Virginia state Democrats file resolution to censure GOP gubernatorial candidate

by Julia Manchester - 01/14/21 11:24 AM ET

Eze Amos/Getty Images
State senator Amanda Chase addresses protesters on July 4, 2020 in Richmond, Virginia. Chase is currently running for the Governors office of Virginia. People attended an event in Virginia tagged Stand with Virginia, Support the 2nd amendment.

Democrats in the Virginia state Senate on Thursday filed a resolution to censure Republican state senator and gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase, citing her rhetoric and attendance at the pro-Trump rally ahead of the insurrection of the Capitol last week.

The resolution, which was filed by state Sen. John Bell (D), accuses Chase of “fomenting insurrection against the United States.”

There would need to be a majority vote in the Virginia Senate to censure Chase, according to the resolution.

Chase responded to the move, calling it a “political stunt” and compared the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to last summer’s protests over racial injustice.

“I’m the front runner for governor and am positioned to beat anyone that is put against me; they know that,” Chase told The Hill.

“As a vocal advocate of the people I will not be lectured or censured by those who fail to recognize their hypocrisy as they participated in so called peaceful BLM rallies and protests,” she continued. “People were seriously injured. Bricks were thrown at law enforcement. Property destroyed. Members of the Senate body in which I serve actively broke curfew to participate and spoke in favor of such referencing the violence as ‘good trouble.’ Democrats either have selective amnesia or need a lesson in recent Virginia history.”

The move comes as Chase has faced widespread backlash for her presence at the rally and for refusing to condemn the attacks on the Capitol.

Chase, an ardent Trump support, has touted his false claims that the election was stolen from him. She notably called for the president to invoke martial law last month and let the military oversee another election.

The state senator has said she attended a “peaceful rally” and left before the protests turned into a mob that stormed the Capitol.

“These were not rioters and looters; these were Patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great republic turn into a socialist country,” she wrote on Facebook after the storming of the Capitol.

Facebook has since suspended her account.

The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus formally called on Chase to resign last Friday, saying she gave power to “a failed coup d’etat.”