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Republican enthusiasm in Virginia is high. They turned out in numbers not seen in decades for the Senate primary election, pushing Lt. Col. Daniel Gade to a win. It shouldn’t be any surprise that Republicans in the state are getting out to vote in droves. When Democrats won control of the state, they immediately set out an agenda to take Virginians’ guns and jobs.
G. Tracy Mehan, III tells readers of The American Spectator more about Lt. Col. Gade, the promising candidate for Senate from Virginia, writing:
I have previously written at The American Spectator how Daniel Gade’s personal story, his heroism and military service, and his broad-spectrum conservative philosophy, not to mention his personal dynamism, drive, and command presence on the stump, made him a strong candidate to challenge the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Mark Warner, who has been less than impressive in his previous winning election campaigns and has gotten on the wrong side of the Second Amendment and the issue of human life, among other issues.
For several months, the Gade campaign, amidst the COVID-19 lockdown, has focused relentlessly on grassroots and online organizing, mobilizing thousands of volunteers to use the personal touch to engage Virginia voters by phone and direct contacts. Gade was live on Facebook streaming nightly in the weeks leading up to election day.
When Sen. Warner did a lame bit online on how to make a tuna fish sandwich, Gade responded with a hilarious send-up, using it as a way to differentiate himself from his opponent.
And, yes, fundraising has been steady and robust.
Gade also accumulated a boatload of endorsements from sitting federal and state GOP officeholders, former candidates, and other worthies, allowing him to develop a kind of consensus or bandwagon effect heading into election day.
This consistent, steady, and targeted work paid off Tuesday as Daniel Gade trounced two primary opponents, racking up two-thirds of the Republican vote in every city and county in the state, amassing the largest such vote by any Republican since 1996. This robust showing of strength in the party is a necessary condition, a box that had to be checked, for victory against Warner in November. It seems that he has revived a previously dispirited and divided party with his message of unity and strength and a message of individual liberty and fidelity to the U.S. Constitution.
Gade’s motto, his creed, really, is “Same Oath, New Mission,” reflecting his taking the oath to serve the nation and Constitution when he was 17 years old. “My mission is different. But the oath is the same,” he says.
