Beach Dems lack a candidate in 8th Senate District

It appears Sen. Jeff McWaters, R-Virginia Beach, won't have formal Democratic opposition to his re-election bid because the local party hasn't nominated anyone to challenge him in the 8th Senate District.

The Virginia Beach Democratic Committee had scheduled an Aug. 20 caucus to select a nominee, but a party official Monday said no one stepped forward to seek the nod.

Beach resident Bill Fleming, who unsuccessfully ran against McWaters in last year's special election, had considered running again, possibly as a Democrat or an independent.

But a recent episode may have soured him on seeking that office.

Fleming's frustration apparently stems from a recent blog post critical of him penned by a Beach Democratic activist.

The offending post has since been removed and the Web site where it was hosted has been scrubbed, but it clearly bothered Fleming, as did the lack of what he considered an adequate response to it by party officials.

The daunting task of defeating a well-funded candidate like McWaters, Fleming wrote in a recent e-mail to local party leaders telling them he won't be a party candidate, is made that much more difficult when Democratic in-fighting undermines the effort.

"When someone who postures himself as a 'progressive Democrat' broadcasts defamatory rants that he should certainly know will subvert support from Democratic volunteers, undermine efforts to raise enough money to mount a credible campaign, and provide ammunition for the opposition and right-wing blogs, the probability of such a campaign succeeding is drastically lowered," the Fleming e-mail reads.

It's not clear if Fleming will run in the 8th District as an independent; messages left for him were not immediately returned Monday.

UPDATE: In an e-mail Monday evening, Fleming indicated he's unlikely to run for state Senate this fall.

-- Julian Walker

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.