Delegate Dave LaRock (R-Hamilton) is under fire from Democrats after he called for Vice President Pence to nullify the 2020 General Election and attended the January 6 pro-Trump rally that turned violent. Loudoun County Chair Phyllis Randall, the Loudoun chapter of the NAACP, and three northern Virginia Democratic chapters are among those demanding LaRock’s resignation. LaRock is one of the last Republican delegates in Northern Virginia.
LaRock said the pressure he’s receiving made it feel like the last few weeks of an election. He thinks some of the pressure is intended to prepare ground for Democratic political campaigns, but he said there’s more going on than normal politics.
“[The] 100 plus congressmen [who objected to the electors], people like myself, and people who are elected officials, were kind of on the front lines versus these anti-Trumpers who want to basically just squash the viewpoint, the opinion that maybe this election wasn’t entirely on the up and up,” LaRock told The Virginia Star.
In a January 6 post, LaRock said that the majority of protesters were peaceful, and alleged that the rioters in the Capitol were likely “paid provocateurs.”
“Many Virginians are angry over the results of the election, and concerned for the future of our communities, our Commonwealth, and our Country,” he wrote. “I condemn in the strongest possible terms those who forced entry into the Capitol, destroyed property, disrupted the meeting of Congress, and caused injuries and a death.”
“NAACP Loudoun condemns all acts of treason and insurrection against the U.S. government. Therefore, we now call for the immediate resignation, investigation & suspension of Virginia State GOP Del. Dave LaRock for his inciteful support of the U.S. Capital Coup D’ Etat insurrection,” the NAACP Loudoun chapter tweeted on Monday.
LaRock used the declaration as a fundraising catalyst. “Rather than focusing on the business of Loudoun County and the needs of the colored community, they are wasting their time and taxpayer resources to attack me,” he wrote, according to The Loudoun Times Mirror. After he came under fire for using the phrase “colored community,” LaRock edited the statement to say “minorities in the community.”
He told The Star that his wife had warned him that the phrase might not be well received, and that he should have listened to her.
“It was brought to my attention that that is an outdated term that is offensive to People of Color or Black people,” he said.
That gaffe accelerated Democratic criticism.
“With the statements and actions that Delegate David LaRock has made leading up to and during the seditious insurrection that unfolded within the halls of the Capitol, Delegate David LaRock’s immediate resignation from his legislative seat is both appropriate, urgent, and necessary,” the Loudoun County, Clark County, and Winchester-Frederick County Democratic committees said on Tuesday.
But LaRock isn’t alone. LaRock and two other Republican delegates were stripped of some of their House of Delegate committee appointments for signing the letter to Pence. Democrats have criticized all four of Virginia’s Republican congressmen for their votes challenging the election results.
“You have violated your oath, you have shirked your responsibilities, you cannot be trusted to uphold the Constitution, and can no longer be trusted by your constituents,” Virginia’s First Congressional District Democratic Committee wrote in a letter to Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA-01). The letter was signed by over one thousand people, according to the Committee.
LaRock said he’s receiving support as well as criticism.
“People, some that I know, many that I don’t know, [are] just texting me, emailing me, everything from, ‘Hang in there, we supp you 1000%,’ or, ‘We’re praying for you.'”
LaRock said he has received some nasty personal messages as well.
“And then there’s some people in between that give me some polite advice, some for, some against,” he said.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and the Star News Digital Network. Email tips to [email protected].
