Arlington Republicans Becoming Gay Friendly?

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‘virginia 11.2.08 – 57’
courtesy of ‘laura padgett’

Arlington is a very progressive and heavily democratic county where Democratic Party candidates have nothing to worry about going into a general election. While that is most likely still the case for the VA House of Delegates race in the 47th district (which includes parts of Court House, Clarendon, Ballston), the republican in the race might just be catching on to some of the progressive values that dems typically use to get elected. While the GLBT community is not huge in Arlington, the majority of local voters are supporters of gay and lesbian equal rights and often use that as a bit of a wedge issue to show why they cannot vote for republicans. Eric Brescia is about to change all of that, at least for his race, according to the Arlington Sun Gazette.

Delegate candidate Brescia is even saying he will seek to repeal the recent VA constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, as well as call for the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. A republican winning a race in Arlington is always a hard sell, but adopting some of the social progressive values of the voters could be a very, very smart move. The bet he has to make is that his conservative base in Arlington won’t abandon him because of this. While I doubt it would single-handedly cause them to vote for the democrat, Patrick Hope, it may cause them to skip voting for the delegate seat at all. Brave move, none the less.

Karl is a Washingtonian who lives and breathes everything that is DC. Politics, ethnic restaurants, sad sports teams, the Metro and pretty much anything in between. Karl’s life is kind of like going to a Nats’ game while eating Ethiopian food and discussing the latest legislation to pass the House. Then cramming on the Metro for a ride home. That ’bout sums it up. See why Karl loves DC or check him out on Twitter.

One thought on “Arlington Republicans Becoming Gay Friendly?”

  1. As Democrat in Arlington, I must admit that this sort of stance is not outside the norm for Arlington Republicans. Since I’ve been here, they’ve represented a steady “loyal opposition” seeking to correct holes and lapses in anointed programs in the local sphere, while concentrating on fiscal conservancy on statewide issues. I get the impression that Arlington Republicans and Henrico Republicans are completely different beasts.

    In fact, I’ll be interested to see how active they are this fall in revving up on-the-ground support for Mr. McDonnell, as his Liberty U-based morality would seem to put him way outside the values of an Arlington Republican.