Terry McAuliffe has spent decades in the public eye, previously served as governor of Virginia, and is now locked in a dead-heat race to retake the governor’s mansion.
But his ambitions could be derailed in the form of the most unlikely setback imaginable: The former Clinton moneyman allegedly forgot to sign his “statement of candidacy” form, potentially making him ineligible, according to a legal challenge filed Thursday by the Republican Party of Virginia.
Worse, the form includes two signatures from witnesses attesting that they saw him sign it — something that would seem to be impossible since he did not sign it.
The law, the complaint said, is that “Only a person fulfilling all the requirements of a candidate shall have his name printed on the ballot for the election.” Early voting for the race, in which he faces off against Republican Glenn Youngkin, begins on September 17.
The complaint says:
An elementary requirement in Virginia is that candidates nominated by a primary election must file a written Declaration of Candidacy—signed by the candidate and attested before a notary or two witnesses—with the Virginia State Board of Elections. …
The Board’s decision to declare McAuliffe as the Democratic nominee for Governor was based on a Declaration of Candidacy (the “Declaration”) that was infected with misrepresentations, false statements, and was materially incomplete. …
The RPV asks the Court to ensure the integrity of the democratic process and prevent serious and irreparable injury to the RPV and the fundamental rights of its membership and voters by: (i) declaring that McAuliffe’s missing signature as well as the false and invalid witness signatures on the Declaration fatally infect the Declaration with illegality and therefore make it invalid; (ii) declaring the Virginia State Board of Elections’ acceptance of McAuliffe’s Declaration invalid; (iii) declaring that the Virginia State Board of Elections’ certification and declaration of McAuliffe as the winner of the Democratic primary on June 22, 2021 is contrary to Virginia law, and is therefore invalid.
The McAuliffe campaign did not immediately return a request for comment from The Daily Wire.
“For decades, Terry has used his political connections and proximity to power to avoid consequences for his reckless behavior and disregard for people and laws, but no amount of political favors and back-slapping can refute the fact that McAuliffe is a fraudulent candidate and cannot be Virginia’s next governor,” state Republican Party Chairman Rich Anderson said in a statement.
The party said:
McAuliffe’s Declaration of Candidacy lacks his own signature and contains apparent false statements from two individuals that attested to witnessing McAuliffe sign an unsigned declaration, clearly making the Declaration invalid. Due to these defects, the SBE improperly certified a winner of the party primary that was never entitled to appear on the primary ballot, and therefore McAuliffe is not qualified to be on the general election ballot. The SBE’s acceptance of McAuliffe’s Declaration and its subsequent certification of McAuliffe as the Democratic nominee for the 2021 general election is in violation of Virginia Code §§ 24.2-504 and 24.2-512-538.