State Attorney General Jay Jones on Monday launched a review of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee’s recent nomination process for three open city council seats, saying it “may have violated state law.”
On May 30, the party’s firehouse primary whittled 10 candidates down to three nominees: Lynchburg Republican City Committee Chair Veronica Bratton and incumbents Marty Misjuns and Larry Taylor, who are set to advance to the general election for the city council in November.
The nomination process was the first to be executed since a new state law that favors, but doesn’t explicitly require, state-run primaries was enacted. Known as Helmer’s law — named for its introduction by Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax County — the legislation took effect in 2024 and requires nomination methods to make provisions for absentee voters. It left little room for party-run nominations to operate, as absentee voting is an element that they have never included or aren’t logistically able to.
In mid-March, Helmer asked Attorney General Jay Jones to weigh in on the legality of Lynchburg’s nomination process in light of the new law. The Office of the Attorney General has not yet issued an opinion, but on Monday it sent the Lynchburg Republican City Committee a letter saying it has “opened an inquiry into the conduct of the recent firehouse primary election.”
“The OAG has reviewed allegations that the LRCC implemented an inadequate absentee ballot process for the primary, and that certain protected voters were excluded from participating in the election,” the letter, sent from Deputy Attorney General Helen Hardiman to acting chair of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee Sara Kalafian, reads. “Based on a review of these allegations and publicly available information, the OAG has concerns that the LRCC’s processes and practices may have violated state law by effectively disenfranchising” the five groups of voters protected by Helmer’s law: active-duty soldiers, college students, people with disabilities, people with contagious diseases that are a threat to public health and people temporarily living outside the country.
“We are obviously going to fully cooperate with any requests,” Kalafian said in a phone call Monday. “His review is just based on the ability to cover the five categories of the classes of voters, which we’ve met completely. That’s always been our aim and goal, and we’re confident we addressed their concern.”
When the firehouse primary plan was first formalized in March, it included instructions on who qualified as an absentee voter and how they could request an absentee ballot. A planning document distributed at a local party meeting in March said that absentee ballots would be collected and processed “consistent with the standards” of the Virginia Department of Elections and that absentee voters would be contacted using information from the permanent Republican absentee voter list.
The absentee ballot provisions have been available on the party’s website as part of the official call for the nomination.
Dan Pense, a committee member who led the balloting process for the firehouse primary, said in an April interview that the committee sent about 850 mailers to potential absentee voters to inform them on how to apply for an absentee ballot. Voters had until May 15 to request an absentee ballot, according to voting instructions on the party’s website.
About two dozen absentee ballots were received and counted, said Steve Troxel, a member of the electoral board that oversaw the nomination, at the May 30 count.
To assess the party’s compliance with Helmer’s law, the attorney general’s office is requesting that the party submit 10 items regarding the firehouse primary by June 29, including:
- Any documents detailing plans, processes or procedures for absentee balloting;
- A copy of each absentee ballot application received;
- Vote counts, including how many votes each candidate received and how many absentee and provisional votes were counted.
The letter from Jones’ office cites a section of state code that says the attorney general has “full authority to do whatever is necessary or appropriate to enforce the election laws or prosecute violations thereof.” It also points to a section of code that says the attorney general can commence civil action in circuit court “for appropriate relief” if there’s reasonable cause to believe that a violation of an election law has occurred and voters’ rights have been affected.
“Virginians deserve to exercise their right to vote free from illegal attempts to suppress them based on disability or service in the military,” Helmer wrote in a statement on Monday. “I’m glad that Attorney General Jones is taking aggressive action to protect the rights of our servicemembers, students, Virginians overseas, and people with disabilities.”
The last time an attorney general stepped in during a Lynchburg Republican City Committee nomination process was in 2024, when then-Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, advised that the party’s planned — but not yet executed — firehouse primary would run afoul of Helmer’s law. The LRCC opted for a state-run primary that year in response.
In the two years since, the LRCC filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that Helmer’s law unconstitutionally strips political parties of their First Amendment right to free association. In July 2025, Judge Norman Moon dismissed the lawsuit but ruled that “parties need only ensure practical levels of inclusion” for absentee voters to follow Helmer’s law. He also included in his ruling that “the Attorney General’s opinion is just that — an opinion. It is neither a binding interpretation of the law nor a source of law itself.”
The attorney general’s Monday letter comes while the Lynchburg Republican City Committee is under review by another body: the Republican Party of Virginia. By June 3, the state party had received three appeals objecting to the firehouse primary process. The appeals are moving through a party-run review process this week and will be checked against the party’s governing document, called the state party plan. The appeals are set to be ruled on this Saturday at an 11 a.m. meeting of the party’s state central committee, comprised of about 80 members across Virginia.
“The attorney general’s inquiries do not affect the Republican Party of Virginia appeals process,” said Jeff Ryer, chair of the state party, in a phone interview Monday. “We are aware of the attorney general’s inquiries of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee and we are confident they will reply and comply with his requests.”
On June 2, the Lynchburg Republican City Committee released a statement to officially certify the results of the May 30 nomination and name Bratton, Misjuns and Taylor as its nominees.
Misjuns said that the 1,600 voters who participated in the nomination represented a record turnout compared to similar party events.
“I’m not surprised that Democrat Jay Jones would try to interfere with their will and create chaos by making people think he can take conservatives off the ballot in a Republican stronghold like Lynchburg — when he can’t. Only a judge can do that,” Misjuns wrote in a statement Monday. “Republicans need to rally behind our nominees and focus on beating Democrats and their radical policies in November. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”
Bratton, who helped to plan the nomination process before announcing her candidacy and recusing herself from oversight, agreed that the focus should be on the general election.
“I have full confidence in the Firehouse Primary. I am proceeding forward in my campaign as one of the 3 nominated Republicans. My focus is defeating the Democrats in November so as a member of Lynchburg City Council I can protect our citizens from State Government over reach and fight to reduce costs for our taxpayers,” she wrote in a statement Monday.
Taylor said he’s remaining focused on his constituents while the review and appeals take shape.
“I’m waiting for the results, and whatever the results are, we just have to get in line with it and move forward,” he said in a phone interview Monday. “This is a ministry for me. It’s not something to stand up and beat my chest about. If we can do good for all citizens, we have accomplished something.”
