So, the very helpful Republicans of the 51st district have elected Faisal Gill as their nominee. As Ben points out, this is a huge blow to Sen. Jay O'Brien (R):
Today's Republican convention can only be considered an amazing gift to the winner of the George Barker-Greg Galligan primary. Give Jay O'Brien credit though- he saw how damaging this would be to his campaign far in advance and worked his butt off to stop it from happening. Sadly for him, the few votes short Julie [Lucas] came up today may also cost Jay his seat.No question, this is now the #2 Senate race in Virginia.
Well, seeing how Gill has been ripped to shreds by conservative blogs for being "reckless when he chose to go into business with a partner that lobbies for organizations identified by the U.S. government as supporting terrorist organizations," the drag he'll have on conservative support for O'Brien means this race ranks highly for me too.
And, what's this? It sounds like that whoever emerges from the Tate-Vogel primary, the winner will be one bruised candidate. Either it'll be the guy with the multiple indictments that the state party just took not action on or the woman who sounds like she and her allies have been manipulting justice and the media to deep-six her opponent. Either weakened and distracted candidate will suit Karen Schultz just fine.
Given that the GOP brand is circling the drain on a national level as well, the Virginia GOP isn't doing itself any favors by having subpar candidates emerge from these destructive primaries.