A Look Back on Last Year

With the dawn of 2011, it is a good time to look back on the last year. Countless blogs and political sites have recounted the biggest stories of the last year, and made predictions for 2011. I thought it would be interesting to see what stories from this site you thought were most important. The following is a list of the 5 most visited articles on this site from the past year.

1. Greg Habeeb for 6th District GOP Committee Chairman, Bill Stanley for 5th District GOP Committee Chairman; Ironically both of these men are running in special elections next Tuesday. They are both running strong campaigns, and will be fine replacements for Morgan Griffith and Robert Hurt.

2. How will the Student Loan provisions affect me? Part II; In many ways this speaks to the biggest story in VA politics of the year. D.C. passed a healthcare bill full of unknown and dangerous provisions, and Virginians have lead the way in fighting it.

3. Why Joshua Solovskoy resigned as Michael McPadden's Campaign Manager; This was one more story of the mess that was conservatives shooting themselves in the foot in the 5th District nomination fight. Hopefully we have learned our lesson and can avoid such destructive infighting in future nomination contests.

4. Virginians Should Vote NO on the Constitutional Amendments; If an organized campaign had formed at least one of these could have been beat...

5. Trixie Averill Supports Undermining the Republican Party; For an article written very late in the year, it definitely got a lot of traffic fast. It also shows one of the things this blog is committed to: holding Republicans, and especially party leaders accountable.

Let's work together this year and put a conservative majority in the state senate this year. While there is a lot of talk about the 2012 Senate race right now, the state senate elections are the only general election this year, and winning them is critical to continuing the momentum heading into 2012.

Loudoun Blogger Declares Work of Largest 10th District Unit Unnecessary for Frank Wolf to Win Big

Loudoun Insider is upset that the LCRC won 10th District Unit of the Year, and Suzanne Volpe won volunteer of the year. In explaining why he doesn't agree with those awards, he didn't deny they worked very hard this year. No one can sanely deny that. He simply said their work was unnecessary. Maybe we should be happy that someone who believes hard work is unnecessary to winning elections is only a blogger.

Thanks to everyone who worked hard to make 2010 a sucess in VA. It took a lot of working with people we disagree with to do it, but it was worth it.

McConnell Listens to People; Backs DeMint's Earmark Ban

In the summer of 2009 Sen. Jim DeMint decided to endorse a largely unknown state legislator battling a sitting governor for the Republican nomination for Senate. At the time this primary challenge was considered a quixotic quest, and a political impossibility. After Marco Rubio won overwhelmingly in the general election, Sen. DeMint turned his sights to passing a Republican Senate Conference ban on earmarks. At the time, Sen. McConnell, along with D.C. lobbyists, and conservative senators like Sen. Inhofe, and Sen. Thune were leading the fight to protect earmarks. Grassroots groups like FRC, RedState, and AFP joined Sen. DeMint in the trenches pushing hard for Senate Republicans to take this first symbolic step in the war on spending.

Today Sen. McConnell announced that he was going to support an earmark moratorium for this session of congress.

"Nearly every day that the Senate’s been in session for the past two years, I have come down to this spot and said that Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people. When it comes to earmarks, I won’t be guilty of the same thing.

Make no mistake. I know the good that has come from the projects I have helped support throughout my state. I don’t apologize for them. But there is simply no doubt that the abuse of this practice has caused Americans to view it as a symbol of the waste and the out-of-control spending that every Republican in Washington is determined to fight. And unless people like me show the American people that we’re willing to follow through on small or even symbolic things, we risk losing them on our broader efforts to cut spending and rein in government.

That’s why today I am announcing that I will join the Republican Leadership in the House in support of a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress."

Is there a purpose for earmarks? Yes. However it is very encouraging to see Sen. McConnell listen to the American people and support banning them for this congress as they work on solving the major fiscal crisis in this nation. A leadership willing to listen to the American people instead of blindly doing what they desire inspires hope and renews confidence.

With senate Republicans joining House in banning earmarks, and most of our presidential contenders supporting the effort as well, the party is solidly on the right side of this issue.

Marco Rubio's strong challenge to Charlie Crist lead to many other conservative challenges this cycle, and ultimately to a more conservative Republican Senate Conference. Let's hope this victory on earmarks is a sign of even better things to come legislatively this congress. Extending the Bush Tax Cuts? Balanced Budget Amendment?

Election Prediction: Tsunami, not a Wave

Very simply the rejection of liberalism, progressivism, and elitism that is occurring is so widespread that this will be a tsunami, not a wave. To quote one democrat consultant...

Everybody that is tied will lose, and everyone that is ahead by a few points will lose because of the GOP wave,” said one party media consultant who is involved in a wide array of House races. “There are going to be some surprises.

The early voting numbers show a strong shift towards the Republicans, and the generic ballot poll shows unprecedented support for Conservativism, and Republicans. Gallup noted just how strong what the generic ballot poll domination means in their last poll...

It should be noted, however, that this year’s 15-point gap in favor of the Republican candidates among likely voters is unprecedented in Gallup polling and could result in the largest Republican margin in House voting in several generations. This means that seat projections have moved into uncharted territory, in which past relationships between the national two-party vote and the number of seats won may not be maintained.

In light of this and other evidence let's make some predictions...

Republicans win at least 70 seats in the house.

Republicans also take back the senate with late wins in NV, Washington, and other places. While it is a stretch for Republicans to win the senate, history gives us some good direction.

Since 1930, every time voters have thrown one party out of control of the House, they've done the same thing in the Senate.

Surprising wins...

• Governor: Tom Tancredo wins Colorado
• Senate: Christine O'Donnell wins Deleware
• House: Patrick Murray wins the 8th district, and Democrats are left with one House seat in Virginia.

Other Important Races

• Rick Boyer, a long time homeschool dad, is running for Clerk of the Court in Campbell Co.
• Brenna Findley is running for Attorney General in Iowa. If she wins this would be a huge win for liberty in the Attorney General office.
• The Iowa Supreme Court Retention vote. If the judges on the ballot lose this would be a huge blow to judicial activism on the state level.
• Also it will be interesting to see the results of the VA Constitutional Amendments. They passed the general assembly, but it seems a lot of people are just finding out about them, and the blogosphere seems very unfriendly to the amendments. Few elected officials are really publicly supporting them.

None of these predictions, or the hard work that thousands have exerted will mean a thing, unless you vote. As you watch the returns, this is a very helpful guide.

Mitch Daniels Surrenders the Social Issues

Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana, has been widely touted as a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012. He intrigued me because of his ability to cut spending and reform the Indiana state government. However, this weekend he made comments that will hopefully keep his presidential bid from gaining momentum. In an interview with the Weekly Standard, Mitch Daniels made it clear he sees America's fiscal crisis as the biggest challenge facing the nation, and therefore must be the focus of the next president. While this may be true, he believes that to solve America's fiscal crisis the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues." He is even unsure whether he would issue an executive order to reinstate Reagan's "Mexico City Policy." Choosing not to engage the enemy is not calling a truce, it is surrender.

Mike Pence was asked about these comments, and while he refused to criticize Mitch Daniels, he said he, "believes with all [his] heart that the Republicans need to continue the fight for the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage with everything [they've] got in 2010 and in 2012." America's next president must be someone who understands the important of both fiscal and social conservativism. Mike Pence understands and has been fighting for both of those principles. Mike Pence is the kind of president America needs.

Virginia 2010 Primary Election Results

As polls close at 7 pm in Virginia, all eyes turn to the watch the results. Everyone is saying that voter turnout is very low, so maybe there will be a surprise.

The best places to track Virginia returns are the VA State Board of Elections website, and Bearing Drift. Bearing Drift will be tracking the results in real time starting at 8 pm.

Hopefully the true conservative wins these primaries, and the party can unite quickly no matter who the nominee is. In November we have to beat the Democrats, and we have to focus on that immediately after the results are in.

To watch returns from across the country I recommend Politico 2010.

I would also like to welcome back to the blogosphere my friend Will Burton of Roanoke on the Right.

UPDATE:: Here are the results for VA's congressional primaries.

Abortion and the Healthcare Debate

In the last few days the Democrats have made through on their promise to do "whatever it takes" to pass healthcare. They were willing to start an ethics investigation into and drive out a member of their own party who opposed healthcare, and now seem willing to make a possibly unconstitutional rules change to get it through as well.

The backdrop of this Democrat desperation is that all they have to do is pass a bill through a legislative body (The House of Representatives) in which they have a 40 vote majority. If that were such a good and important bill this wouldn't be that hard.

With an impending vote it seems the one person who is doing the most to stand up for the unborn, and get Democrats to vote against the bill is Bart Stupak. Since the current bill does not include the Stupak Amendment, Bart Stupak and a group of 6-12 other Democrats who voted yes last time have committed to vote no on the bill. Confident that he had the votes to stop the bill, Rep. Stupak announced it was dead on arrival when it was first announced that Nancy Pelosi was trying to pass the Senate version of the Healthcare bill.

Since then Rep. Stupak has tried to get the House leadership to include his amendment on this version of the bill. However the leadership is ignoring him and is working to pass the bill without fixing the abortion language. The Democrat laeadership seems ready to ignore the concerns of its pro-life members, and doesn't seem to care about protecting human life.

If Obamacare passes, Stupak says, it could signal the end of any meaningful role for pro-life Democrats within their own party. “It would be very, very hard for someone who is a right-to-life Democrat to run for office,” he says. “I won’t leave the party. I’m more comfortable here and still believe in a role within it for the right-to-life cause, but this bill will make being a pro-life Democrat much more difficult. They don’t even want to debate this issue. We’ll probably have to wait until the Republicans take back the majority to fix this.”

“Throughout this debate, even when the House leaders have acknowledged us, it’s always been in a backhanded way,” he laments. “I’m telling the others to hold firm, and we’ll meet next week, but I’m disappointed in my colleagues who said they’d be with us and now they’re not. It’s almost like some right-to-life members don’t want to be bothered. They just want this over.”

Sadly we have hardly heard a peep about the abortion aspect of the healthcare bill from the Republican leadership recently. There has been a lot of talk about mandates, medicare, and costs (which are all very important), but by ignoring the abortion aspect they are leaving a very important argument against the bill off the table. Hopefully this is not a signal on how the Republicans plan to campaign this year, because if they ignore the abortion issue they will be hurt this fall. Pro-lifers are important activists and voters who will work hard for whoever they believe will protect the unborn, and they should not be ignored by the GOP during this election cycle.

It will be interesting to see how the next couple days turn out. There is currently a vote scheduled for Thursday. However many including the Democrat House Whip say the votes are not there yet. It also appears the Slaughter Rule is not off the table yet.

For an updated whipcount check this out, and please contact your congressman to urge them to vote no.

Keith Fimian is Outpolling Gerry Connolly

For the past few cycles Keith Fimian has been outraising incuumbent Gerry Connolly for two consecutive fundraising quarters in the 11th district, and now news comes out that he is outpolling Connolly by 5% as well. In Keith Fimian we have a strong conservative who can fundraise and outpoll the incumbent. What else do you want in a congressional candidate?

Charlie Crist to Run as Independent? - Arlen Specter 2.0

Everyone knows Charlie Crist has two options: 1. lose embarrassingly to Marco Rubio in the primary, or 2. switch parties. RedState today posted an article predicting option 2, saying that the evidence points to the fact that Crist may be turning to the blue side, or becoming an independent. He was caught having a private meal with VP Biden in Miami, and has returned to "embracing the Obama stimulus fraud" - I'd say that's pretty conclusive evidence.

However, everyone also knows that before Crist switches, he's gonna smear Rubio like crazy. Well folks, the games have begun. Today it was discovered that Crist took Rubio's private credit card records from the Republican Party of Florida and leaked them to the press. Although Rubio has only used the cards to help get Republicans elected within the state, he also used them for several personal expenses. What Crist did NOT elude to in the leak, was that every single one of those personal expenses were reimbursed to the state by Rubio.

This is yet another example of how "Republicans", e.g. Arlen Specter and Charlie Crist, will do anything to get elected with little concern for their values and constituents. If Crist becomes an independent it will be concrete evidence that his Republican title was all for show.

Thoughts on the State of the Union Address

President Obama delivered his first State of the Union address tonight in front of Congress and millions of Americans. His points delivered are outlined below, along with my thoughts and analysis of them -

• After his introduction and rather long winded talk about feeling American's pain through the letters he "reads every night", he jumped in to job creation. He began by mentioning that he has saved 2 million jobs over the last year, but then skipped right to his goal for this upcoming year - what he called a "Job Creations Bill". This bill would consist of tax incentives and cuts for small businesses, which is all fine and good (and got the right side of the room clapping), BUT it would also include taking $30 BILLION from big banks, and transferring it to community banks. Can we just say - Robin Hood?
  


• To the analysts great surprise, President Obama next talked about an issue that has seemed relatively dead for the past 6 months - climate change. This was lumped in with another surprise - offshore drilling! The President urged Congress to pass a "Comprehensive Energy and Climate Bill" - the title itself sounds a bit fishy. However, in the GOP Response, Bob McDonnell expressed his delight at bi-partisan solutions that this new energy bill will support.
  


• Third on the list of new bills to write up is the "National Export Initiative", which would ensure that U.S. exports double over the next 5 years. He expressed his concern at the fact that the United States is becoming "second place" in the world's trade markets and assured that he would not settle for second best.
  


• Education was next up and this was something that everyone was expecting him to hit hard on. He proposed, yes another bill - a bill that would "revitalize community colleges" and give $10,000 credits to American families for 4 years of college. He also said that debt accumulated while in college would be "forgiven" after 20 years, and 10 if you choose a career in public service. Can I just ask, where are we getting all these handouts?
  


• What used to be President Obama's hottest topic, was not mentioned until nearly his 5th bullet point - Health Insurance (yes he changed the name) Reform. His plea to Congress was simple: "Don't walk away. We are so close." After spending a few minutes bragging on the Congressional Budget Office's predictions of this reform saving us $1 trillion (over the next 20 years [that's a long time]) he moved on.
  


• Next up was a bashing session, although the proper title should be Deficit, which explains the bashing. Again it was all blamed on the past administration - "we took office amid a depression" he said. His plan to save us? A government freeze, effective in 2011, that would last for 3 years. He called on Congress to create a "Fiscal Commission", saying that he "refuses to pass this problem on to another generation of Americans." He also mentioned that he was here to "do our government openly... that's what I came to Washington to do." Um, what happened to those health care talks being broadcast on C-SPAN again?
  


• Here in the middle he merely commented on numerous issues including Lobbyists, Earmark Reform, and Partisanship (where he instructed the Democrats not to "run to the hills" because, you know what?, we have the largest majority we've had in decades, so let's take advantage of that! And to the Republicans, Leadership does not mean blocking every bill that tries to get through. Thanks.)
  


• The last portion of his speech focused on foreign relations. In respect to National Security, he emphasised that he will do whatever it takes to defend our nation. Then went on to say that all the troops will be out of Iraq by August. "This war is ending," he said, "and our troops are coming home." Really? Terrorism has been defeated?
  


• Nuclear Weapons. He likened himself to Ronald Reagan here, saying that they both wanted a world free of them. Hate to tell him, but that is unrealistic considering the world we live in. The President then made a promise - now mark this - PROMISE: IRAN WILL FACE GROWING CONSEQUENCES. Let's hold him to his word.
  


• He touched on human rights, and then announced that he was actively working to repeal the law that prohibits gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Gag.

Few side notes:

- He was interrupted 86 times at first count.

- I think it was completely inappropriate for him to have bashed the Supreme Court's ruling overturning McCain/Feingold - inducing the standing applause of the entire left side while all the judges could do was sit there and stare. This was an intimidation of another branch of government that was absolutely improper.

- The tone of the whole speech was very strained.

- See the full transcript HERE.

UPDATE: Obama used the words I, I'll, or I'm 152 times during the speech.

UPDATE 2: "Gaff" of the night? Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito mouthed the words "Simply not true" during the President's bashing of the Supreme Court ruling discussed above. I'm glad they were as disgusted as I was.

America Rising

An open letter to Barack Obama and the Democrats challenging them to listen to the American people, or lose big in 2010.

C'mon America. Let's show them what we've got.

Are His Days Numbered?

Is today the day that Arlen Specter sealed his fate? Or, the true question should be, will the women of America stand up to make sure his fate is sealed...?



Arlen Specter's demeaning statements here made Michelle Bachamann feel "patronized" and "like a little girl". Was he flaunting his ability to be able to speak because of his sex? Does he realize that we now live in a world of equal opportunity and liberty for ALL? It sure doesn't seem like it.

If you want to defeat Arlen Specter then help Pat Toomey defeat him in 2010.

The Kind of Candidates We Should Not be Recruiting

In this article Patrick Ruffini argues that another front in the war on the establishment is stopping ending the search for self funded candidates. This is a must read article as we prepare for the 2010 election cycle.

An important quote is

The lesson here is that fundraising is not an independent variable. Fundraising is a dependent variable and the independent variable is the message. There does not exist an innate ability to fundraise independent of a strong message -- unless the candidate is fabulously wealthy and can self-fund. And in cases where there might be, all the fundraising in the world cannot overcome a poor message. If a candidate is wealthy or has rich friends, but has no message, the GOP should run -- not walk -- away from that candidate.

Marco Rubio, Someone who is Unafraid to be a Republican

In Virginia this year we elected Ken Cuccinelli, someone who was unafraid to run as a conservative and is unafraid to govern as such.

In 2010 we have that person in Florida with Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio is running against Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination for the 2010 Florida Senate race. In the following video Marco Rubio advocates a Republican party that stands up for conservative principles and runs on center right conservative values. Rubio is a conservative, he can win, and Republicans across the country need to stand with Rubio.

What is our priority for next year?

In a recent interview Erick Erickson made news by saying that his number one goal for 2010 is beating the Republican establishment.



Those are sentiments I definitely concur with. Some argue our end goal must be electing Republicans, and after the nomination contests are over that is definitely true, but our number one goal must be advancing conservative principles. We must run viable conservatives in primaries, run them for party office, and hold them and all Republicans accountable after we elect them. We did it this year by electing Ken Cuccinelli, and we will run him for whatever else he needs to run for, my fellow blogger and others tried to do it last spring when they fought to keep Jeff Frederick as party chair, and we must keep up the fight this coming year in the many nomination contests and district chair races across the state next spring.

It is as we advance our conservative principles and govern as conservatives that we will win elections, and if the establishment stands in our way, so be it.

Patricia Phillips Endorses Steve Hunt for State Senate

Now that Ken Cuccinelli is the Attorney General Elect of Virginia, there is a special election for the 37th state senate seat coming up. At this point we don't know the date of the election, but it will probably be soon.

Right now we have three Republicans running to replace Ken Cuccinelli: Marianne Horinko, Will Nance, and Steve Hunt.

All the buzz I have been hearing has been about Steve Hunt. He has a very thorough and bipartisan list of endorsements.

Patricia Phillips (former Republican nominee for the 33rd senate district) recently endorsed Steve Hunt in this video.

Steve Hunt also gave a very stirring and inspiring kick off speech.

This is not an endorsement as I have not had a chance to look into all the candidates yet, but with his experience winning in Fairfax Co., and commitment to conservative principles he sure seems like someone to look into as we try to find Ken Cuccinelli's replacement.

It looks like whoever wins the Republican nomination will have a very good chance of winning the special election. The results from the Pat Herrity race were pointing that direction in February. The Democrats seem to be unable to find a candidate to support inside the 37th district, and the person they do have (Del. Marsden) will probably get "Shannonized".

This special election is very important. If you have the time please get involved, and definitely make sure any friends you have vote as we keep the momentum moving to 2010 and beyond.

Election Results: Republicans have a 10 seat lead in the HOD!!

With 0% of the polls in, Republicans have a 10 seat lead in the House of Delegates. The Democrats had 9 unchallenged seats, while the Republicans had 19 unchallenged seats. This gives the RPV a 10 seat lead at the moment in the House of Delegates.

This is an example of the Republican strategy that will lead to a significant pick up in House of Delegates tonight. The RPV fielded candidates in as many districts as possible so that when the tidal wave began we already had people in place to ride it. Let's keep up this strategy as we get closer to Judgement Day 2010.

Not Larry Sabato is saying the Republicans have picked up 6 seats, and 9 more are in play. Project Virginia predicts Republicans pick up 6 seats.

Pence v. Huckabee Strawpoll Prep

At the FRC Action Conference two popular social conservatives who will be on the presidential strawpoll ballot spoke back to back this morning.

Prior to the event Mike Huckabee supporters met to make sure they had signs at the front of the ballroom to wave when the Governor spoke. It was definitely much lower than the presence in 2007, but definitely an attempt to make there support for Huckabee known. Also Doug Schmidt the Director of Hucks Army was with the Governor for the speech today. I think Huckabee is working with Hucks Army as he preps for a presidential race.

Mike Pence had most of his congressional staff at the conference. The passed out fliers with Mike Pence's name on it about the family planning proposals in healthcare. While the staff say it is just to help fight healthcare and take back the congress in 2010, it atleast gets his name out to all the attendees and he was the only person who will be on the strawpoll ballot with material on the seats.

It will be interesting to see how things play out in the strawpoll results tomorrow. It will also be interesting to see if Pence and Huckabee split the same voting block and someone else wins. I wish there was an option on the ballot to pick your second choice for president.

Mike Pence: Standing Boldly for Freedom

Mike Pence's speech touched on a number of topics near and dear to the hearts of regular Americans, and received three standing ovations.

He began by speaking about the greatest day in his life. It was not the day he was elected to congress or any of the major things he has been able to do as congressman, but the day he gave his life to the Lord.

He followed up by stating his opposition to government funded abortions in the healthcare bill. This as well as his call to defund Planned Parenthood were the most popular moments in the speech.

The focus of the speech however was freedom. "We must be willing to fight for freedom, free markets, and traditional values." "Freedoms is an inspiration to the world." "We must stand boldly on the world stage for freedom." This was where Pence discussed the need to stand with Iran. Pence also stated, "We must defend entrepenurialistic capitalism against the onslaught of the American left."

While the focus of the speech was on the importance of freedom in every aspect of this nation, there was also a very moving portion of the speech. Congressman Pence discussed how after he returned to his district after the first Bush bailout passed. After he spoke to the boyscouts in his district, a man walked up to him who had just lost his job, and thanked him for voting against the bailout. The man told Congressman Pence, "I can get another job but I can't get another country." This followed by a reminder that, "Times like these are good times to remember what your knees are for," was a very moving portion of the speech.

Congressman Pence is a freedom loving fighter who is unafraid to stand for his personal faith.

Afterwards a number of media members talked with him. In response to questions about the strawpoll Congressman Pence said, "I have no plans to run for president. I'm focussed on taking back the congress in 2010." So far he is atleast denying he is running for president.

Ben Loyola For Congress

One of the candidates for the Republican nomination for congress in the 2nd district is Ben Loyola. While he does not yet have a website, he has a facebook group which lays out his personal stiry and why he is running. While I am not making an endorsement in this race yet, I think Ben Loyola's story as a man who escaped Communist Cuba and started a prosperous company is quite an inspiring story. We need to find more conservatives with these kind of personal stories to run for public office.

“Not too long ago, two friends of mine were talking to a Cuban refugee, a businessman who had escaped from Castro, and in the midst of his story one of my friends turned to the other and said, ‘How lucky you are? I had someplace to escape to.’ And in that sentence he told us the entire story. If we lose freedom here, there's no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.” –President Ronald Reagan A 25-year resident of Virginia Beach, Navy veteran, successful businessman, Conservative Republican, and Patriot, Ben Loyola is a living reminder of the American Dream. --Humble Beginnings-- An officer in the Cuban navy before Fidel Castro seized power, Ben’s father, Ben Loyola Sr., saw the Communist takeover’s true intentions and mutinied against it. For his efforts, he was sentenced to death but managed to escape to that “shining city on a hill”, the United States of America. Soon after, two-year old Ben Loyola Jr. and his mother fled the Communist dictatorship and joined his father in the United States; bringing with them nothing but a single piece of luggage and the hope that America would lead to a better life. Ben’s humble beginnings provided him with the drive and work ethic needed to become the self-made man he is today. --Military Service-- Ben’s parents instilled within him an intense love of country. Always grateful for the opportunities America had afforded him, Ben decided to serve his country in the Navy, attending the Naval Academy and eventually achieving the rank of Captain. --Entrepreneur-- In 1991, Ben founded Loyola Enterprises, an engineering service contracting firm, starting operations out of a spare room in his house. Today, Loyola Enterprises has 50 employees working in offices in Virginia Beach, Hampton, and Richmond. --Community Involvement-- Ben is very active in the local community, having volunteered for the Special Olympics Committee, tutoring students for the Virginia Beach Public Schools in math and science, as well as volunteering and financially supporting the following organizations: the Plaza Volunteer Rescue Squad, Boy Scouts of America, Make A Wish Foundation, the Virginia Symphony, Virginia Ballet, and the Fraternal Order of Police. --A True Conservative, Grassroots Republican-- Placing the original intent of the Constitution in highest regard, Ben is a Pro-Life, Pro-Family, Pro-2nd Amendment, Fiscal Conservative. He’s a member of the Republican Professionals Network of Hampton Roads and is a life member of the National Rifle Association. He serves as a Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach and has worked the polls for various Republican candidates over the years. --Faith and Family-- Ben is married to Gretchen Loyola. Gretchen is an accomplished musician who played violin in the Virginia Symphony and is currently a Physician’s Assistant with Cardiovascular Specialists at Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. For Ben and Gretchen, Saturday nights are “God and Country” nights. They attend service at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Virginia Beach and afterward go shooting at the local gun range.