” said Chase, who is seeking the GOP’s 2021 gubernatorial nomination. “If I have offended any one of you in this room because I am very passionate about the Constitution, I apologize.”
She added that she had “openly condemned the actions of those at the Capitol,” but continued to say that her part in the day’s events involved no violence and that the people surrounding her in Washington, D.C., were “people I call patriots. These people love their country, just like I do.”
She said her goal of participating in President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 “Save America” rally was to “protect” the legitimacy of the presidential vote, which she has repeatedly claimed without evidence was “stolen” from Trump through voter fraud.
Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun
Chase also criticized a journalist from Roanoke public radio station WVTF, Michael Pope, whom she said misattributed a quote to her, in which she used the word “patriots” with regard to participants in the demonstration in a Facebook post. Chase said she never called the people involved in the breach “patriots,” only the ones who did not take part in violence. “We have to hold the media accountable. There are some reporters giving all of our reporters a bad name.”
However, fellow Republican Sen. David Suetterlein of Roanoke County defended Pope and said that Chase had used the word “patriots” to describe pro-Trump demonstrators in the Facebook post, which has now been removed, along with her official Senate Facebook page. “I think it’s unfair to malign the member of the press who simply quoted it,” Suetterlein said.
Chase also reversed herself Friday on comments about Democrats’ participation in Black Lives Matter protests last summer, saying, “Going forward, if you decide to participate in a rally or a protest and something happens, as it happened to the senator from Portsmouth, I didn’t file a censure for you, and I’d ask that you do the same for me.”
Chase promised last week to “start calling people out in this room,” indicating on social media that she would propose censure resolutions against any Democratic senators who participated in social justice protests last summer that led to property damage. Last week Chase also said she was planning to file a resolution to censure Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, for taking part in a social justice demonstration in June 2020 during which a Confederate statue was taken down by protesters. On Twitter Wednesday, Chase said that the filing was “mysteriously being held up in the Senate Clerk’s office” and shared a resolution document calling for Lucas’ censure “for encouraging protesters to break the law and asking police to stand down while rioters broke the law and destroyed public property. … Senator L. Louise Lucas has clearly abused her position as a state senator.”
The resolution had not been assigned a number or appeared in the state’s Legislative Information System as of Friday, and Chase may already have reached her legislation limit, set before the 30-day session.
By Friday night, Chase had changed her conciliatory stance, tweeting: “If Virginia Senate Democrats censure me, I’ll wear it like a badge of honor and raise lots of money statewide to defeat Terry [McAuliffe]. To me; it’s a win win.” On Saturday, she tweeted, “Virginia Senate Democrats really didn’t want an apology; they wanted complete submission. And that’s not going to happen; not today; not tomorrow; not ever.” She also continued criticizing Lucas.
With multiple Democrats as co-sponsors, the censure resolution was passed on a party line vote Tuesday by the Democratic-controlled Privileges and Elections committee, moving it to a future vote on the Senate floor. If passed, it would be the first censure of a state senator since 1986.
In response to Chase’s participation at the rally came calls for her resignation by Virginia Senate Democrats and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus voiced its support for the censure of Chase in a statement this week.
Bell said he considered filing a resolution to expel Chase from the Senate, the most serious penalty the body can enact, but he didn’t believe he had the two-thirds majority vote necessary to remove her from the seat in the Senate, which is divided 21-18 in favor of Democrats and has one vacancy due to the Jan. 1 death of Sen. Ben Chafin, R-Russell County. But also, Bell said Friday he believes “things should be done in steps,” and that’s what the party has done, starting with its call for Chase’s resignation on Jan. 6.
At this point of the session, Bell or any other member of the Senate would have to get unanimous consent to file a resolution past deadline, or two-thirds consent to change the rules — neither of which is likely in this case.
Sen. Mark J. Peake, R-Lynchburg, said earlier in the week that “in pursuit of her personal goals,” Chase likes to say, “Look at me, I fight the good old boys.” Although Chase said she was being punished for not paying Republican Senate caucus dues, others said that was false, as dues are optional and do not affect committee assignments. In 2019, Chase left the caucus when it re-elected Sen. Thomas Norment, R-James City County, as its leader — and that was why she lost seniority privileges and assignments, Suetterlein said earlier this week.
Chase’s statement Friday caps a period in which the senior Chesterfield County senator has often antagonized Democrats and Republicans by embracing and echoing Trump’s combative stances, including a refusal to wear a face mask when the state Senate meets and pushing the false narrative that Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election.
A resolution to censure state Sen. Amanda Chase moved forward Tuesday, and the embattled Republican from Chesterfield County also was stripped of her last committee assignment, although not without objections.
Chase left the Virginia Senate Republican Caucus in 2019 after Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, was re-elected as the Senate party leader. At the time, she said that Norment had allowed tax increases and expanded Medicaid and didn’t live up to Republican values. In 2020, Chase lost her seniority privileges and was stripped of three committee assignments, keeping only her assignment to the low-profile Local Government committee. Tuesday, Chase was the only “no” vote against approving the Senate committee assignments.
In a speech Tuesday, Chase claimed that she had lost her remaining committee assignment because she refused to pay $10,000 in annual caucus dues in 2020. “This is extortion,” she said, adding that her staff had been “bullied” as a result and that she had been “put over in the corner, like a scolded child.”
But Republican Sen. David Suetterlein of Botetourt County said Chase’s claim was not accurate. “One, I didn’t pay any caucus dues last year, and I don’t think anyone on the Republican side did,” Suetterlein said, noting that it didn’t matter with regard to committee assignments. Also, he pointed out, Chase herself “didn’t pay dues for multiple years” and had still maintained her committee assignments.
Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, said he recalled the meeting in 2019 when Chase said she was leaving the caucus. “The senator from Hanover said, ‘Whoa, don’t do that. You lose seniority and placement on all committees,’ which was met with wide eyes.” Obenshain added that leaving the party caucus had long carried the penalty of losing clout, dating back to then-Sen. Russ Potts’ decision to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent gubernatorial candidate in 2005. There were no changes in policy following Chase’s decision.
Sen. Mark J. Peake, R-Lynchburg, said that actions have consequences, and that “in pursuit of her personal goals,” Chase enjoys saying, “Look at me, I fight the good old boys.”
Tuesday afternoon, Democratic Sen. John J. Bell of Loudoun County introduced SR 91, which seeks to censure Chase for her participation in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol grounds that became a violent takeover of the Capitol building. The resolution passed the Democratic-controlled Committee on Privileges and Elections on a party-line vote of 9 to 6, and will be taken up by the entire Senate next.
Bell said “it brings me no joy” to present the resolution, which, if passed, would be the first censure of a Virginia state senator since 1986. It carries no further penalties.
“Leading up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, the senior senator from Chesterfield posted, ‘Make no mistake, we are at war,'” Bell said. “In the same post, she supported a call for martial law and falsely claimed the Democratic party hijacked our 2020 presidential election and committed treason. She went on to say, ‘Where the hell are the Republicans?’ I ask you, who is the war the senior senator refers to against? … I can only assume the war she refers to is against the United States.”
Chase herself did not make any remarks following the resolution; she asked committee chair Sen. Creigh Deeds via Zoom if the resolution vote could be delayed, as she was not prepared to speak. Deeds asked if Chase had been informed of the Tuesday vote, and Bell said he had spoken with her several days ago about it.
“There’s nothing to prevent her now from speaking to us,” added co-sponsor Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. The vote went on, and Chase will have another opportunity to speak when the resolution reaches the Senate floor.
In a tweet Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam decried the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s denial of federal funding for the Virginia National Guard presence at the U.S. Capitol as a “slap in the face” by President Donald Trump.
“Virginia was there to defend the U.S. Capitol on January 6 — and we are committed to ensuring a peaceful transfer of power tomorrow. Now, the same president who incited this terrorism has denied us support in our efforts to stop it,” the governor tweeted. “A slap in the face.”
FEMA denied requests from Virginia and Maryland for an emergency declaration Monday, according to The Washington Post. The decision, which both states plan to appeal, would leave Virginia and Maryland state governments bearing most of the cost burden for deploying National Guard members and state and local police officers to help restore order at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection and to maintain security around the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Northam spokesperson Alena Yarmosky said the state could lose up to 75% of federal reimbursement, adding that the state plans to appeal after Biden is inaugurated Wednesday at noon.
During the breach of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters, Northam sent Virginia National Guard members and about 200 Virginia State Police troopers to help regain control of the situation after U.S. Capitol Police were overwhelmed. Northam promised to keep Guard members in place through the inauguration of Biden. Currently about 2,400 Virginia National Guard members are stationed in Washington, D.C., as part of an unprecedented force of 25,000 guardsmen charged with maintaining security for Biden’s inauguration.
The FBI, following the events of Jan. 6, issued alerts of possible violent uprisings at the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings around Biden’s inauguration from right wing extremists who believe despite evidence and multiple court rulings that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The president was impeached on Jan. 13 for inciting the Capitol insurrection, making him the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. The U.S. Senate is expected to hold his post-presidency impeachment trial in coming weeks.
Virginia’s Capitol Square, which is closed through Thursday, saw about 100 gun-rights protesters gather nearby Monday, while others drove through the city as part of the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s “rolling caravan” to support the Second Amendment. Small bands of protesters from various groups, including the Original Black Panthers of Virginia and local members of the far right boogaloo boys and Proud Boys movements showed up for the protests. It was a far quieter demonstration than in 2020, when about 22,000 people — most of them armed — crowded into the downtown Richmond streets around the Capitol for a rally.
Protests at other state capitols last weekend were similarly subdued or nonexistent, although security and tensions remain high in Washington, D.C.
As state Democrats seek to censure her for participating in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally that preceded the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol, state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, said she planned to file a resolution Monday to censure Democratic colleague Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, for taking part in a social justice protest last summer in Portsmouth.
Chase, who is running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, warned her colleagues last week on the Senate floor, “If you’re going to call me out, I’m going to start calling people out in this room.” Chase said Friday that she planned to file a censure resolution Monday against Lucas.
Chase also tweeted Friday that she planned “to call for censure of every last legislator who has arrested or participated in a rally that ended in destruction.”
“Amanda Chase is reacting to the filing of SR91 to censure her for helping incite the insurrection to overthrow the government,” Lucas said in a tweet Friday. “We can no longer allow her to spread conspiracy theories without consequences.”
A resolution sponsored by Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun, calls on the state Senate to censure Chase for “fomenting insurrection against the United States” after she “addressed a crowd gathered in Washington, D.C., to urge that action be taken to overturn the lawfully conducted 2020 presidential election.” Eleven other Democratic senators, including Lucas, are listed as co-sponsors. The resolution has been referred to the Senate Privileges and Elections committee, which meets Tuesday.
In her speech last week, Chase said it was “outrageous” and “hypocritical” that lawmakers who participated in social justice protests last summer after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis would seek to punish Chase for speaking at the Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally. Chase added that she “will not be lectured about civility by the same politicians who remained silent while our cities and communities were burned and destroyed by domestic terrorist groups Antifa and BLM.”
According to videos she posted on her personal and Senate Facebook pages on Jan. 6, Chase had left the Capitol area before the breach, and departed Washington, D.C., altogether by mid-afternoon. She has defended her participation in the demonstration — which drew calls from Senate Democrats and others for her to resign. Chase said she “absolutely” won’t resign and has continued to argue without proof that she believes the presidential election was “stolen” from President Donald Trump.
Chase said Friday she planned to file her own resolution to censure Lucas on Monday. As of noon, it had not yet appeared in Virginia’s Legislative Information System, although there is typically a delay between filing and publishing. Chase’s resolution is unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Lucas, who has represented her district since 1992 and serves as Senate president pro tempore, was among 19 co-defendants charged last August with felonies related to a June 2020 protest that led to the toppling of a Confederate statue, charges that were later dropped. Lucas and other political figures, including the city’s vice mayor, a local school board member and the president of the Portsmouth NAACP, had spoken earlier in the day at the protest in Portsmouth but had left before the statue, erected to honor local Confederate soldiers, came down. One man was seriously injured when the statue fell but has recovered.
The timing of the warrants — months after the protest and the day before Lucas was set to join the Senate in Richmond for its special session in August — led to widespread criticism of Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene, who has since been fired and plans to sue the city.
The last time a Virginia state senator was censured was in 1986, when Norfolk Sen. Peter Balabas was censured for unethical conduct. Censuring does not include any other penalties, but it is the harshest sanction the body can use against one of its own, except for expulsion, which requires a two-thirds majority vote.
State Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, faces censure after a Democratic colleague filed a resolution Thursday alleging that Chase “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. Constitution when she participated in the pro-Trump rally Jan. 6 that led to the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol.
The resolution has been sent to the Democratic-controlled Senate Privileges and Elections committee, which meets Tuesday. A censure does not include any further penalties, but it is relatively rarely used by Virginia’s Senate and is its harshest sanction against one of its own, except for expulsion, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. The last time a member was censured was in 1986, when Norfolk Sen. Peter Balabas was censured for unethical conduct — casting votes in violation of conflict of interest rules.
Chase, who is seeking the GOP’s Virginia gubernatorial nomination this year, “addressed a crowd gathered in Washington, D.C., to urge that action be taken to overturn the lawfully conducted 2020 presidential election,” says the resolution sponsored by Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudoun, with support from co-sponsoring Democrats. The measure seeks to censure Chase for “fomenting insurrection against the United States.”
In the Senate’s noon session, Chase preemptively spoke against the proposed censure, saying it was “outrageous” and “hypocritical” that lawmakers who had participated in social justice protests last summer, which Chase characterized as violent, would consider punishing her for speaking at the Jan. 6 “Save America March” event that immediately preceded the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Last week, Chase’s official state Senate page was restricted by Facebook, not allowing her to broadcast live video or advertise for 60 days, or to post or comment on the page for a week.
Senate Democrats also called for Chase to resign following the breach of the U.S. Capitol, which led to five deaths, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. She refused, defending her presence at the demonstration.
“If you’re going to call me out, I’m going to start calling people out in this room,” Chase warned Thursday as she stood inside a Plexiglas cubicle because she refuses to wear a face mask.
Chase said that she “will not be lectured about civility by the same politicians who remained silent while our cities and communities were burned and destroyed by domestic terrorists groups Antifa and BLM.” The senator then invoked the BLM slogan “Say her name,” which gained popularity in protests after Louisville, Kentucky, police shot and killed Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency room technician, last year in her apartment. However, Chase used the phrase in reference to Ashli Babbitt, a white California woman who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol officer while participating in the Capitol riots.
Chase also used the opportunity to promote her gubernatorial run, claiming, “The people of America had no one to fight for them until Trump; the people of Virginia had no one to fight for them until me,” Chase said.
The senator from Chesterfield further argued that she and other Republicans felt Virginia’s election laws had been degraded “under the pretense of COVID” and blamed state Democrats for creating loopholes for potential voter fraud, including ending the photo ID requirement at polling places and allowing ballots to be dropped off at unattended boxes.
She added that overwhelming numbers of Republican voters believe the election was stolen in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, although no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been proven in Virginia or other states. “I had to be there [at the rally] to represent those of us who believe the election was stolen from we the people.”
She described attendees at the Jan. 6 rally as “patriots” and said that the events she attended were “peaceful.” She said she did not support or call for violence. “I think it’s wrong what happened, and I stand against the violence.” In videos she posted that day on social media, Chase apparently left the area around the Capitol before the breach occurred and left Washington, D.C., entirely by mid-afternoon on Jan. 6.
“Repeating lies and conspiracy theories does not make them true,” said Sen. Adam P. Ebbin, D-Alexandria, one of the resolution’s co-sponsors, after Chase’s speech. “The reason some voters’ confidence has been impacted is because some so-called leaders use misinformation, fake news and lies. Leadership requires truth.”
Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment Jr., R-Virginia Beach, also criticized Chase for using her Senate privileges to promote her governor campaign.
“The point of personal privilege is not to be prostituted for an individual of personal, political promotion that has previously been broadcast on social media to encourage people to watch,” Norment said, referring to a tweet by Chase on Wednesday, which promised “surprises” at the Senate session and encouraged her followers to tune in.
“I’m not a good person to throw the hatchet down in the ground in front of me, and I suggest that when we talk about lectures, I really don’t want a lecture on what’s going on with national politics,” Norment said. “I am more concerned about what we’re going to do here the next 27 or 28 days.”
Virginia Senate Democrats called Friday for the resignation of Republican state Sen. Amanda Chase, who spoke at the pro-Trump demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday that turned violent and led to a breach of the U.S. Capitol, but Chase says she “absolutely” will not leave her office.
Facebook placed restrictions on Chase’s Senate Facebook page for 60 days beginning Friday, Jan. 8. The Chesterfield County state senator who is running for this year’s GOP gubernatorial nomination, had posted video and photos from the pro-Trump demonstration near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. In December, she made news for a Facebook post calling for Trump to declare “martial law” in order to remain in power after President Donald Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the November 2020 election. Based on a live video she posted Wednesday afternoon, Chase was headed back to Richmond during the siege on the Capitol.
However, a statement issued by Senate Democrats Friday says, “As we all watched in shock and disbelief at the insurrection in Washington, D.C., Senator and gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase was horrifyingly empowering a failed coup d’état. She galvanized domestic terrorists who violated the United States Capitol on Wednesday afternoon through riots, destruction, and desecration, joining them on their march to Capitol Hill. For someone who defends herself and the insurrectionists she calls ‘patriots’ with the Constitution, she either willfully or unwittingly doesn’t understand what her sworn oath to defend it actually means. She has unequivocally committed insurrection, and the Fourteenth Amendment to that same Constitution charges us with the responsibility of holding her accountable.
“Senator Chase has not demonstrated either good judgement or leadership for Senate District 11 or the commonwealth of Virginia. It is in the best interest for the Senate of Virginia and her constituents [for Chase] to resign.”
The Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which disinvited Chase to speak in July 2020, issued a statement Friday in support of the calls for Chase’s resignation: “As we continue to reflect on the attacks on the U.S. Capitol, we are unfortunately faced with the fact that Virginia must also act to prevent similar violence here. We want to state our unequivocal support for the calls for Sen. Amanda Chase to resign. Her rhetoric and actions caused us to cancel her planned appearance before our membership last summer, and she continues to espouse hate, spread lies and, now, incite violence with her presence at the protests of the Electoral College results in Washington, D.C. It is clear to all that Sen. Chase possesses neither the judgement nor composure to hold public office. … Sen. Chase poses a clear threat to the commonwealth and should step down immediately.”
In an exclusive interview with Virginia Business on Friday, Chase said she “will absolutely not resign.” She added that she left the rally at the end of President Trump’s address, during which he told the crowd to march on the U.S. Capitol. Chase said the head of her security team told her they needed to leave to get ahead of the crowds that they expected to disperse at the end of Trump’s speech, adding that she didn’t feel unsafe and did not hear the president encouraging people to go to the Capitol building.
Back at a hotel room Chase and her team had reserved, she says, “we turned on the TV, and that’s when we saw the press reports” of a breach at the Capitol, as well as the declaration of a 6 p.m. Wednesday curfew in D.C. At that point, Chase said, her team decided it was best to head back to Richmond.
Chase said she does not “approve of any violence that took place” at the Capitol and characterized the crowds that entered the building as “desperate people because their voices weren’t being heard.” She also continued to say without evidence that Antifa activists were possibly behind the breach at the Capitol.
In posts on Facebook, Chase claimed without evidence that anti-fascist, or antifa, activists had “infiltrated” the crowd breaching the Capitol. “Antifa is the culprit. Listen to Patriots who told them to stop,” Chase posted Thursday afternoon, the most recent post on her official Senate page. Facebook tagged a link to a tweet on the post as “False Information.”
Chase said Friday that she still has doubts about the legitimacy of Virginia’s 2020 ballots and said that “until we do a full audit here in Virginia, we’ll never know.” In November, Virginia Deputy Commissioner of Elections Jessica Bowman said in a statement that the state was “not aware of any substantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud in Virginia.”
According to a screenshot provided to Virginia Business by Chase, Facebook has restricted her state Senate Facebook page from going live or advertising for the next 60 days, and Chase has been banned from posting or commenting on the page for seven days.
Her personal Facebook page, however, is still active, and she spread the news of her restriction in a public post there Friday, saying, “Facebook continues to restrict free speech. Because what I have to say does not fit their narrative, my Senator Amanda Chase page has been silenced for 60 days. We no longer have free speech here in America.”
She said Friday that Facebook had removed two videos she had posted Wednesday, which she provided to Virginia Business. Both appear to be on the Washington Mall, with the Washington Monument in the background; the first features Chase speaking about the “Save America March” event, and the second shows fellow Trump supporters among the crowd, cheering. However, other videos from the event remained on her Senate and personal Facebook pages on Friday.
Chase said that she has emailed Facebook for a response and says that their earlier communication with her about the two removed videos indicated they “did not meet their community standards” and that her Senate page “was at risk of being unpublished.” As of Friday afternoon, Chase said she had not received a further response from Facebook, but that she had been busy fielding press calls since the morning.
The restrictions on Chase’s page come after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that President Donald Trump has been indefinitely blocked from posting on his Facebook and Instagram accounts out of concern for public safety. “His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the U.S. and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.”
On both her personal Facebook page and her Senate page, Chase posted videos from Washington, D.C., during Trump’s “Save America March” event, which drew about 30,000 supporters of the president. Trump addressed the crowd for about an hour and encouraged them to march to the Capitol building, where Congress was starting the certification of Biden’s Electoral College ballots. Chase’s postings on Facebook indicate that she left either shortly before or during the breach of the Capitol building that led to evacuation and lockdown of legislators, staffers and journalists before control was regained around 6 p.m. Wednesday.
In a two-minute live video Chase posted on her Senator page at 3:32 p.m. Wednesday, Chase speaks from inside a vehicle saying she is being “taken to safety” after Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser “has put the city on lockdown,” referring to a curfew that went into effect at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Chase mentions “people who are storming the Capitol right now” and that she has heard about shots being fired.
“Everything that I saw earlier today was very peaceful,” Chase said in the video, adding that she spoke around 10 a.m. at the rally. After seeing the president speak in the early afternoon, she says in the video that her team told her they needed to leave for safety reasons, although in her interview with Virginia Business, she says they left just to get ahead of the crowds after Trump’s speech. In the video, Chase asked her viewers to “say a prayer” for those in the crowd that entered the Capitol.
In the interview, Chase said “it’s very tragic what happened” regarding the death of a U.S. Capitol Police officer who was taken off life support Friday after sustaining critical injuries during the breach. Officer Brian D. Sicknick, a Northern Virginia resident, was a military veteran and an officer for 12 years. “My thoughts and prayers go to their family,” Chase added.
Earlier Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam issued a statement about Sicknick’s death, which occurred after someone struck him on the head with a fire extinguisher, according to a release from the U.S. Capitol Police.
“Officer Sicknick died as a result of injuries sustained during the insurrection at the Capitol on Wednesday. He was 42 years old and a military veteran who had served with the United States Capitol Police for 12 years,” Northam said in his statement. “Officer Sicknick was killed while doing his job — defending those trapped in the Capitol building amid a violent attack on our democracy. His death is a tragedy, and those responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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