After paperwork lapse, senior House Republican asks state board to put him on the ballot

One of the state’s most senior Republican delegates isn’t officially a party nominee for his re-election bid — yet.

At Tuesday night’s Board of Elections meeting, attorneys for Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, asked that he be declared the Republican nominee for the 1st House of Delegates District even though his nomination paperwork from a local party convention never made it to the state Department of Elections.

It was thought Kilgore’s paperwork was faxed to the state, then it was assumed to be mailed. Either way, it didn’t make it to Richmond, lawyer Jeff Mitchell told the Board of Elections.

That means, Kilgore, who has been in the House for 25 years and is currently unopposed, isn’t officially the GOP nominee.

He could run a write-in campaign, which would make an already hectic campaign season for voters even more confusing, Mitchell said. The 1st District has several local races coming up in November, including heated sheriff’s competitions.

Mitchell and Terry’s twin brother, Jerry Kilgore, brought the board several affidavits from party officials who confirmed they had picked Terry Kilgore as the nominee. Jerry Kilgore, a former Virginia attorney general, told the board they had the authority to name his brother as the nominee even though the primary deadline was June 11.

Jerry Kilgore told the board it has allowed for extensions of candidates’ declaration and economic interest paperwork in the past.

He said not naming his brother as the nominee sets a dangerous precedent in situations where it’s clear a party has nominated someone.

“It would allow any rogue party chair to simply refuse to file the nomination certification of a particular candidate,” Jerry Kilgore said.

The board went into closed session Monday night to discuss nomination processes in the 1st and 97th House districts.

Bob Brink, chair of the Board of Elections, said they would seek guidance from the Office of the Attorney General on Kilgore’s situation by the end of the week.

The board didn’t discuss Hanover County’s 97th District, where Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover, was challenged by Hanover Supervisor Scott Wyatt. There were two separate nominating events with two different winners and a GOP State Central Committee declared Wyatt the winner last weekend.

Peace told the Richmond Times-Dispatch over the weekend he was “keeping all actions on the table.”