Ed Gillespie has narrowly edged out Corey Stewart to clinch the Republican nomination for Virginia governor, The Washington Post reports. Gillespie ultimately took 43 percent of the vote, while Stewart came in a close second with 42 percent.
Gillespie’s win represents a slim victory for the establishment wing of the Republican party. Stewart had aligned himself strongly with President Donald Trump, hoping to ride the populist wave that sent Trump to the White House in November.
Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, was expected to win the GOP primary by a wide margin, the result of Trump’s growing disapproval and a signal that insurgent candidates could be losing political ground, The Hill reports.
Gillespie’s win was also due to Stewart’s embrace of Confederate symbols, which cost him the support of some longtime GOP allies and colleagues.
The Trump-aligned candidate gathered attention in April when he got into an argument on Twitter with musician John Legend over the removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans.
Trump ultimately lost Virginia in the November presidential election, coming in with roughly 200,000 votes less than his Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Likewise, former President Barack Obama won twice in the state.
Gillespie’s victory on Tuesday means that he will face off against Democrat Ralph Northam, the state’s Lieutenant Governor, in November. Like Gillespie, Northam is closely aligned with the establishment wing of the Democratic party. He beat out former Representative Tom Perriello, a progressive backed by Senator Bernie Sanders.
In a 2014 bid for the U.S. Senate, Gillespie narrowly missed a victory over incumbent Senator Mark Warner, a former Virginia Governor, who has served in the Senate since 2009.
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