On December 3, Virginia Delegate Joe T. May announced he has left the Republican Party and, if there is a special State Senate Election in district 33, he will run as an independent. May was elected as a Republican to the House of Delegates in 1993 and has been re-elected ever since, except that in the June 2013 Republican primary, he was defeated for re-election by a vote of 2,958 to 2,201.
There will be a special State Senate election in the 33rd district if the incumbent, Mark Herring, resigns from the Senate. Herring was apparently elected Attorney General on November 5, but the election is so close, there will be a recount, so Herring won’t resign his Senate seat until that is settled.
May decided to leave the Republican Party because he is unhappy with the Republican Party’s plans to hold a nominating convention in Sterling, Virginia, on the evening of December 16, to select a Republican nominee, assuming there will be a special election. May says a small handful of party officials decided on that site and it will prevent may voters from participating.
Meanwhile, the control of the Virginia State Senate between the two major parties is unknown. Here is a fascinating article describing the byzantine rules that will determine who gets to set the dates for future State Senate special elections, and how the timing will affect control of the Senate.
Great article. I wonder what the rules are for chairman positions and committee majorityships etc. if the composition becomes 20 Republicans, 19 Democrats (plus Lt. Gov. vote), and 1 independent not caucusing with either party. If May wins that could happen.
The recount for the Attorney General’s race will not take place until December 18-19, so there will be no confirmation of a vacancy by December 16, the date set for the Republican nomination caucus.