Virginia state Delegate Dave LaRock faces calls to resign after he took part in last week’s protest against President Trump’s election loss, which turned deadly when a pro-Trump mob invaded the US Capitol. Since January 6, he’s issued a statement that propagates the bogus theory that “paid provocateurs” were responsible for besmirching an “otherwise orderly protest.”
LaRock also sent a letter to Vice President Pence on House of Delegates letterhead that called for Pence to nullify the election results in Virginia, citing concerns about the security of the vote in a state that Joe Biden won handily.
In a fund-raising appeal, LaRock says that “Rather than focusing on the business of Loudoun County and the needs of the colored community, [his critics] are wasting their time and taxpayer resources to attack me.” (Bolded text indicates LaRock’s own turn of phrase and is not in original.) He also blames Nancy Pelosi for the January 6 riot, saying, she was “in charge of the Capitol Police who opened gates and doors allowing people to enter the Capitol building; this is typical of Democrats to blame someone else for what they are guilty of.” The appeal features photos of women, including Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, standing in front of photoshopped images of burning infrastructure.
LaRock, who also currently faces trespassing charges unrelated to the Capitol riot, has previously floated the idea of kicking Arlington and Alexandria out of Virginia, claiming they don’t fit with the rest of the state. In fact, Virginia’s own election results show that Biden would have won the state without either jurisdiction. (Biden also won more than 60 percent of the vote in Loudoun.) Republicans, by contrast, haven’t won a statewide election in Virginia since 2009.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
