Arlington Republicans have voted to oppose three state constitutional amendments in November, focusing most efforts on fighting a measure to codify abortion access.
After some debate and a voice vote on Monday night, the county GOP opted to oppose three ballot measures that would provide formal constitutional support for reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and voting rights for felons.
The party will include its opposition on a sample ballot, which will be mailed out to approximately 25,000 county voters in the fall and handed out at precincts on Election Day.
Specifically, Republicans aim to “spend resources, time, treasure and talent” to oppose enshrining what the amendment terms “reproductive freedom” into the constitution, party chair Matthew Hurtt said during the meeting. The proposed amendment “radically changes” abortion law in Virginia, and “would have the most dramatic outcome if it was to pass,” Hurtt said.
Some others at the meeting agreed that the reproductive-rights amendment should be the focus of GOP efforts.
“I hope this committee puts its resources” on that issue, said Richard Samp, a former member of the Arlington Electoral Board.
Samp was among those arguing against too significant a focus on opposing the other amendments on the ballot — one enshrining marriage equality in the state constitution, the other providing automatic restoration of voting rights for felons.
Neither would do much more than codify existing law, he said, terming the proposed amendments “nothing burgers” in the grand scheme of things.
Dominick Schirripa, a current Republican member of the Electoral Board, countered that the voting-restoration measure would have a broader impact, in part because it would permit restoration of voting rights before a felon completes probation.
On the marriage amendment, Schirripa agreed with Samp — it “probably does nothing” to change the status quo, he said.
Democrats and others supporting that amendment say it will provide an important backstop if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses a 5-4 vote in 2015, which invalidated state-level prohibitions on same-sex marriage, including the one in Virginia’s constitution.
A year earlier, federal courts had effectively invalidated Virginia’s ban. The first same-sex marriage in Arlington took place on Oct. 6, 2014.
Another party member, speaking from the back of the room, suggested the party should focus on the abortion amendment and avoid a position on the others. Reflexive opposition to constitutional amendments and county bond referendums give “the appearance of being negative, negative, negative,” he said.
“Think about sometimes how we look, how petty we look,” he told rank-and-file Republicans.
Hurtt said the party also would have a robust presence at both the Arlington County Fair in August and Clarendon Day in September.
While county Republicans voted to oppose the amendments, they held off, for the time being, on crafting statements that will be used to explain the positions to the voting public.
The votes to oppose the measures line up with the results of an online poll of Republican Committee members, taken in previous weeks.
The survey found about 88% of respondents opposing the abortion amendment, 73% opposing the voting-rights amendment and 70% opposing the marriage amendment.
In each case, remaining votes were split between supporting the amendments and having no opinion.
In the poll, about 70% of respondents wanted the party to go on record with those positions.
Few at the June 22 meeting had illusions that opposition on the party’s sample ballot would significantly sway the Arlington electorate. A number of them told ARLnow that local voters likely would support all three by four-to-one margins, give or take.
That was the margin by which Arlington voters supported April’s congressional redistricting referendum, which had the support of county Democrats but was opposed by the Republican Committee.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee next month will take up the constitutional amendments, and is likely to back all three.
GOP chair Hurtt said he expected Democrats to have little debate on the matter before rubber-stamping a resolution of support.
“This party,” he said of the GOP, “is the only party that can have a robust discussion on issues like this.”
Later this summer, both political parties are likely to take positions on the fall’s package of local bond referendums, to be finalized by County Board members in July.
The monthly Republican meeting was the first since the deadline for general-election candidates came and went. At the local level, the GOP came up empty, lacking a nominee for County Board or endorsee for School Board.
Republicans conceivably could support one of the two independents for County Board — Audrey Clement or David Sisson — as well as School Board candidate James “Vell” Rives IV, who is taking on incumbent Democratic endorsee Bethany Zecher Sutton.
Virginia Republicans on Aug. 4 will select a nominee to take on Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in the fall. The same day, the Democratic primary will include races for County Board and 8th District U.S. House of Representatives.
In Virginia, voters do not register by political party, and can participate in either primary, but not both.
