Virginia Federation of Republican Women’s (VFRW), Annual Convention
Almost 300 women from across the Commonwealth attended the convention at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA from April 24-26.
Congressman Eric Cantor, House Republican Whip, hosted a reception to formally welcome attendees. Lt. Governor Bill Bolling joined the reception to fire up the VFRW toward victory in November.
Former Attorney General and Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell addressed the convention listing numerous initiatives to support his “big, audacious goals for Virginia.” He including plans to make Virginia the Energy capital of the East Coast, improve the education system, create incentives for out-of-state dollars and plans to keep retirees and veterans in Virginia.
A discerning debate between all three GOP candidates for Attorney General helped attendees differentiate between voting records, experience, accomplishments and visions. One of these men: John Brownlee, State Senator Ken Cuccinelli or Dave Foster, will be the GOP nominee after the Virginia Republican Convention in May. Their varied legal careers and credentials and some “death penalty” issues were significant discriminators.
Nan Kennelly, Acting Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. State Department, led a Human Trafficking seminar. The incidence and severity of this problem in the U.S.A. and around the world astounded all.
Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, was quite optimistic about the conservative cause and predicted a gubernatorial win this year. Kellyanne Conway, popular national pollster, exhorted convention members to always proudly answer the question, “Why am I a Republican?” and listed countless data to support victories. Jan Larimer, Co-Chairman, Republican National Committee, announced a national initiative focused on recruiting female voters.
The convention elected two members to represent the VFRW as voting members of the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee: Vicki Alvord and Anna Lee.
The VFRW is the largest volunteer grassroots women’s political organization in the Commonwealth with nearly 3,000 members. Currently, Brenda Campbell, of Ridgeway, Virginia, serves as the VFRW president. More information about the VFRW is available at http://www.vfrw.org.
Filed under: Republicans, Virginia Politics
A group of us in Powhatan VA formed the Powhatan Women Republicans (POWR). The media savvy members thought the acronymn “POWR” would be useful and fun to work with.
We applied to join the VFRW shortly before the November elections. Our women were eager to jump in and get started. To make a long story short, we were subjected to some extremely juvenile and rude treatment by the President and her supporters and told we could take a hike if we didn’t change the name of the group.
We took a hike.