Virginia Politics

Trump operative quits Gillespie campaign for Va. governor, sources say

By Laura Vozzella October 18 at 5:51 PM

RICHMOND — The man who rallied Southwest Virginia to vote for Donald Trump last year quit Republican Ed Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign this week, offended by a personal snub and exasperated by the campaign’s highly cautious stance toward the president, according to three Republicans familiar with his decision.

Jack Morgan’s departure follows a half-empty Gillespie rally headlined by Vice President Pence on Saturday in Southwest Virginia, a coal country region that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in November. ... Gillespie hired Morgan, a colorful evangelical preacher and former 9th Congressional District GOP chairman, as his ambassador to Trump country after nearly losing the June primary to a rival who had run in the president’s bombastic, populist image.

But Gillespie’s campaign did not let Morgan help plan or speak at the rally — over the objections of another GOP candidate who employs Morgan, state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, who is running for lieutenant governor and wanted him to introduce her. ... Morgan’s wife was so offended that she refused to drive John Whitbeck, chair of the Republican Party of Virginia, to the airport for his return trip, according to the three Republicans familiar with the matter. And in an area of the state that Gillespie needs to turn out in force to overcome Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Nov. 7, activists took to social media to vent their outrage.

“I will guarantee you all this,” Republican activist William Totten, the Smyth County director for Vogel, wrote on Facebook, “should Ed ever run for anything in politics again I will work my every waking moment to make sure he loses the primary.” ... Blunter still was activist Patricia Bast Lyman. “Ed showing his elitist butt to the 9th was a MONUMENTAL error from which he will not recover, ” she posted on Facebook.
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Laura Vozzella covers Virginia politics for The Washington Post.
Follow @LVozzella