Something strange is going on in Lynchburg politics, which I realize doesn’t narrow things down very much.
In this case, I’m referring to the curious silence from the attorney general’s office about Lynchburg Republicans’ plans to nominate their city council candidates through a party-run “firehouse primary” rather than a state-run primary.
Here’s why this is unusual — and has statewide implications.
In 2021, the Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed a law that came very close to requiring parties to nominate their candidates only through a state-run primary. This law has informally acquired the nickname “Helmer’s Law” after its sponsor, Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax County. Republicans have always chafed at that law, considering it interferes in their party processes, with Lynchburg Republicans being more chafed than others. Part of this objection is rooted in the fear that, because Virginia doesn’t have voter registration by party, there’s nothing to stop Democrats from voting in a Republican primary to skew the outcome. There’s also the unspoken fact that a smaller electorate in a party-run process gives more power to conservative hardliners who often control the party machinery.
Two years ago, Lynchburg Republicans tried to find the theoretical legal daylight in the law that would let them hold a firehouse primary that complies with Helmer’s Law. Then-House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, asked for an attorney general’s opinion on whether the Lynchburg Republicans could do this. About 3 weeks later — 24 days after the Lynchburg Republicans first voted for a firehouse primary — then-Attorney General Jason Miyares issued a formal opinion that basically said, “nah, this won’t work.”
Lynchburg Republicans grudgingly held a state-run primary for their one contested nomination.
This year, Lynchburg Republicans have again decided to test the law by holding a party-run process that they say will fit the law. Once again, a state legislator has asked for an attorney general’s opinion on whether this is legal — this time Helmer himself.
Helmer sent his request on March 19. Today marks the 47th day since then, with no response from Attorney General Jay Jones. That’s almost twice as long as Miyares took two years ago.
Why the difference? And what might that mean? Let’s look at the politics.
In 2024, Miyares — a Republican — took some political risk in telling Lynchburg Republicans they couldn’t legally do what they wanted to do. Jones, as a Democrat, would face no such risk. It also seems difficult to imagine that Jones is wrestling with what the law says here. As a state legislator, he voted for Helmer’s Law, so presumably supports it. No one realistically expects Jones to say that Miyares was wrong and that Lynchburg Republicans really have found a loophole in Helmer’s Law. So what’s taking him so long to issue an opinion?
Maybe Jones’ office has simply been busy; its election law section has certainly had things to deal with, in the form of the legal challenges to the redistricting amendment. Lynchburg Republicans likely aren’t that high a priority. However, is it possible that Jones is taking his cue from the Virginia Supreme Court — which, citing a 1912 precedent, said it couldn’t rule on the redistricting amendment until after voters had approved it?
The attorney general can’t tell Lynchburg Republicans not to hold a firehouse primary. They have a constitutional right to assembly, be it a firehouse primary or a square dance or a prayer vigil or a drum circle or whatever else they want to do. The question is whether that firehouse primary checks off the legal box to qualify the winners for inclusion on the ballot.
If Jones wanted to cite that 1912 Supreme Court precedent (which ironically came from a case out of Lynchburg), he could wait until after the firehouse primary on May 30 to issue his opinion. What would happen then?
The keyword in “attorney general’s opinion” is “opinion.” An attorney general’s opinion is not like a court opinion; it’s not a legal order, it’s simply the opinion of the state’s chief legal officer. If a local government seeks an attorney general’s opinion on some legal matter, and gets one, the local government is best advised to follow whatever the AG says. That doesn’t mean the local government won’t get sued by somebody, but it does give the locality some assurance that it’s probably following the law.
Let’s say Jones issues an opinion that the Lynchburg Republican firehouse doesn’t meet the legal criteria for a nomination. Lynchburg Republicans don’t have to listen to him. If Jones issues such an opinion before the firehouse primary, Lynchburg Republicans could forge ahead. The AG doesn’t have a security force to shut the event down.
At that point, we’re deep into the realm of speculation, where the only certainty is billable hours for lawyers.
Here are some possible scenarios.
Would the local electoral board decide it couldn’t certify the results based on an AG’s opinion? Doesn’t appear so. Here’s what David Levy, a Democratic representative on the Lynchburg Electoral Board, says: “The local party and state party have selected the firehouse primary as their method of naming their three candidates for City Council in Lynchburg. The local Registrar and the local Electoral Board have no discretion in the placing of those party-named candidates on the ballot for November,” he tells me in an email. “While Attorney General Jones could issue an opinion as to the legality of the Lynchburg firehouse primary, there would have to be a court order enjoining the firehouse or a decision by the State Board not to accept the list of candidates certified by the Republican party chair. It appears to me that no one locally is willing to file for an injunction.”
Based on that, a mere AG’s opinion wouldn’t be enough — a court order would be required to block either the local or state electoral board from accepting the firehouse nominees as the party’s official set of nominees.
Let’s speculate further.
Jones might be in a bind here. When Miyares issued his opinion in 2024, the state Republican Party told Lynchburg Republicans they needed to hold a state-run primary — and there was still time to do so. If Jones says the firehouse primary doesn’t meet the legal threshold for nominations, it’s unclear what happens, since the deadline for requesting a state-run primary has passed.
In theory, a court could declare that, in light of events, Lynchburg Republicans get an extension, but that requires a) a court case and b) more activism than some judges might be willing to engage in. Meanwhile, both Democrats and Republicans are entitled to have their candidates listed on the ballot (this is based on a state law that gives an automatic ballot line to the nominees of any party whose statewide nominees have recently won at least 10% of the vote).
If the firehouse primary is not deemed a lawful way for Lynchburg Republicans to nominate candidates, but there’s no state-run primary option, then the task could fall to the Lynchburg Republican City Committee — which is chaired by one of the candidates and aligned with one of the two main factions competing for the nomination. For those who have missed the drama over the past two years, Lynchburg Republicans are divided into two factions that seem to despise each other. On the one side is the faction that includes incumbent Marty Misjuns with Veronica Bratton and Trae Watkins as their candidates; that is the faction aligned with the city committee (which Bratton chairs). The other faction includes incumbents Stephanie Reed and Larry Taylor, along with Chris Boswell.
Suppose the Reed-Taylor-Boswell ticket wins, but the firehouse is ruled void and the duty of picking nominees falls on the city committee. Would the committee be morally obligated (or directed by the state party) to affirm whoever won the now-voided firehouse primary? Or would it decide that the Misjuns-Bratton-Watkins ticket is the one they want on the ballot, no matter what the firehouse primary decided? (Of course, the primary could deliver mixed results — if you think your head hurts by now, imagine how much it will throb if that were to happen!)
The bottom line is, because of the automatic ballot access law, Lynchburg Republicans will have candidates on the ballot this fall. The question is whether they will be ones chosen by the firehouse primary or the city committee or … well, who knows? The irony is that the Reed-Taylor-Boswell ticket might not want the firehouse declared void because there’s a chance those candidates might win the party-run primary; their chances of getting picked by the city committee seem absolutely nil.
I said earlier there’s no political risk to Jones in declaring the Lynchburg firehouse primary noncompliant with state law. That’s true in the sense that Virginia Democrats probably don’t care one way or another how Lynchburg Republicans pick their candidates. However, if Jones allows the firehouse primary to stand, then a legal precedent is created that other Republican committees across the state could follow in future elections. He may not want that on his record. One of the main criticisms of the method Lynchburg Republicans have come up with is that it allows for no absentee voting, except for certain protected classes of people (military personnel, those with communicable diseases and so forth). If you’re a Lynchburg Republican who has to work that day or be out of town on some pressing business, you’re out of luck. In a state-run primary, there are 45 days of “no excuses” early voting.
Here’s the dilemma for Jones: If he acts, he’s got to be prepared to go to court to enforce his opinion. If he doesn’t act, he creates a precedent that critics will say disenfranchises some voters — a bad look for a Democratic attorney general.
Meanwhile, those planning to vote in the Lynchburg Republican firehouse primary are entitled to know whether their votes will count. This could be assured in at least two ways: Jones could act quickly — and before the event. The Lynchburg Republican City Committee could also affirm that if circumstances force the nominating decision on the committee, it will simply ratify the results of the firehouse primary, no matter which side wins.
Isn’t politics fun?
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