STAUNTON — Ed Gillespie came within less than 18,000 votes of winning a Virginia U.S. Senate seat two years ago against incumbent Mark Warner. Now, the former counselor to President George W. Bush and Republican National Committee chairman is on a mission to become Virginia’s next governor in 2017.
For months, Gillespie has traveled across the commonwealth in his bid to gain the Republican nomination for governor. What does he hear? He hears that Virginia “is moving in the wrong direction.” If elected governor in 2017, the Republican candidate wants to replace the low paying jobs with ones that pay well.
“We’re talking about diversification,’’ Gillespie said during a recent Staunton stop at a fundraising barbecue for Del. Dickie Bell. Gillespie has put together nine policy working groups to help frame his approach to the Virginia economy. He believes it will take a combination of improved education and changes in taxation and regulation to lift the Virginia economy back.
Gillespie’s travels across Virginia are including visits with all public university and college presidents and students at those institutions.
He is opposed for the Republican nomination by Sen. Frank Wagner, Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and 1st District Rep. Rob Wittman. The nomination will be settled in a Republican state primary next June.
Gillespie counts the support of more than 50 percent of the members of the Virginia General Assembly and says he learned from his 2014 bid against Warner.
“People thought I couldn’t win,’’ said Gillespie of his race against the popular Warner, who has also been a Virginia governor. The mood about a Gillespie candidacy is different in 2016. “People have a sense I can win this time,’’ he said. Gillespie said he grew as a candidate in the Senate campaign. “I feel I was a better candidate in October than I was in March,’’ he said.
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