The News & Advance: GOP nominee for lieutenant governor recalls meeting Ronald Reagan in Lynchburg

John Reid, the long-time conservative talk radio show host in Richmond who is now the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, had a feature on his show called "Reid on the Road" where he would take his listeners on journeys across the state.

On one of his trips, Reid did a live show from the Craddock Terry Hotel in downtown Lynchburg where he reminisced about his visits to Liberty University.

One of his best memories was from 45 years ago when he was only 9 years old and got to meet former California Gov. Ronald Reagan who was running for president, Reid recalled in an interview with The News & Advance.

Reagan came to Lynchburg to meet with the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. and hold a rally at what was then called Liberty Baptist College. Reid sat in the front row at the rally where both Reagan and Falwell gave speeches.

At the end of the campaign event, Reagan then shook hands with the young Reid and signed an autograph for him that read, "Gov. Ronald Reagan of California," a cherished item that Reid still has today.

Years after meeting Reagan as a boy, Reid served as an intern for the former president in Los Angeles where he had retired after serving two terms in the White House. Reid later served as communications director for U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and as chief communications officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a veterans group.

Reid has never run for elected office, but his father, John S. "Jack" Reid, was a long-time member of the House of Delegates, where he served from 1990 to 2008.

"This is the first time I've done it," Reid said. "But I've been around it my whole life. My dad had nine campaigns and 18 years in the House of Delegates representing Henrico County."

Reid's campaign is the first time an openly gay candidate of any party has run in a statewide election in Virginia.

"President Trump took some of the polarizing social issues off the table for the Republican Party and set an example for hard-working and solidly conservative people to help with the movement," he said.

Reid said he believes Trump is looking for reasons to make people want to become Republicans, not reasons to keep people out of the party.

If elected lieutenant governor, Reid said he will work to bring a more collegial mentality to Richmond, especially between members of the two political parties.

"I hope I can help bring that mindset back to Richmond, because things are so awful in Washington," he said. "I saw it when I worked up there, and I don't want Richmond to see that unbelievable hostility."

'Just be a civilized person'

In his everyday life, Reid said he tries to keep his interactions with people civilized.

"I remember all of my gay friends were so mad with Jerry Falwell because he was outspoken against gay marriage," Reid said. "I was with some friends, and we went to go have lunch at a Ruby Tuesday at the Willow Lawn shopping center in Richmond, and Rev. Falwell was there with his daughter."

Reid said his friends wanted to interrupt Falwell's lunch and tell him what they thought about his views on gay marriage. "And I said, 'Will you leave that man alone? He's with his daughter. He has every right to have the belief that he does and to express it,'" Reid said.

"Just be a civilized person. Don't embarrass yourself by treating someone poorly, and that's how I've always felt," he added.

Reid worked as a television news reporter and morning anchor at WRIC in Richmond from 1994 to 2004. In 2017, he returned to the media business as the morning radio host for WRVA in Richmond. In January, he resigned from the radio station to run for lieutenant governor.

In the November general election, Reid will face Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who also has made history as the first Muslim and Indian-American on a statewide ballot in Virginia.

Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee for governor, and incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares will join Reid at a campaign rally in Vienna next week, the first time the Republican ticket will be campaigning together.

Earle-Sears is facing former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee, in November's general election, while former Del. Jay Jones is the Democratic nominee for attorney general.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin will be a special guest at the Republicans' July 1 rally in Northern Virginia, bringing even greater unity to the GOP ticket.

In April, Reid became the de facto Republican nominee for lieutenant governor when Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, the only other candidate, announced he was withdrawing from the race due to health complications following heart surgery.

But as soon as Herrity bowed out, Youngkin urged Reid to drop out of the race. Reid vowed to continue running.

Youngkin's request came in response to allegations that a social media account with the same handle that Reid uses had shared pornographic content online.

About a week later, Youngkin withdrew his request and expressed his support for all of the nominees on the Republican ticket.

Reid focuses on Democratic opponent

Rather than spending time defending himself against attacks by fellow Republicans, Reid can now focus on Hashmi, his Democratic opponent.

"She does represent where her party is, and that's way to the left," Reid said. "She likes advocating for what she considers to be progressive ideas. I think they're pretty radical ideas."

With Hashmi as the nominee, Reid said it will be "really clear to the voters the difference in the direction that I would take as lieutenant governor and the direction she would take."

Reid said he will work to preserve Virginia's "right to work" law, which bans compulsory union membership as a condition of employment but requires unions to represent non-members who receive the benefits won by dues-paying union members.

On the campaign trail, Hashmi has said she will continue to support efforts to repeal the law, arguing states without a right to work law generally offer better working conditions and outcomes for employees.

If Democrats win the trifecta control of the governor's mansion, along with retaining a majority in the Senate and House of Delegates Reid believes they will try to do away with the right to work law.

"They're going to force you into a union as soon as next year, on July 1. I think that's a really bad plan," Reid said in the interview. "As somebody who ran communications at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and talked to the CEOs of the big companies and the small companies, Virginia having the right to work and not having unions run the state is one of the reasons we have such a robust economy here, and the Democrats are going to torch that. We've got to stop that from happening."

Reid also addressed concerns raised by elected officials in Bedford County and other rural jurisdictions over attempts by Democratic officials to limit local governments' ability to make land use decisions on proposed solar energy projects.

"I'm hearing it everywhere. Localities don't want to be told what to do from Richmond," he said. "There can be upsides to perhaps having a solar farm, and some people may say it's a better use of the land at the moment, and it puts money in their pocket."

There's also a debate over bringing data centers to other parts of the state outside of Northern Virginia, which is home to the largest concentration of data centers in the world.

"There are localities that probably want to have data centers. It's a tax base that will exist for at least the next 10 to 20, years, if not longer," Reid said.

"But I think that should be decided locally," he said. "I want the localities across Virginia to have a great amount of autonomy to make those judgments for themselves."

As for what he brings to the Republican ticket, Reid said, "I've spent most of my life in communications and taking really complicated ideas that are sometimes polarizing and making them accessible to regular people.

"I'm going to be a real asset to the team traveling the state, taking some of these toxic issues that people get so mad about, and trying to explain why we have the best answers for the problems that Virginians are facing," he said.

Virginia voters, according to Reid, are looking for dynamic people who are not beholden to the establishment.

"We don't need more politicians. We need more people who show up with a mind and a heart for service. And that's why I'm doing this," he said.

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Author: Mark Hand