DeSantis-aligned PAC launches a parents initiative in Virginia
The DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down PAC launches a "Parents Matter" initiative in Virginia following Youngkin’s success in 2021
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DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down PAC launches a “Parents Matter” initiative in Virginia following Youngkin’s success in 2021
Never Back Down, the super PAC dedicated to electing Ron DeSantis as president, announced a new initiative today focused on the “Parents Matter” movement in Virginia. Many of the names involved with this DeSantis movement were also part of Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 movement when “Parents Matter” really gained traction and helped propel him to the Executive Mansion.
The Never Back Down press release says that this group is launching in Virginia with 10 chairs and 100 members that were all parents who were part of the 2021 movement behind Youngkin.
“No one has done more for our schools or our kids in the last six years than Governor Ron DeSantis. He has the strongest track record of any presidential candidate when it comes to standing up for the American family and protecting our children,” said Ellen Walter, Never Back Down’s Coalitions Director who also served as the “Women for Glenn” director on Youngkin’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign. “Parents Never Back Down will build off the widespread support DeSantis already has from parents by deploying this coalition in early primary states, and growing the parents’ movement behind him into the largest ever seen in a presidential primary.”
Dubbed “Parents Never Back Down,” the initiative is being co-chaired by 10 Virginians including Elicia Brand and Andrew Pullen.
Brand is a co-founder of the Army of Parents, a group that has supported the Youngkin administration’s efforts in Virginia in relation to giving parents more rights in school decision-making — especially in Loudoun County.
“We successfully fought this indoctrination in Virginia, and Governor DeSantis has done the same in Florida,” Brand said. “I know he will continue this fight at the federal level, and, as our next President, ensure sexualized material, radical transgender ideology, and divisive Critical Race Theory is kept out of schools for our most vulnerable children.”
Pullen is a Republican operative in Virginia as well as a Fluvanna County School Board member. “Governor DeSantis stands for American families and will always have the back of us parents when it comes to making decisions for our children,” Pullen said.
One of Never Back Down’s leaders, Jeff Roe, was also a top advisor to Youngkin’s 2021 gubernatorial campaign.
The chairs on Parents Never Back Down are:
Chairs:
Alexandria – Molly Kaimen
Fairfax – Mike Ginsburg
Fauqier – Jamie Hinkle
Fluvana – Andrew Pullen
Leesburg - Elicia Brand
Loudoun – Beth Hess
Prince William – Merianne Jensen
Prince William – Josh Quill
Richmond – Hassan Fountain
Virginia Beach – Amy Solares
Recordings show Va. swing district candidate favors ‘total ban’ on abortion - WaPo
by Laura Vozzella
John Stirrup has been playing up crime, taxes and other bread-and-butter issues while running for the House of Delegates in a purple Northern Virginia district, but the Republican didn’t mince words when two strangers separately buttonholed him on abortion.
“I would support a 100 percent ban,” Stirrup told a woman who had approached him after a Republican primary debate May 18, according to a recording obtained by The Washington Post. In another recording, made June 20, he told a man he met outside a polling place that “I’d like to see, you know, [a] total ban.”
New coalition to push for skill game legislation - WDBJ7
by Joe Dashiell
A trial set for December could decide the fate of skill games in Virginia. And now, a coalition of businesses hopes to convince the General Assembly to regulate the industry, and allow the machines to stay.
The state banned skill games two years ago, but they are still operating in convenience stores and other small businesses across the state.
Former NASCAR driver and truck stop owner Hermie Sadler took the state to court, and a judge has allowed the machines to continue operating while the constitutional challenge is pending.
