One man seeking Mark Warner’s U.S. Senate seat was missing from the debate over the weekend, hosted by the Virginia Bar Association: Robert Sarvis, the Libertarian Party’s candidate.
When Robert Sarvis ran for governor last year, he wasn’t invited to the Virginia Bar Association’s debate between Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli and the eventual winner, Democrat Terry McAuliffe. So he haunted the halls outside the debate site, trying to get into the conversation by speaking to reporters covering the event. This year, Sarvis is running for the U.S. Senate, but wasn’t invited to the bar association’s debate this time, either. He responded with a YouTube video that says, among other things, Virginia’s voters suffered because of his exclusion.
"What it really comes down to is the fact that Republicans and Democrats aren’t that different. I’m the only candidate who could have been on the stage today to call out the other two about their hypocrisy and their bad policies," said Sarvis.
Sarvis was left out of the debate, essentially, because the bar association thinks he doesn’t have a chance to win. Some Republicans argue that the six point five percent of the vote Sarvis got last year kept their man out of the governor’s mansion. It’s unlikely Sarvis can be cast as a spoiler in the Senate race. A recent Roanoke College poll shows Democratic incumbent Senator Mark Warner with a twenty-five-point lead over Republican challenger Ed Gillespie. I’m Tim
