by Kerry Dougherty
The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak – the best reporter in Virginia – broke the story last weekend. The Richmond Times-Dispatch followed up on Tuesday.
That Senate race was won in a landslide last week by Ghazala Hashmi, a Democrat. Trouble is, it appears she actually lives in the 12th District – a GOP stronghold – and rented an apartment in the Democrat-friendly 15th to have an address there.
If that’s what happened, Hashmi wouldn’t be the first candidate to rent a little pied-a-terre to use occasionally and claim as a dwelling place to meet residency requirements. This sort of chicanery has happened before.
Of course it deprives citizens of having a representative who actually lives in their district, but no one cares about the peons. It’s all about winning.
But on her official forms – which Hashmi signed – she did not declare the home she’s owned in Midlothian since 1999. The form said a primary residence didn’t have to be declared.
So which is it, Senator? Is the Midlothian house your residence or do you actually live in the apartment you rented?
Look, I’m not naive enough to believe that Hayden Fisher – Hashmi’s Republican opponent – will automatically be declared the winner if it’s decided that she violated the law to get on the ballot. He claims that if she’s declared an ineligible candidate, he ran unopposed and should be the winner.
It’s more likely that Hashmi would be forced to vacate the seat and a special election will follow. Should that happen, Hashmi would probably be replaced by another Democrat and the Dems would hold their razor-thin majority in the Senate. On the other hand, why should a political party that nominated an ineligible candidate get a do-over?
The Times-Dispatch reports that falsifying the candidacy documents she signed is a felony, however. That’s rather serious.
It could also be the reason Hashmi’s been dodging the press for several days. Finally, she did what’s known as “breaking her silence” on Twitter, where reporters couldn’t pose pesky questions. She wrote:
Leave it to MAGA election deniers to spread lies and throw a tantrum over the outcome of an election. I’m proud the voters have re-elected me so I can keep serving our community, and I am excited to continue delivering results for Virginia families.
Gotta hand it to Hashmi, she went straight for the Dem party buzzwords: MAGA, election deniers, tantrums.
Memo to Hashmi: no one’s denying the election took place. Question is, did you lie to get on the ballot?
Well, did you?
Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.
