However, once the call started it was immediately clear that was not what the call would actually be about. Suzanne Long, the chair of the 5th District Democratic Committee and member of the Democratic Party of Virginia’s state steering committee, immediately made a motion to enter into a closed session without discussion which would have prevented non-committee members on the call from hearing the discussion. No justification was given for this motion except vague references to 'sensitive legal issues' that required a closed session. However, no explanation of what the specific legal issues are was ever given.
Committee members were confused by the motion and asked why it was necessary. Committee members put forward competing motions that prevented a closed session from happening. For roughly an hour, committee members argued about whether to go into a closed session. Anyone who made even a passing reference to switching from a convention to a primary was immediately silenced, preventing an honest discussion about what was actually happening. Some committee members were worried that a decision on changing from a convention to a primary would be forced through in closed session and that there was not nearly enough public input and information to justify making that decision that night in closed session. Finally, a compromise was reached where the committee would go into closed session but not vote on anything.
In closed session, no clear explanation of what the legal issues that supposedly necessitated the closed session was ever given. No report that went over planning for the convention was given. Instead, the arguing continued, with some committee members mistrusting the state party and fearing they were trying to push through a change from a convention to a primary.
After the conference call, Leslie Cockburn, a congressional candidate for the 5th district, posted on Twitter "The rumor mill says one of the candidates is threatening to sue the 5th District Committee to force a primary. If true, that’s an outrage. Let the committee decide!". While it remains unconfirmed, committee members have expressed concern that RD Huffstetler's campaign may be threatening to sue the 5th District Committee in order to pressure them into switching to a primary.
Some committee members fear that the state party, perhaps under pressure from the DCCC, is attempting to push through a change to a primary because it may benefit a particular candidate. Specifically, some have speculated that it is being done to benefit RD Huffstetler. Huffstetler has openly called for a primary from the very beginning and after the conference call he again put out a statement calling for a primary. After the conference call, every other candidate put out statements calling for the convention process to continue to move forward as planned since it was already decided in October.
Nothing can be known for certain at this point, but some have expressed concern that RD Huffstetler would like a primary because he is not doing very well in the convention process so far. Huffstetler has raised over $800,000 but only moved to the district about a year ago and hasn't yet built much grassroots support, potentially making it hard for him to get delegates for a convention. A primary could potentially allow him to purchase ads and mailers throughout the district and win with less need for grassroots support from local committees. The DCCC and/or state party, because they like the amount of money he's raised, might be pressuring the 5th District Democratic Committee to switch to a primary for this reason.
Convention vs. primary is an important debate. Quite frankly, I tend to think primaries are generally better because they're more open. However, the 5th District Democratic Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of a convention in October. A public announcement that there would be a caucus was made two months ago and dates for the convention were publicly announced two weeks ago. Campaigns have built their entire campaign strategies around the publicly announced convention process and local committees have been preparing for it for months. The district has held a convention to choose the Democratic nominee for years with no issues. A last minute switch to a primary would upend campaigns' strategies and create chaos in the primary.
Most worrying of all is that this is happening with no open debate or public input. Many committees fear the DPVA is not being honest or forthright about what’s happening. It may turn out that switching to a primary is the best path forward. But there has been no discussion about what's happening, interested citizens and local committees have had no input, and the state party has yet to provide reasoning for why this is necessary or beneficial. Without an honest, public conversation, there can only be more dysfunction.
This year is our chance to defeat Tom Garrett in the 5th district. The stakes are too high to make decisions that could determine the Democratic nominee without open discussion or public accountability.