Cox Campaign Manager Has History of Controversial Remarks
Zach Werrell "known to be a joke in the industry"
After almost a year of searching, Dan Cox has decided to reorganize the deck chairs on the Titanic hire a new campaign manager.
Interesting that Cox demoted he own daughter from Campaign Manager to Executive Assistant after she helped lead his campaign to victory in the primary. No word if JsqueeZzy is keeping his gig.
The new campaign manager is Zach Werrell, best known for being the architect of Dave Brat’s upset victory over then-House Minority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia in 2014. He had a few other campaigns that he managed though none notable, although he was the campaign manager of anti-Trump Congressman Denver Riggleman’s brief campaign for Governor of Virginia in 2017. Notably, Werrell has not worked in politics for four years, nor has he worked on a successful statewide campaign.
Werrell also wrote a book entitled “How to Bag a RINO.”
One national political consultant told The Duckpin that he was not impressed with the hiring of Werrell”
“Dave Brat didn’t bring him back for a reason. He’s known to be a joke within the industry.”
Also of note in Werrell’s past is the scrubbing of his Facebook page after Brat’s win in 2014. The remarks include racial remarks and pro-secessionism talk:
From comparing George Zimmerman’s shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin to abortion to calling for the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration and encouraging the adoption of the silver monetary standard, Zachary Werrell – one of just two paid staffers for the upstart campaign of Randolph-Macon College economics professor David Brat – sought in 2012 and 2013 to build a public profile as a socially conservative libertarian voice. The Facebook postings were either taken down or made private overnight Tuesday in the wake of Brat's win, but Yahoo News took screenshots of some of the remarks before they were removed from view. A cached version of Werrell's page remained available on Google as of midday Wednesday.
“Can someone who was outraged that George Zimmerman was found not guilty of ‘SOMETHING ANYTHING’ and who is simultaneously pro-choice explain the logical dissonance there? Ie. Why its not ok to kill someone who is banging your head into concrete but its ok to kill someone for simply existing who, through your conscious actions, you brought into the world?” Werrell had written in an Oct. 24, 2013, posting.
The month before, the campaign manager for the likely next congressman for Virginia’s 7th District – since no Democrat has represented that district since 1971 – questioned whether existing state lines were defensible. “Should sections of States be allowed to secede from a State if they feel they are un/underrepresented in the State Government?” Werrell asked. “I say yes. I derive that opinion from our first foundational document – the Declaration of Independence. What say you?”
Read the whole thing.
If personnel is policy, Dan Cox has already made a tragic mistake in his selection of Werrel as his campaign manager. Between his inexperience and his controversial past, it shows that even after winning the primary that Dan Cox isn’t ready for prime time.