At 6:00 pm on Saturday, March 2, President Donald Trump held a raucous “Get Out The Vote” (GOTV) rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. His purpose was to drive up participation in this week’s presidential primary. March 5 is “Super Tuesday,” the day when the largest number of states have primaries, and over one-third of all delegates available to nominate the final Democrat and Republican nominees will be assigned.
In addition to The Old Dominion, 14 other states will be voting March 5. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont are holding primaries while two, Alaska and Utah, are holding caucuses.
Blacksburg resident JoAnne Price, owner of the Christiansburg TRUMP store and former Montgomery County GOP chairwoman, cited this as her reason to drive across the state and attend the rally:
“I went to support President Trump because he is the only person for this country, for this world, for this time.” Price was impressed by the size and spirit of the crowd, claiming: “The people of Virginia are with him. The crowds of people wrapped around the building multiple blocks. There were people who had arrived as early at 6:00 am, and we got there at around 1:30 and were in line for four and a half hours.”
“The energy of the crowd was positive, vibrating all over the place. It was exhilarating. And the people were positive, of one mind, we were one people. And that’s unity. The people of Virginia are united behind Trump. I was surrounded by a whole family of Chinese legal immigrants, and they were absolutely livid about all the illegals coming across the border, because they [the family] did it the right way.”
Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D), who is also on the Biden/Harris National Advisory Committee and is running for governor, blasted the rally. He complained on Twitter/X: “And I’m here to remind folks that President Trump has chosen Richmond as a campaign stop. And I wanted President Trump to know this, that your rhetoric of division and hate and destruction of our democracy is not welcome here in Richmond. We reject those values. We believe in the values of being more inclusive, more welcoming, a place where people belong, a place where people can thrive, and that’s the opposite message of Donald Trump. That is why I’m supporting Joe Biden for reelection, and I ask all of you to get out there and support the president.”
Ironically, Stoney referred to “President Trump” but only “Joe Biden” without the title.
Donald Trump is coming to Richmond today for a campaign rally.
As our city’s Mayor, I’m here to remind you that Trump’s bigoted message has no place in our city or in our Commonwealth.
We will re-elect President Biden in November. pic.twitter.com/ufRoREgSLK
— Mayor Levar M. Stoney (@LevarStoney) March 2, 2024
The Roanoke Star asked Price about Stoney warning Trump “is not welcome here in Richmond” yet also ironically claiming “We believe in (…) being more inclusive, more welcoming, a place where people belong(….)” Price, who like Stoney is also black, chuckled about the self-contradiction and retorted:
“That is laughable. The proof is in the crowd. There were blacks. There were whites. There were Asians. But we were all Americans. We weren’t Democrats. We weren’t Republicans. We weren’t independents. We were all Americans.”
Price closed with: “You have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to perceive that Trump is called, chosen, by Almighty God because no one else could stand what has been thrown at him.”
On that topic of the multi-state “what has been thrown at him” efforts, Trump’s re-election efforts got a huge boost on Monday morning, March 4. The US Supreme Court issued a rare unanimous decision that struck down efforts in Colorado and some other states to keep his name off the ballot this fall.
Polls across Virginia will be open on Tuesday, March 5 from 6:00 am till 7:00 pm.
Active citizenship: Register to vote, find your polling place, etc. on Virginia’s official Elections website here.
–Scott Dreyer