One of the few in the nation is Virginia where every year is election year. Of particular interest in Virginia’s 2023 election is that every seat in the General Assembly is up for election.
Imperative to the passage of the Convention of States resolution is to gain like-minded conservatives committed to constitutional principles of self-governance.
This is important to COS because passage of our resolution to call a Convention of States to end federal tyranny requires the unique role of the House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia to vote yes. (Learn more in this short video.)
To effect positive change, Convention of States Virginia volunteers put their boots to the ground in the weeks leading to the 2023 primary election.
Convention of States volunteers began the election season by asking the candidates in each of the 100 house districts and 40 senate districts to complete a survey to show whether they support calling a Convention of States to rein in the federal government.
From those who positively responded and showed firm support in multiple ways, the Virginia team strategized tight races that had the best numbers for a win as a result of campaigning.
The districts COS Virginia campaigned for were:
- SD 12 (Chesterfield-Colonial Heights) – Glen Sturtevant
- HD 47 (Carroll-Patrick-Floyd-Henry) – Wren Williams
- SD 30 (Gainesville-Manassas City-Manassas Park) - Robert Ruffolo
- HD 39 (Franklin-Roanoke-Bedford) - Ron Jefferson
As a result, Sturtevant won 39% of the vote in SD 12. Also, Delegate Williams won 67% of the vote in HD 47. However, Ruffolo and Jefferson lost their primaries.
Phillip Whitaker, COS Virginia’s Legislative Liaison for the Piedmont area, led the campaigning efforts in the newly formed SD 12 where 14 volunteers knocked on over 600 doors independently campaigning for Sturtevant.
Whitaker reports:
Glen Sturtevant has been followed closely since the fall of 2022 when he announced his candidacy, and meetings with him by COS volunteers have resulted in his strong endorsement of the COS Resolution in the upcoming General Assembly Session. The hard work of all our team in Chesterfield County has contributed to a strong candidate, who will work tirelessly to reign in the federal government and return America to its Constitutional foundations if elected this general election.
Susan Peters, COS Virginia’s Regional Captain for the Roanoke area, led the campaigning efforts in the newly formed HD 47.
Peters reports:
Considering Delegate Wren William’s ongoing commitment to our COS resolution the last two years in the General Assembly sessions, it was easy to make the case to independently support William’s re-election as delegate.
We recruited volunteers and organized six weekends of block walking in the new district. Although we didn't have the manpower to distribute independently developed campaign material to all the 500 households we targeted, we did get a lot done and found there was good support for Delegate Williams in the area.
State Director John Dahmen reports:
We independently campaigned for two other candidates after our initial selection of Sturtevant and Williams. They were Robert Ruffolo in the new SD 30 and Ron Jefferson in the new HD 39. Though both lost in these races, we were able to influence Bill Woolf, the victor in SD 30, to complete our survey in support of COS.
Great work for our team but there is more work to do. We invite you to join us.
