The Virginia Republican Party controls both houses of the state legislature, but that hasn’t stopped them from fighting amongst themselves:
RICHMOND, Feb. 16 — The Virginia Senate has rejected efforts by House Republicans to crack down on illegal immigration and limit abortions, exposing a widening gap within the GOP over how far the party should go in addressing controversial issues.
With the legislative session scheduled to end next Saturday, the Republican-controlled Senate and House have staked out dramatically different positions on bills designed to rid the state of illegal immigrants and give fetuses additional state-sanctioned protections.
The debate, which comes as all 140 delegates and senators are up for reelection this year, reflects the Republican Party’s struggle nationally to deal with bills relating to abortion and immigration.
The state Senate’s actions this week also underscore how the tension in the party goes far beyond the years-long feud between the two chambers over whether higher taxes are needed to pay for transportation improvements.
The House of Delegates, dominated by social conservatives, has approved a number of bills this year that have prompted outrage from many activist groups, including measures to put illegal immigrants in county jails and to make it a felony for a woman to cause her own miscarriage.
Senators, led by moderate Republicans, balked at their House colleagues’ actions, saying that the conservatives were driving away moderate and suburban voters who have held the keys to recent statewide elections.
Going unsaid throughout the whole debate between the two houses is what is clearly a real fear among some Virginia Republicans that things could go badly when both the House and Senate are up for re-election in November. Quite honestly, they probably should be worried.
The trend in the last two elections has not been favorable to the GOP in general, and most definitely not the conservative wing of the party. Democrats won both the Governor’s race in 2005 and a come-from-behind suprise in 2006 when George Allen was defeated by Jim Webb. Most notable in both elections was the fact that Northern Virginia — specifically Fairfax — was turning to the Democratic Party. Even in Loudoun and Prince William Counties, which went Republican in both 2005 and 2006, the GOP’s margin of victory was smaller than in the past.
Given how high the stakes are in November,? it’s surprising to see something like this:
Conservatives are gearing up to try to purge the Senate of its moderate Republicans, who often form a coalition with Democrats to block many House initiatives. Five moderate Republicans already face challenges in the June primary.
And if those moderates are defeated and end up being replaced by Democrats, where is the victory ?
