31st State House Candidate Steve Foreman rallies supporters during Campaign Ad Filming

On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 10, supporters of 31st State House Delegate candidate Steve Foreman gathered at the Town of Front Royal Village Commons/Gazebo area to participate in the filming of a political ad for the Democratic opponent challenging current Warren County Supervisor, Republican-endorsed Delores Oates for the newly created state congressional seat.

Foreman’s election website https://www.foremanforvirginia.com/ summarizes what he and statewide Democrats and many independents feel is on the line for the Commonwealth in the November 2023 election run-up to the November 2024 national presidential race. Under the banner “Let’s Put Virginia On A Brighter Path,” Foreman states:

“Governor Glen Youngkin is poised to bring his extreme policies to Virginia – and all he needs is a majority in the state house to do it. Republican governors all over the nation are forcing their restrictive agendas on the people. Whether they’re stripping away reproductive freedoms like abortion access or censoring our shared history in the classroom, these radical politicians are on a mission to make America less free.

“I’m running as your Democratic Candidate for HD31 (House District 31) to keep Virginia free, fair, and safe.”

Steve Foreman, center, is filmed in a ‘voter conversation’ for his campaign ad for the 31st Va. State House delegates seat as supporters, below, bide their time between crowd shots as the one-on-one conversation portion of the campaign ad begins on the E. Main St. side of the Gazebo. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

The above reference to “stripping away reproductive freedoms like abortion” appeared to be verified by a Richmond Times Dispatch story reporting that Youngkin’s Political Action Committee (PAC) “Spirit of Virginia” was launching a $1.4 million statewide ad campaign on the issue of abortion rights by “calling for a ban of the procedure.” Coupled with similar moves in Republican legislatively-controlled states nationwide, the next step Democrats assert will be a 2024 Republican move toward banning abortion in every state in the nation to mirror the U.S. Supreme Court Catholic majority’s overturning of Roe v Wade at the federal level.

As many present noted surrounding the Warren County Samuels Public Library funding controversy at which Oates and her county supervisor colleagues sat center stage, local interest in politics appears to be soaring. Foreman supporters present to back their candidates’ campaign ad filming pointed out that many citizens without a history of political involvement have become involved as ultra-conservatives have made aggressive political moves on personal lifestyle choice rights, not only nationally and at the state level, but here locally as well as November 2023 approaches.

They point to efforts to gain operational control of public libraries across the nation, often tied to the “Moms for Liberty” group that county Republican Committee-endorsed South River District School Board candidate Leslie Matthews chairs locally, to the elimination of access to not only abortion but in some Republican-controlled states even preventative birth control medications that head off conception and historically reduce requests for abortions.

But does their candidate Steve Foreman have the cross-county, congressional district-wide name recognition to challenge a sitting elected official like Oates? Prior to the resolution of the Samuels Library funding issue, most would likely have said “No.” But in the wake of weeks of conflicting messaging from the county supervisors and the sudden turnaround that maintained funding and operational control with the independent 501 c-3 Samuels Library board, that perspective may be changing.

Democratic candidate Steve Foreman’s supporters enjoyed the fall weather as other portions of the political ad were being filmed.

In a circulated statement titled “Et tu, Brute?” the Clean Up Samuels Library contingent has likened Oates and her colleagues to the Roman senators who slayed Caesar, for the county supervisors perceived “stabbing in the back” of CSL on the library anti-alternate sexual identity content issue they believed they had majority county board support for. — CSL identifies with the slain Caesar in this scenario, though they did announce a resurrected entity to carry on the fight locally and nationally in the wake of the loss on the Samuels Public Library take-down attempt.

So, Foreman supporters present to offer support and background to his filmed campaign ad this past Tuesday assert that in such a shifting and contentious political environment, we’ll all just have to wait and total the final vote counts before declaring winners in November. All that’s at stake, they reminded us their candidate has observed, is the future direction of personal choice and public education in a community, a state, and eventually a nation, it would seem.