Sandy Sanders and Tom White don’t always agree on endorsing a candidate. And when we do not agree, we often personally endorse candidates. But Tom Garrett was an easy choice. Garrett receives Virginia Right’s endorsement as well as personal endorsements from Sandy and Tom.
Sandy Sanders’ Endorsement
Tom White agreed to write this together with me and we both agree: For Congress in the Fifth District we support and thus the Virginia Right blog endorses: State Senator Tom Garrett. So this is my part and Tom (White not Garrett! He’s not that kind of politico!) will write the rest.
I met Tom Garrett when he and Rusty McGuire were assistants in the AG’s office. They had audacious goals: Garrett was going to run for Louisa Commonwealth’s Attorney and McGuire was going to run for Hanover prosecutor. Of course I supported Rusty and he lost the primary! (Maybe this is not good for Senator Garrett…) But Garrett ran against the incumbent and beat him. Rusty McGuire became his deputy. Now McGuire is the CA in Louisa and he’s doing an awesome job catching Internet predators.
This is the blog post about the time Tom Garrett ran for state senate in 2011. People said: Tom can’t win the primary and he won’t win the general election – he’s too conservative. Well, he won the most exciting election I have ever live blogged and then crushed his opponent in the general by a 58% to 42% margin. (And the opponent was a principal of a well-known pest control company with signs all over the place and who outspent Garrett! nearly 2 to 1!)
Garrett will beat to his own drum – not the establishment in the House! Don’t take my word for it – ask Senator Thomas K. Norment. Garrett boldly challenged Norment not to have both the Finance Chair and Majority Leader and even though he lost, it showed political courage. Here’s my comment: Garrett’s got guts!
Tom told me recently and it was for publication that he WILL join the Freedom Caucus if elected. That ought to be a question for everybody running for Congress this year. And NO is not an option.
So walk through a gasoline fire (if that is necessary!) this year in the Fifth and vote Garrett in the primary/convention and in the general election, too.
Tom White’s Endorsement
The 5th District is fortunate to have several good people who have stood up and offered to uproot their lives to represent their friends and neighbors in Washington DC. And anyone who stands up and offers to make that sacrifice is to be commended. But when Republicans face each other in primaries, especially in conservative districts, they all try to “out-conservative” one another. And my research into the candidates shows that is true in this 5th District race for the Republican nomination. So in a race with 5 candidates running for the Republican nomination all claiming to be more conservative and the better choice than the others it is hard to know who to believe. And it is even more difficult to know which candidate, if elected, will be a true conservative and which will be a patsy of the big spending, big government establishment that have gone hand in hand with the Democrats to create a $19 trillion debt.
But only one of the candidates stands out from the field because only one candidate has a voting record. That is Virginia State Senator Tom Garrett.
Garrett was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 2011 after serving as the Commonwealth’s Attorney of Louisa, Va. I have known Tom Garrett for 7 or 8 years and I can honestly say there is not a single vote he has cast as a State Senator that I have disagreed with. And I have applauded his tenacity as a Senator who has earned a reputation for doing the right thing from a Conservative’s point of view.
There is one thing that I detest in any elected official. And that is someone who puts the leadership of his party first, before the people he represents. Tom Garrett will face down anyone in order to do what he knows is right. As Sandy mentioned above, Tom will take on anyone to do the right thing.
Just the Right Amount of Experience
The mood of the electorate for the last couple of years has been one of anger towards the establishment and incumbent has become a dirty word. Tom has just enough experience to be able to hit the ground running and yet he is still one of us. His opponents have tried to paint him as a political insider, but nothing could be further from the truth. And I have yet to hear a single opponent criticize Tom Garrett on his voting record.
And Tom Garrett will make a welcome addition to the House Freedom Caucus to help Dave Brat combat the Republicans who have forgotten that they work for us.
Tom and I have kept in touch regularly. I have been impressed at how open and honest he is. He carried his mandate to do the right thing for the people of Louisa (NOT the criminals) into the State Senate. He is one of the most down to earth people you will ever meet and a rock solid Conservative with the voting record to back it up.
I do not hesitate to give Tom Garrett my enthusiastic personal endorsement and the endorsement of Virginia Right!
I trust Tom Garrett because he has earned it!
Article written by: Tom White
) I think Benson and Hansen bring a humility and respect for the voters the incumbents in those districts do not share. I do not know enough to say what to do in the 1st district. And memo to KW: There is a rumor your county was cited in a slightly unfavorable way when I called into the Jack Gravely show Friday about better ballot access – no opposition for any of the five school board seats in this general election. Rumor true. I hope in four years that does not occur again!