Virginia GOP Refuses Convention Exemption for Observant Jews

The Virginia GOP voted down an exemption for Shabbat-observant Jews during a Zoom meeting Thursday.

The Virginia Republican Party, which has scheduled its next convention for Saturday May 8, rejected a motion during a Zoom meeting on Thursday that would have allowed Shabbat-observant Jews to participate in convention business on other days. The convention will decide the Virginia GOP’s nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general for the state’s November general election later this year.

Saturday of course is the traditional Jewish day of rest, which many Jews observe. The Republican Jewish Coalition called the motion’s failure “disappointing”:

It is very disappointing to see observant Jews disenfranchised like this. We hope @VA_GOP will reconsider this decision. https://t.co/8L5kOqiXiE

— RJC (@RJC) April 23, 2021

The motion required a 75% threshold for passage among members of the State Central Committee. It failed when the final tally showed 38 votes in favor, 28 votes against, and three abstentions, which meant the motion notched just 57.5% of the vote.

Former Virginia Republican congressman Denver Riggleman blasted the state party’s failure to grant an exemption and blamed “escalating stupidity”:

We are to a point of such escalating stupidity—based on a collection election method so ridiculous and convoluted… as to call into question the very legitimacy of the GOP in Virginia. Religious liberty and including all is what we should strive for… https://t.co/39CHcXbkh2

— Denver Riggleman (@RepRiggleman) April 23, 2021

Democrats have been ascendant in Virginia and currently hold every statewide office, as well as both U.S. Senate seats. After throwing its electoral votes behind the Republican presidential nominee in 10 straight elections from 1968 to 2004, Virginia has voted for the Democratic nominee in the last four.

Last year, the Virginia Republican Party voted to end primaries as the means for selecting the nominees for statewide office, instead opting to give that responsibility to convention delegates.

Ken Reid, an observant Jew and member of the GOP in Norfolk, said he and more than a dozen members of his synagogue will be unable to participate in the convention.

“They may say that they want to grow the base of the party,” Reid told Virginia Public Media, “but then they do things like this that essentially goes the other way. What can I say? They’re not anti Semitic, they’re just anti realist.”

Meanwhile, committee member Thomas Turner was adamant about allowing the exemption. “Let my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community vote,” said Turner, one of two black members of the committee. “Let them vote! We talk about voter integrity and we’re trying to suppress the vote. This is exactly what this is.”

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