"Intra-Party Chaos" in Virginia's 2nd & 9th Congressional Districts
A failed attempt to reprimand Democratic leadership in VA-09 reminds us that intra-party drama is more the norm than the exception in Virginia politics.
Last week’s episode of The Virginia Press Room, “Intra-Party Chaos, Fraud Accusations, and Americorps Funding Cuts,” included a segment in which reporter Kate Seltzer of the Virginian-Pilot discussed GOP party drama in Virginia Beach. In response to a question from Washington Post reporter Greg Schneider, Seltzer remarked:
“In some ways this is this hyper local battle, but it does come right on the tails of the John Reid controversy that we were all following a couple of weeks ago. It does seem like there’s this sort of pattern of discord within the Republican Party right now that I think we’re seeing manifest still six months to go before the election.”
While it’s true that conflict within the Virginia GOP has captured more headlines recently, a failed attempt on May 6, 2025 to reprimand Democratic leadership in the 9th Congressional District reminds us that intra-party drama is more the norm than the exception in Virginia politics.
2nd Congressional District GOP Woes
Seltzer and her colleague Stacy Parker at the Virginian-Pilot have been covering the Virginia Beach story for the past couple of weeks, including in the lead up to the GOP chair ouster. From their initial story:
Leaders of the Virginia GOP’s 2nd Congressional District Committee will vote Wednesday night on whether to oust Laura Hughes, the chairwoman of the Virginia Beach Republican Party. The vote comes as tensions between the regional party administration and the local party boil over.
In Virginia, the Republican party is administered by the state central committee, which oversees, in descending order, congressional district committees — including the 2nd District, which is comprised of part of Hampton Roads — legislative district committees and city and county committees.
Hughes was elected last March. The schism began a few months later, according to Hughes, when she engaged a city auditor to conduct an audit of the Virginia Beach Republican Party, a task she said was long overdue. In a Facebook post on April 30, Hughes wrote that the past administration had failed to turn over key documents, and the process was delayed.
Then, according to Hughes, Dennis Free, chair of the 2nd District Committee, was directed by committee vote to contract the audit through someone else. The Republican Party of Virginia ultimately conducted the review. That review, Hughes and Free agree, did not amount to a forensic audit, which specifically looks for illegal financial activity.
Hughes maintains the findings of that report should be made public . But, she said, in order to view a copy of the report, she had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Markus Schmidt has also been covering this story for the Virginia Mercury. From his initial reporting in the lead up to Hughes’ ouster:
Hughes, an attorney and former Virginia Beach school board member, was elected local GOP chair in March 2024 at a packed mass meeting of about 1,100 Republicans. Her victory by 95 votes surprised many — including longtime power players — and marked a shift toward grassroots-driven leadership. But with that shift came deepening fractures.
“When I took office, I thought the hardest part would be rallying people and getting them excited to grow the party,” Hughes told The Mercury in an interview Monday. “I didn’t realize the biggest fight would come from inside.”
One of her first priorities was to push for a formal audit of the local committee’s finances, which she quickly learned had not been conducted since 2014 — despite the party’s bylaws requiring annual reviews.
“When I couldn’t get access to basic financial documents, I decided to ask for an audit,” she said. “It seemed irresponsible not to.”
That decision, Hughes said, opened a hornet’s nest.
The 2nd Congressional District GOP Committee did, ultimately, vote to oust Hughes on May 7, 2025. As Schmidt then reported for the Virginia Mercury:
“This was a ‘screw you’ to the Virginia Beach voters,” she said of her detractors’ actions in a phone interview Thursday, “because they wanted this small little group who likes to stay in charge, and they installed a chair that will do their bidding. And I am most likely going to file an appeal with the state Republican party.”
The 11-4 vote took place after four hours of closed-door deliberations at the Chesapeake GOP office, with 15 ballots cast, including five by proxy. The use of proxies and the closed nature of the meeting drew swift criticism from more than 50 Hughes supporters gathered outside, who said the decision undermined transparency and local control.
And as Stacy Parker reported in the Virginian-Pilot, the ballot was secret:
The vote by secret ballot came after a four-hour meeting at the Chesapeake GOP office. Not all district committee members attended; five sent proxies to vote on their behalf, which drew criticism from more than 50 Hughes’ supporters who waited outside.
The meeting was closed to party members and the public. Just after 11 p.m., 15 ballots were cast. Eleven favored removing Hughes for failing to function as the chair.
“It was a difficult decision,” said Dennis Free, chair of the 2nd District Committee. “We’ll move forward with a minimum of disruption, and I think we’ll correct anything that we thought that contributed to this decision.”
The committee also voted to appoint Virginia Beach member Larry Lane as the interim chair.
9th Congressional District Dems Reject Disorganized Attempt to Reprimand Chair
The 9th Congressional District Democratic Committee has had a rocky decade when it comes to leadership and drama. I won’t go into the history or lore, aside from setting the stage with the resignation of Mary Lynn Tate as 9th CD Democratic Committee chair in late 2023 and Steve Cochran’s role as acting chair of the committee into early last year. Cochran, a former elected member of the Democratic National Committee, then faced a new member of the committee, Floyd resident Rebecca Daly, in a February 2024 election to fill the chair position.
Daly, a Bernie Sanders delegate in 2016 and 2020, was previously an elected member of the 5th Congressional District Democratic Committee and chair of the Charlotte County Democratic Committee before moving to Floyd in 2022.
Daly defeated Cochran in a close election in February of 2024 and has served as chair of the 9th CD Democratic Committee since. By many accounts, Democratic Party organizing has developed momentum and energy in the district, evinced in part by Democrats competing in every House of Delegates district, House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D) and his House Democratic Caucus going all-in for Lily Franklin in Montgomery County / Roanoke County House of Delegates District 41, and the fact that most Democratic candidates for statewide office have visited the district this year, despite its partisan composition, not to mention tours by Democratic U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
Despite all of that, Montgomery County Supervisor and 9th Congressional District Dem Committee member Derek Kitts had frustrations with the committee’s leadership. Kitts is perhaps best known for running Virginia Blue Star Printing, one of several fictitious company names under Tempus Leadership Solutions LLC according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Virginia Blue Star Printing has done work for the Democratic Party of Virginia and various candidates to the tune of over half a million dollars, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
During the May 6, 2025 meeting, Kitts struggled to find the appropriate motion to express his frustrations. After other committee members informed Kitts that removal of a chair (or any member) required at least 10 days advance written notice and other procedural steps (see Sections 6.7 & 10.8 of the DPVA Party Plan), committee and Radford School Board member Amanda Winter clarified that Kitts probably wanted a vote of no confidence in Daly.
Kitts made that motion, and Winter seconded it.
Unlike with the Republican situation in Virginia Beach, there weren’t any specific details given as reasons for a vote of no confidence in Daly; instead, generic grievances ruled the discussion. And unlike the GOP secret vote, Democrats are not permitted to vote by proxy or by secret ballot.
The roll was called, and 13 committee members present voted against the no-confidence motion, including HD 41 Democratic nominee Lily Franklin.
Chair Rebecca Daly and 2022 Democratic nominee for U.S. House of Representatives in the 9th, Taysha DeVaughan, abstained.
Only four members voted for Kitts’ no confidence effort: Kitts, Dean Chiapetto (who has since resigned from the committee), Amanda Winter, and Democratic Party of Virginia Rural Caucus Chair and Lee County Democratic Committee Chair Roberta Thacker-Oliver.
Apparently the 9th District Democratic Committee does have confidence in its chair and is less likely to devolve into further conflict — compared to the unresolved GOP dispute in Virginia Beach. But we should not forget that, despite the fluctuating magnitude of mainstream reporting, such intra-party committee squabbles are perennial in Virginia politics.