RICHMOND, Va. — Libertarian congressional candidate James Carr is not pleased with the way Eric Cantor ended his career in Congress. Cantor announced Friday he would resign from Congress effective August 18. He also asked Governor Terry McAuliffe to hold a special election on Election Day so the winner of the 7th District race could take over the vacant seat immediately.
Cantor supports the Republican who defeated him in June’s primary, Dave Brat. In addition to Brat, Democrat Jack Trammell and Libertarian James Carr are vying for the soon-to-be open 7th District seat.
Carr views Cantor’s action as “election manipulation.”
“I hope the public will take notice of and respond appropriately to this attempt to control their votes in November,” Carr said in a statement. “The request for a special election to be held clearly is intended to remove me from that ballot.”
Carr said if the governor grants a special election, the ballot qualification process will be reset.
“My team spent the first six months of the year working on ballot qualification and we would now be forced to start that process over again, wasting precious time and money,” Carr said. “I am hopeful that voters will see through the attempts to manipulate them.”
He called on both Brat and Trammell supporters to sign his petitions (should the governor grant the special election) so voters can vote for the same person in both the special and general elections.
