'Mini-Trump' Corey Stewart Loves Confederate Statues, and Jamming Up Republican Ed Gillespie
Asked if hes pushing Gillespie to the right, Stewart said, Im trying to.
ELEANOR CLIFT
09.13.17 1:00 AM ET
Corey Stewart is Ed Gillespies worst nightmarea visible reminder to voters of the part of Gillespies Republican Party that the former GOP chairman wishes voters didnt see.
Stewart almost beat Gillespie in Virginias June gubernatorial primary. Almost nobody saw it coming before Stewart, who chairs the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, came from 45 points only to fall just short of an epic upset on the strength of what turned out to be a sleeper issuepreserving Confederate monuments.
Now hes using his narrow loss and his new platform to bedevil Gillespie, and to set the stage for a Senate run in 2018.
He has yet to endorse Gillespie, telling The Daily Beast, Im no longer a believer in politicians endorsing other politicians. Its a two-edged sword. Gillespie doesnt necessarily want to inherit all my views, and the feeling is mutual, he says. Hell vote for Gillespie and encourage his supporters to do the same, but hes pretty tepid.
Stewart is from Minnesota, but hes a son of the South now, a persona that went viral when he visited Charlottesville in February to protest the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from a downtown park. He was mobbed by counterprotestors, and the video went viral. It caused my Facebook page to blow up. Thats when I knew I hit a nerve.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/mini-trump-corey-stewart-loves-confederate-statues-and-jamming-up-republican-ed-gillespie