Photo: Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images
President Trump congratulated Corey Stewart on Wednesday, after Stewart took a victory in the Virginia Republican Senate primary race on Tuesday night, saying he has a "major chance of winning" against "a total stiff, Tim Kaine."
The big picture: Virginia went blue in the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton, and Stewart — a pro-Trump candidate who has received attention for defending Confederate symbols — faces an uphill climb vs. Kaine.
Meet Corey Stewart
- Stewart has promised voters a "vicious" campaign for the Senate seat against Kaine.
- He's a man after Trump's own heart. Per the Washington Post, when the crowd at his election night party chanted "Lock her up!" Stewart said: "That might just happen, by the way. And Timmy, too. Oh, we’re gonna have a lot of fun between now and November, folks.”
- He called Paul Nehlen, a "pro-White" congressional candidate, his "personal hero" last year, according to WaPo. He has since disavowed Nehlen.
- He was the chair of Donald Trump's Virginia campaign during the 2016 election, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, "before being fired for a rogue anti-establishment protest."
- He said Tim Kaine's son should be send to Guantanamo, per the Times-Dispatch, because of charges from a left-wing protest.
- Kaine called Stewart: “A cruder imitation of Donald Trump who stokes white supremacy and brags about being ‘ruthless and vicious.'"
- He sat down for an interview with Mike Cernovich — part of the self-described "new right" — for an interview after being fired from Trump's Virginia campaign, and was endorsed by a "prominent member of the neo-Confederate movement," per CNN.
What they're saying:
- Former Republican Lieutenant Governor in Virginia, Bill Bolling:
- Republican strategist Brian Walsh: