Former Richmond-based broadcaster John Reid said on Friday that his entrance into the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor was sparked by the recent water crisis in the commonwealth’s capital, which saw most of the city lose access to running water for six days in January.
Reid, who is the latest Republican to enter the race, made the remarks during a Friday appearance on “The John Fredericks Show,” when he told The Virginia Star publisher John Fredericks that bad governance by Democrats led to his entrance into politics as a candidate.
“Six days without water in the City of Richmond. The hospitals can’t have surgeries, old ladies are dehydrating, the General Assembly has to leave, there are porta-johns in front of Thomas Jefferson’s capital,” Reid told Fredericks.
He then laid the blame on former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, who last year announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination to become the commonwealth’s next lieutenant governor.
Reid stated, “And why is that? Because Levar Stoney, who may be the Democrat nominee for lieutenant governor, didn’t focus on what he needed to do as mayor, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let someone like that, or one of his liberal colleagues, become the lieutenant governor of Virginia. I’m going to fight against that.”
The former radio host previously interviewed President Donald Trump multiple, and speaking to Fredericks, questioned the claim that his primary opponent John Curran is the most aligned with the 47th president, and expressed doubt that his other primary opponent, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, would secure additional Republican votes in Northern Virginia.
“It doesn’t need to be a nasty campaign, and I appreciate the kind of work on the ground up there,” Reid offered of Herrity, before telling Fredericks, “His selling point is, ‘I’m going to deliver Northern Virginia at a higher percentage.’ I don’t know that that’s true.”
Reid, who is gay and in a long-term relationship with his partner, Alonzo Mable, said his candidacy represents a different opportunity for Virginia Republicans to secure voters from hard-to-reach parts of the commonwealth.
He told Fredericks, “Everybody thinks Republicans are racist, everybody thinks Republicans are homophobes, all the Democrats think that we’re xenophobes,” and suggested, “when they hear me talk about these issues, and they hear me talk about my life story in the Republican Party, I think people are going to go, ‘Wait a minute, maybe I’ve been wrong, maybe I should give this party a second shot.'”
According to Reid, this effect will have its most pronounced effect with suburban women, who Republicans have struggled to reach nationally.
Reid is currently slated to face Curran and Herrity in the Republican primary on June 17.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “John Reid” by John Reid.
