By Conner Evans
(CNS ) – Chesterfield Republican Sen. Amanda Chase said she will stand her ground despite the threat of censure by the Virginia Senate for her participation in a rally that led to riots on the U.S. Capitol.
“It was a great honor to speak at the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal pre-rally in D.C. at our nation’s capital in support of fair and transparent elections in which every legal vote counts,” Chase said during last week’s Senate session.
Chase, a fierce supporter of President Donald Trump, said other senators were hypocrites for supporting Black Lives Matter this summer, calling the organization that led protests against police violence and calls for criminal justice reform a “domestic terrorist organization.”
Several senators rebuked her after her point of personal privilege concluded, including Falls longtime Democratic Sen. Dick Saslaw. He called Chase’s claims of voter fraud “fairy tales” and said he had never heard anything like her speech during his 22 years in the Senate.
“Having an American flag draped over your shoulder doesn’t make you a patriot, particularly when you have a Nazi insignia under it or a Camp Auschwitz shirt,” Saslaw said. “Get that straight.”
Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, also spoke against Chase’s claims. He said he was less concerned with national politics and more concerned with what the senate could do in the next month.
“The concept of personal privileges in the senate of Virginia is customarily used to address those issues that are impactful to the commonwealth of Virginia,” Norment said. “Points of personal privilege are not to be prostituted for an individual of personal political promotion that had previously been broadcast on social media.”
Sen. John J. Bell, D-Loudon County, filed a motion to censure Chase on Jan. 13. The bill currently has 10 sponsors — all of whom are Democrats. The formal rebuke requires a simple majority vote to pass. It would not strip her of any committee assignments or remove her from her seat, but it would serve as a formal condemnation of her attendance at Trump’s rallies and her continued claims of election fraud.
A vote on the censure could take place as early as this week, and it currently sits in the Committee on Privileges and Elections.
Chase is running for governor this year, and she said that this censure was a political move motivated by her status in the race.
