Virginia Republican Eight Congressional District Convention  ...1 of 3 >
May 7, 2016--Virginia held its presidential primary on March 1.  Trump won with 34.8% of the vote statewide, followed by Rubio (32.0%), Cruz (16.7%), Kasich (9.5%) and Carson (5.9%).  In the 8th Congressional District (Arlington Co, parts of Fairfax Co, Alexandria and Falls Church), Rubio finished first with 44.1%, followed by Trump (21.7%), Kasich (20.5%) and Cruz (10.0%).

As is typical in many states, the actual delegates to the Republican National Convention were selected several months later.  First, thirteen at-large delegates we selected at the Virginia Republican State Convention in Harrisburg on April 29-30.  There are three automatic delegates.  The remaining 33 delegates were selected at congressional district conventions held between April 9 and May 21 (+). 

Republicans in the 8th CD gathered in convention on May 7 at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington.  Business included electing the district chairman, the Elector, members of the State Central Committee, and three delegates and three alternates.  The district convention occurred just days after Donald Trump had become the presumptive nominee following his win in the May 3 Indiana primary. 

Sixteen candidates vied for three delegate and three alternate positions (several others withdrew before the convention).  The top three vote getters become delegates to the Republican National Convention and the next three serve as alternates.  Below, some of the delegate candidates and their supporters greeted attendees arriving for the district convention.
Tom Bolvin, who served as a member of the House of Delegates from 2000-04, is part of the Cruz slate of delegates.
Barbara Bowie-Whitman touted 50 years as a conservative activist.  Douglas L. Faulkner is an energy expert who served in the administration of George W. Bush.  They joined with Scott Cameron (below) on what they termed "the Common Sense Conservative Slate."
Scott Cameron is an elected official, serving on the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board. 
Gerry Chandler is a retired IT professional.  On his website he stated, "I favor John Kasich, then Ted Cruz, and last, Donald Trump based on a combination of their positions, experience, maturity, and electablity."
Ford Chinworth, who works as an independent architecture and planning professional, had help handing out his flyers.
Bill Cleveland is a Vietnam veteran, retired Capitol Hill police officer and a former vice-mayor of Alexandria.
Charlie Keller is DC office chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-6).
Michael Maibach is president and CEO of the European-American Business Council; he worked at Intel Corporation for 18 years starting as personal assistant to Dr. Robert Noyce and eventually serving as vice president for global government affairs.
Daniel Rinzel is an attorney running on the Ted Cruz slate of delegates.
Tommy Valentine, part of the Ted Cruz slate, and his Christina Valentine welcome attendees. Valentine's experience includes tracking longtime U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (now retired) and running RetireJimMoran.com; he also serves as webmaster of the 8th District GOP website.  A student at Franciscan University of Steubenville, he reported driving 9,000 miles since January to attend Republican meetings in the District. 
Angie Youngen worked for then U.S. Sen. George Voinovich for ten years and more recently has worked for the Aerospace Industries Association.  She ran for both State Central Committee and delegate. 

The Trump campaign had a table with T-shirts, hats and signs for supporters.  The "'Endorsed' by Donald Trump Slate" consisted of Erin Anderson, who served as a delegate to the 2008 and 2012 Republican National Conventions, and John Scally, who works in public relations (neither is pictured above).
Although Ted Cruz withdrew on May 3 his delegates are still running.
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