Meet the Candidates
Meet the Candidates: Delores R. Oates, Virginia House of Delegates, District 31
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss important issues. In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Delores R. Oates. Delores has announced her candidacy for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 31, in the November 7, 2023 election.
Delores was born in Front Royal and proudly attended Warren County High School. Delores is active in the community, serving as a mentor to teen mothers and volunteering in various churches, youth athletic organizations, and civic groups. Delores lives with her husband Rob in Warren County and has raised her three children here.
Taking on Taxes & Lowering Democrat Inflation
Hardworking Virginians have been hit hard enough by the Democrat’s rising prices and bloated government. Delores says she will work to cut taxes for Virginians and ensure that your money is working for you because the cure to inflation is through responsible government spending.
Defending Our 2nd Amendment Rights
Our 2nd Amendment rights have secured the survival of our country. Currently, Democrats across the country are using a tragedy as an opportunity to criminalize law-abiding gun owners. As your Delegate, Delores says she will defend our constitutional rights from the liberal gun grabbers.
Safeguarding Our Elections
It is paramount to restore the trust and integrity of our elections because no citizen should question whether their vote has been accurately collected or counted for who or what they voted for. Delores says she will fight to audit future elections and use common sense voter identification protections.
Securing Our Borders
National security is border security, and we cannot continue to exist as a sovereign nation as long as our border isn’t secure. Delores says she will oppose sanctuary city policies, end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, and restore the rule of law.
Protecting Life
Delores is proudly pro-life and in Richmond will take on the infanticide lobby head-on by repealing legislation that legalized third-trimester abortions, and says she will vote to defund Planned Parenthood and restore a culture of life in Virginia.
Meet the Candidates
Meet the Candidates: Merritt Hale, US Congress, 6th District
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate and discuss issues that are important to all of us. In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Merritt Hale.
Merritt is challenging incumbent Ben Cline for the Republican nomination to represent Virginia’s 6th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. The Republican primary is scheduled for June 21, 2022. The general election will be on November 8, 2022.
Merritt says his core values are God, family, and country. He said, “My dad was a military veteran, and my mom was a schoolteacher who retired in 2016 to take care of my dad full time after he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. In December 2020, my dad went to a nursing home. This experience was incredibly difficult for my family, and it opened my eyes to the burden that healthcare and end-of-life care can be for hard-working families. After going through this trying experience with my dad’s health, I felt compelled to do something to change the system. After much praying and looking at what’s going on in the country, I felt a calling to serve again, this time not in uniform, but as a representative.”
For more information about Merritt Hale, visit his website here.
Local News
Lance Allen announces candidacy for Virginia’s First Senate District
On April 4, 2022, Frederick County resident, Chairman of the Virginia Project, and U.S. Air Force veteran Lance Allen announced that he is running to represent Virginia’s First Senate District compromised of Frederick, Shenandoah, Warren, and Clarke counties as well as the City of Winchester.
Lance Allen
“Virginia voters sent a clear message to Richmond last November that they expect their elected representatives to fight for them,” said Allen. “By soundly rejecting the failed Democrat policies of the past, Virginians demanded a new direction. As Senator, I will stand with parents, support our brave police officers, fight for lower taxes, and defend the right to life for the unborn. Together, we can and will build a better future for our Commonwealth by retaking the Senate and stopping Democrats from blocking Governor Youngkin’s family’s first agenda.”
As a conservative Republican, Lance will protect and support Virginia children. He is staunchly pro-life, supports school choice, and wants to increase access to trade skills development in our education system. Lance will also fight for safer communities by standing with our brave police officers and victims of crime by fully funding law enforcement and fashioning a parole board that puts victims and communities ahead of criminals. Lance will help work for Virginia families by lowering taxes. He supports ending the Commonwealth’s personal property tax.
Lance is a husband, father of three, U.S. Air Force veteran, and fierce advocate for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is running to be SD 1’s voice in Richmond, repair the damage done by radical Democrat policies, and support Governor Glenn Youngkin’s vision for a better future for Virginia.
Meet the Candidates
Meet the Candidates: Robert Hupman announces for Virginia Senate seat in new District 1
Yes, Virginia, the election cycle begins.
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Robert Hupman.
The Senate of Virginia consists of 40 members who each represent approximately 215,000 Virginians. Senators serve four-year terms. All 40 seats will be on the ballot in November 2023.
More about Robert Hupman
A farmer, entrepreneur, martial artist, community servant, and outdoorsman, Robert Byron Hupman was born, raised, and educated in Warren County, Virginia, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.
Robert grew up on his family farm, where his family has been farming since the early 1800s. Robert has continued farming his family land (over 500 acres) along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River where he, his wife Margarita, and their beautiful daughter “Shenandoah” continue to reside, growing up to 70,000 turkeys a year, and reporting around 3 million dollars of product annually.
As the owner of Hazard Mill Farms, Robert has helped raise over $50,000.00 for local charities last year, by offering his farm as an event venue, with the Shenandoah River on one side, and the glorious Blue Ridge mountains on the other.
Some of the non-profits Robert regularly helps raise funds for through the use of his property, time, and genuine humanitarian spirit include:
- Warren County Human Society
- Thermal (Homeless) Shelter
- Habitat for Humanity
- House of Hope (Men’s Shelter)
- Reaching Out Now (a weekly program to help feed local families in poverty)
- Area Food Pantries
- The Black American Outdoorsman annual Youth Hunt
When Robert learned that the residents at our local thermal shelter did not have a place to shower, Robert found a trailer, purchased and helped retrofit it. As a result, around 40 of our local homeless neighbors have the dignity of a warm shower at night.
Robert is a 4-H All-Star, as well as a proud Paul Harris Fellow, through the Rotary Club of Warren County, where Robert is an active member, helping with even more local, regional, and global humanitarian work.
Passionate about his community since birth, Robert is ready and prepared to take his love of service to the next level by serving as Virginia State Senator for District One.
Robert looks forward to using his experience as a businessman by working with all Virginia Senators, to put in place programs that will generate streams of tax revenue, create or support infrastructure projects, long-overdue mental health services, education/trade schools, and demand that basic life skills be taught in our public schools.
Robert will take the conservative common sense and firm resolve he has been taught, through the centuries of leadership and ethical business practices he has gleaned from generations of family success here in his beloved Shenandoah Valley to Richmond. Robert Hupman says he is ready to “GET IT DONE!”
Meet the Candidates
Town Talk: A conversation with Bruce Rappaport, candidate for Front Royal Town Council
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Bruce Rappaport. Bruce is running for a seat on the Front Royal Town Council.
Bruce says, “I want to help bring leadership, trust, and cooperation back between the Town and the County.”
Bruce says he is for:
- Conservative Politics
- 2nd Amendment Rights
- Controlled Spending
- Low Taxes
- Smart Growth
- Law Enforcement
- Spot Blight Abatement
- Planning for our Present and Future Water Needs
And against:
- Redundant Waste at Tax Payers Expense
- Lack of Transparency
Find out more about Bruce on his Facebook page.
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. All local candidates are invited to participate in this ‘Meet the Candidate’ series.
Meet the Candidates
Town Talk: A conversation with Amber Morris, candidate for Front Royal Town Council
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Amber Morris. Amber is running for a seat on the Front Royal Town Council.
Amber is a lifelong resident of Warren County. As a mother of three up-and-coming freedom fighters, she also is a conservative, a constitutionalist, a community activist, and a volunteer on many local boards.
For the past four years, she has served as the Warren County Republican Committee’s treasurer. During this time she worked to elect conservatives across the state as well as campaigning for President Trump.
She supports our local government in decreasing taxes, incentivizing businesses, and improving the aesthetics of Front Royal.
Find out more on her Facebook page.
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. All local candidates are invited to participate in this ‘Meet the Candidate’ series.
Meet the Candidates
Town Talk: A conversation with Melanie Salins, candidate for School Board in Warren County, North River District
In this Meet the Candidates session, our publisher Mike McCool speaks with Melanie Salins. Melanie is running for the School Board in the North River District in Warren County.
Melanie believes strongly in the following principles relating to leadership and the school board, and she pledges to be an advocate for them on behalf of her constituents:
- Independent critical thought is vital for a school board to be effective
- It can be harmful to follow trends meekly
- School Board members must have the strength to speak up and require accountability
- The school board is a local governing body, not an agent of the state and federal government education establishment (i.e., no rubber-stamp)
- More money does not solve problems in the absence of improved policies
- All property taxpayers have a stake in the public school system
Meet the Candidates is a series on the Royal Examiner where we will sit down with each candidate in our local election and discuss issues that are important to all of us. All local candidates are invited to participate in this ‘Meet the Candidate’ series.
Thank You to our Local Business Participants:
