Tens of thousands of Virginia Republicans will head to community colleges, church parking lots and county fairgrounds on Saturday to choose nominees in what activists and officials say remains an unpredictable battle for the near-term future of a party that has not won a statewide election in a dozen years.
For the candidates vying for the right to run for governor under the Republican banner, the divergent options they present to voters is less about how to move on from former President Trump
The delegates will choose among seven contenders running for the Republican nomination to replace Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who is limited to serving one term. Most strategists and activists believe the race will come down to three leading contenders: Venture capitalist Pete Snyder, a major donor who ran for lieutenant governor in 2013; Glenn Youngkin, a former chief executive of the Carlyle Group making his first run for public office; and state Sen. Amanda Chase, an archconservative who attended the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection.