Virginia State Senator Who Calls Herself ‘Trump in Heels’ Forced to Sit in Plexiglass Box Because She Won’t Wear a Mask

Sarah RumpfFeb 19th, 2021, 3:30 pm
 
virginia state senator amanda chase

Photo by Eze Amos/Getty Images.

Thinking outside the box is overrated according to Virginia State Senator Amanda Chase, a self-described “Trump in Heels” legislator who has been forced to sit inside a plexiglass box during session meetings because she refuses to wear a face mask — and whose campaign for governor is one of several competing forces driving the Virginia Republican Party into a messy internal battle.

The New York Times’ Reid Epstein characterized the kerfuffle as “the first state-level boomerang”  of former President Donald Trump’s legacy, as Virginia Republicans “have internalized the lesson that there is no benefit to accepting results they don’t like, and the result is a paralyzed party unable to set the date, location and rules for how and when it will pick its 2021 nominees for statewide office, including the race for governor.”

Chase, pictured above at an open carry protest in July 2020 (at which she and nearly all attendees photographed also refused to wear masks), cited a Virginia Executive Order that allows exemptions from mask wearing for medical reasons, but that was unsatisfactory for the in-person meetings required for the current special session of the Virginia Legislature. So the plexiglass walls went up around her desk.

Chase seemed unfazed, telling WRIC-Richmond that she appreciated the “freedom to breathe” and was calling the Plexiglas cubicle her “square of freedom.”

Just over one year ago, Chase announced she was running for governor, heavily courting gun rights supporters. She’s developed a knack for getting her name in headlines, as the Washington Post documented, from wearing a holstered .38 special on her hip on the Senate floor to controversial comments, to swearing at a Capitol Police officer over a parking dispute, to insulting rape victims as “naive and unprepared.” Just last month, she was censured by the state senate and stripped of committee assignments for calling the Capitol rioters “patriots.”

Chase’s local GOP committee had expelled her but she won re-election without their help, and now the party establishment is tearing its hair out as polls show her to be a strong contender for the gubernatorial nomination.

The process for determining the GOP nominee has itself become a battle, with different factions within the party fighting over whether to hold a primary vote or select the nominee at a convention.

It’s further complicated by an order from the outgoing Gov. Ralph Northam, a term-limited Democrat, that restricts gatherings of more than 10 people, so a convention would require a rules change to have the state’s Republicans meet at multiple locations around Virginia.

A rules change requires a 3/4 vote, so while the party has now voted four separate times to have a convention, they have so far been unable to persuade the minority holdouts to agree to the rules change.

As for Chase herself, she has told reporters that she “doesn’t trust conventions.” She was still insisting that Trump could be inaugurated for a second term up to the final few days of his presidency, according to the Times.

If Virginia Republicans can’t figure out whether to have a primary or allow the rules change to have a pandemic-compliant convention and notify state election officials by February 23, the party nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general will be chosen by a 72-member “State Central Committee” for the party, which may be what the party leaders are hoping for in the end.

Unsurprisingly, the Virginia Democrats are enjoying the Republican infighting. They cheered Chase’s campaign launch on Twitter, mockingly writing that they were “[l]ooking forward to seeing her continue Virginia Republicans’ perfect record of losing every statewide election for ten years running.”

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law&Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe. Follow Sarah on Threads, Twitter, and Bluesky.