Thread by @cmclymer

Hey y'all, I know there are a million things going on this week--including, apparently, some sort of convention I keep hearing about--but I want to take a few moments and draw your attention to a situation developing in Virginia's 5th congressional district. (thread)

In June, GOP Congressman Denver Riggleman lost his primary bid for reelection, in part because he officiated a same-sex wedding. Rather than hold an actual primary where the voters decide, local party leaders switched to a convention format. Riggleman lost in a landslide.

The candidate party leaders chose to support against Riggleman in their sham process is Bob Good, a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and former athletics fundraiser for Liberty University. He's also aggressively anti-LGBTQ. He's obsessed with LGBTQ people.

In fact, Bob Good is so obsessed with harming LGBTQ people that he's made it a centerpiece of his campaign. He has spent the past few months railing against same-sex marriage, a recent LGBTQ non-discrimination law passed by Virginia, and of course, trans people.

This week, he's hosting a meeting for local clergy and GOP leaders with an invite that says the following about trans women...

nytimes.com/2020/08/16/us/…

Bob Good isn't just entirely opposed to LGBTQ rights, including basic civil liberties for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people that even some Republicans now openly support. He seems to be campaigning with that as his main message: validating hatred toward LGBTQ people.

He's campaigning on hatred just down the road from Manassas Park, where Virginia House Delegate Danica Roem has won rave reviews for her constituency services after being elected and re-elected by wide margins as the first openly-trans state legislator in American history.

I put that in context because this congressional district is very much within reach for Democrats. This year, the Democratic nominee is @DrCameronWebb, who has both medical and law degrees and looks like he would easily be a fan favorite from "Grey's Anatomy".

When he's not treating patients in Charlottesville as an internist, Dr. Webb teaches medical students and serves as the Director of Health Policy and Equity at UVA's School of Medicine. Did I mention Dr. Leigh-Ann Webb, his wife, is an ER doctor who also grew up in Virginia?

Dr. Webb is one of those candidates who annoyingly focuses on things that matter: health care access (because, you know, he's a doctor), job creation, public education, affordable housing, criminal justice reform (because, you know, he's a lawyer, too).

So, this is a rare chance to not only prevent a vile anti-LGBTQ bigot from taking office but also elect a physician who knows his district needs competent leadership in the greatest public health crisis in our history. Did I mention he'd be the first Black physician in Congress?

Here's where you can donate to support Dr. Webb's campaign: secure.actblue.com/donate/bcw-cc

And here's where you can volunteer for his campaign: drcameronwebb.com/get-involved

/thread