Virginia Republicans Are Rallying Behind a True Bigot: Corey Stewart

Move over Roy Moore: Republican voters have unleashed a new nightmare candidate on America. Corey Stewart nabbed the win Tuesday night to become the GOP's senate nominee in Virginia. Stewart has gained Republican followers in old-line Virginia by wrapping himself in the Confederate flag and by fiercely defending Confederate monuments – comparing those who would tear them down to Islamist radicals. He'll face incumbent Democrat and former vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine in November.

Here's what you need to know about Stewart:

Stewart is not a born-and-bred Southerner

These days Stewart parades as a stalwart defender of the Confederacy, but he was born in Duluth, Minnesota, and only settled in Virginia after finishing law school in St. Paul. He counts on passing as a native son, however, writing tweets like: "Nothing is worse than a Yankee telling a Southerner that his monuments don't matter."

He's Trumpier than Trump

Stewart served as Trump's 2016 campaign chairman in Virginia, but was fired by Steve Bannon for angering then-RNC chair Reince Priebus with an unsanctioned protest of the party's headquarters. Stewart is farther to the right than president on immigration, advocating for mass deportation of Dreamers: "Make Mexico Great Again!!" he tweeted in January. "Send Mexico back its #DACA citizens!"

He has his eyes set on a higher office


Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, Stewart ran just last year for governor of Virginia. He narrowly lost the GOP nomination to longtime GOP honcho Ed Gillespie, whom Stewart pilloried as "Establishment Ed."

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/who-is-corey-stewart-w521478?utm_source=rsnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=061318_16