Wendell Walker out, Ralph Smith in as candidate for 6th District chair

By Lynn R. Mitchell

After years of attempting to hold a fractured 6th Congressional District GOP committee together for common purpose, District Chairman Wendell Walker has announced he will not run for re-election.

Former State Senator Ralph Smith, whose term recently ended (see Ralph Smith announces retirement from state senate, annoints Suetterlein), has been asked by Congressman Goodlatte, among others, to run against Rockbridge businessman Scott Sayre, whose entry into the 6th District chairman’s race came at perhaps one of the most fractured and raucous meetings the district committee has known.

The handwriting was on the wall after Vance Wilkins and Sayre, through their surrogates, hijacked the 6th District meeting at the December Republican Advance in Hot Springs in what was described as a nasty hours-long confrontation (see Shaun Kenney’s live-blog commentary, Virginia 6th District GOP meeting). At that point, despite Walker’s best efforts and the presence of RPV General Counsel, he had lost the tug-of-war between the tea party faction seeking to unseat Goodlatte, and the establishment conservatives.

Photos 2 … Sixth Congressional District Convention faces in the crowd

Delegate Terry Austin of Botetourt

Photos 1 … Sixth Congressional District Convention 2014

Congressman Bob Goodlatte

Vance Wilkins’ last hurrah

By Lynn R. Mitchell

The road back for former Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Vance Wilkins was rocky but he was a determined warrior as he tried to return to relevance in Virginia Republican politics. But it wasn’t to be. On Saturday he lost his bid to become chairman of the 6th Congressional District.

Earlier this year a slight shock wave was felt in the party when it was announced that Wilkins, 77, was going to challenge incumbent chairman Wendell Walker who had problems of his own. He had alienated some in his district during his three years in office but if he was to have a challenger, no one expected it to be Vance.

6th District GOP Convention: Ron Paul’s ‘Campaign for Liberty’ makes robocall endorsement

By Lynn R. Mitchell

I received a robocall Thursday from the Campaign for Liberty, Ron Paul’s Libertarian organization. A man named Braeden Wilkinson or Braden Wilkerson — I’m really not sure — identified himself as the Campaign for Liberty’s “Congressional District Coordinator.” I can’t find him on google — probably my misspelling or misunderstanding his name.

His purpose in the robocall was to offer his “personal endorsement” to Vance Wilkins for Saturday’s 6th Congressional District Republican convention. He gave all the necessary information for the convention — location, time, address — and said Wilkins would be the most capable for pursing the cause for liberty.

Interesting.