The Virginia Democratic Party is in shambles. If Republicans are smart, they’ll enlist one of 2016’s most promising political stars to capitalize on the chaos.
After a trio of scandals embroiled the state’s top three Democrats — Gov. Ralph Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, and Attorney General Mark Herring — in a cesspool of allegations of racism and sexual assault, all three are refusing to resign. With an embarrassingly slow response from newly elected paragons of the so-called progressive party, Democrats’ future is hanging in the balance.
Now, a hopeful yet scattered Virginia GOP wants to take advantage of the fiasco and regain influence in a state that has become increasingly blue. As they mount a more organized attempt to sway Virginians back to the right, Republican strategists need someone to lead the charge. They’d be smart to consider former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.
During the 2016 primary season, Fiorina made headlines and surged in national popularity for her hard-hitting debate performances. She skewered political foes like then-President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for their support of Planned Parenthood and rebuked, to more than 15 seconds of thunderous applause, and Donald Trump’s sexist comments about her appearance. Even amid waning poll numbers, Fiorina established herself as one of the most articulate and passionate communicators of Republican values and policy.
Though she has yet to hold political office, she’s a savvy political navigator, the kind the GOP could use right about now. Thanks to her tenure as chairwoman of the CIA’s external advisory board and her post-Sept. 11 work with the NSA and Department of Defense, Trump considered Fiorina for director of national intelligence after he took office.
Less than a year later, her name was again floated as a potential challenger to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., but she declined to run against such a firmly established politician who had become a household name after running on Clinton’s ticket.
Even so, Fiorina, an outsider who’s proven she’s not afraid to criticize the president, would do well in a state like Virginia. The commonwealth handed Trump a resounding defeat in 2016 and turned down yesteryear’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, career politician Ed Gillespie, for refusing to knock the president.
She’d be a welcome, fresh face in the state’s government. Her status as the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company and as a self-professed victim of sexual harassment in the workplace would prove a compelling contrast to the likes of Fairfax, who was accused by two women of sexual assault.
Fiorina’s home in Mason Neck is situated in Virginia’s 8th congressional district, which is currently represented by Rep. Donald Beyer, a Democrat. Beyer is probably too well-established for Fiorina to mount a successful campaign for the House, and the district is quite liberal. A recent report also suggests that Virginia Republicans have no plans to target Beyer’s seat, choosing instead to focus on the more vulnerable freshman representatives.
Instead, the RPV should consider recruiting Fiorina to run for governor in 2021. No Republicans have publicly expressed interest in the race, but given her nationwide name recognition, she would likely be a frontrunner if she decided to run.
The two frontrunners for the Democratic nomination are currently Herring and Fairfax, with Herring already a declared candidate. Since the entire hierarchy of Democratic leadership is now crippled, the three will probably stay put so as not to hand the governorship to third in line Kirk Cox, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates. Thus, these wounds are likely to fester for the next two years, leaving the election ripe for the taking for a Republican like Fiorina.
Party leaders don’t have much cause for worry over skeletons in Fiorina’s closet, as she’s already been vetted as a candidate during her previous political campaigns. With her business background as the CEO of a major tech company and chair of multiple nonprofit organizations, she’s extremely well-credentialed for an executive position like the governorship. While many media outlets criticized her tenure as Hewlett-Packard’s top official, others defended her business decisions as shrewd and successful over the long term.
Fiorina has devoted her most recent efforts to leadership initiatives, but she is still involved in politics as a commentator, and her governorship would be a huge win for the Republican Party, both in Virginia and in the country at large. She would be Virginia’s first GOP governor since the disgraced Bob McDonnell left office in January 2014.
While Democrats scramble to dismiss accusations of hypocrisy and desperately hold onto their power, Republicans have an opportunity to prove they’re the party of Virginia’s future. With a tested leader and skilled communicator like Fiorina spearheading the movement, they have everything they need to claim it.
Brian Ericson is a writer and student at Lee University. A native of Nashville, Tennessee, he is the associate editor of the Lee Clarion, the university newspaper.
