Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield), the Virginia senator who was present, sympathetic, and supportive during the Jan. 6 riots, is on her way to becoming one of the first members of the General Assembly to be censured in modern times.
To be censured is to be formally rebuked without consequences.
According to the Virginia State Conference NAACP, after the Jan. 6 ordeal, Chase described those who took part in the siege as “patriots,” having no remorse or regret in her apology. “If I have offended any of you in this room because I am very passionate about the Constitution, I apologize,” Chase continued.
This half-hearted apology, by a candidate for governor, no less, is why the NAACP is basically challenging the Virginia Senate to do something.
In a statement released Saturday by Virginia State Conference NAACP president Robert N. Barnette, the organization called on the Virginia Senate to act regarding Chase.
“Not only was she in Washington, D.C. during the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol, but she supported and sympathized with the insurrectionists,” the statement read, according to WAVY.
“Following the incident, Senator Chase described the participants as ‘patriots who loved their country.’ Senator Chase’s pattern of divisive, race-baiting politics must be stopped once and for all. Her recent attempt to censure Senator Louis Lucas, the first Black president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, is simply a racist sideshow distraction from the truth.”
“The Virginia Senate should not permit anyone who defends sedition and engages in race-baiting to serve.”
Sen. John J. Bell (D-Loudoun) agrees with the organization. Originally wanting to censure Chase and displeased with her apology, he has decided to move forward with the censure effort.
According to The Washington Post, Bell is to start next week, “charging Chase with conduct unbecoming a senator. He will take out language asserting that Chase violated her oath of office, he said, because some members felt that went into a gray area of free speech.”
If Bell is successful, Chase will become the second legislator to be censured by the General Assembly in modern times.
