By Ken Reid

In “The Bull Elephant” blog last week, former State Delegate and defeated state senate candidate Dave LaRock explained why he wanted to run for Governor, noting, “I was approached by many conservatives from across the state who see the need for, perhaps, a different candidate” than Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears.”

Now, there is a campaign to get him the 10,000 signatures by April 3 to challenge Sears in the Republican state primary on June 17.

Without a doubt, a lot of Virginia Republicans are not happy with Sears being a holdout on supporting President Trump’s re-election – and her failure to quickly endorse him in February 2024 when he all-but-secured the GOP presidential nomination. A number of party regulars also wonder if she can raise the money and run a winning campaign to defeat former U.S. Rep Abigail Spanberger, the presumed Democrat nominee.

I personally would have preferred A.G. Jason Miyares running for governor and Sears for Lt. governor.

However, Dave LaRock is not the right alternative to Sears, largely because he broke the Republican Pledge – which we activists are required to sign – support all Republican nominees on the ballot. LaRock, out of sour grapes because he lost a primary for state senate in June 2023 to Timmy French (District 1), waged a write-in campaign for himself in the November 2023 election.

French bested LaRock and five other candidates in the June 2023 primary, including frequent Bull Elephant contributor, 6^th district chair and Strasburg Town Councilmember John Massoud. LaRock was bitter because he felt French won by attracting Democrat votes – which is legal in an open primary like we have in Virginia (unfortunately).

Six days after appearing at a fundraiser for GOP State Senate candidate Juan Pablo Segura, district 33, on Sept. 20, 2023, LaRock announced his write in campaign against French and the Democrat, Emily Scott. 

In his announcement, LaRock wrote: “So, why is Timmy French listed on the ballot as the “Republican” nominee for the First Senate District? When Democrats can’t win playing fair – they cheat and, yes, Timmy French cheated. Timmy French teamed up with Democrats, including “Frederick First”, to cheat Republicans out of being represented by a true conservative in the First Senate District. “

In an Nov. 7, 2023, email with the subject line reading:  “Election Day is Here – Please Write in Dave LaRock!,” and the graphic I posted above, LaRock wrote, in part:

I’m asking for you to write in my name for Senate District 1 so that I can continue to serve you in the General Assembly….”

French defeated Democrat nominee Emily Scott handily, 58 to 33 percent, but there were 5,535 write ins – about 8.6%, which is unusually high. I have no doubt they were virtually all generated by, and for, LaRock.

In the interest of full disclosure, Winsome Sears in a 2018 urged voters to write her name in vs. voting for Republican Corey Stewart for U.S. Senate, because he was supported by a number of white supremacists. But she never waged a formal write-in campaign for herself.

In addition, I briefly ran an independent campaign for Loudoun County Supervisor in the summer of 2007 because I was serving on the Leesburg Town Council and we had a beef with our supervisor, Republican Jim Clem, who was backing a controversial and massive housing project near our airport. However, by joining the race, I got Clem to oppose the project — and I removed my name from the November ballot. Clem lost to Democrat Kelly Burk, but I never divided the vote to make that happen. I also helped his campaign.

Finally, LaRock and I crossed swords in the summer of 2012 when as Leesburg Supervisor I announced I was going to support Metro to Dulles after a special tax district came into play to pay for it so homeowning taxpayers would not be burdened. But LaRock, who led the fight against Dulles Rail, and I made peace and I supported his election to delegate in 2014 and in subsequent campaigns.  

So, I have no ill-will toward LaRock at all and wish he were still in the General Assembly. I lament the fact he moved out of the 33d Delegate district in Loudoun to run for state senate in the 1^st because he would have won re-election and Geary Higgins, who ran for Delegate instead, could have been the nominee for 31^st Senate instead of Segura – who was an awful candidate. 

However, Republicans should NOT involve themselves in LaRock’s gubernatorial fantasies any more than we would want Barbara Comstock, or any other former Republican officeholder who backed Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, to be nominated for higher office in Virginia.

And the stakes of this 2025 election with governor and House of Delegates on the ballot are very high.  We must all work to stop the “Regressives” from having full control of the Governor’s mansion and General Assembly like Democrats did from 2020 to 2022, or Virginia will join the ranks of failing Blue States like Maryland, Illinois, New York and California. Therefore, please help elect Winsome Sears. Don’t help LaRock get on the June primary ballot.

Ken Reid is a former Loudoun County supervisor and Leesburg Town Council member who was the GOP nominee for State Senate in District 37 in Fairfax County in 2023. He also is a journalist by trade, and published newsletters in the FDA field for 30 years.