Amanda Chase

In 2015, Chase won the Republican nomination in Virginia's 11th State Senate District in an upset primary victory against incumbent Senator Stephen H. Martin,[7] who had served since 1994. The heavily Republican district[8] comprises Amelia County, Colonial Heights, and much of Chesterfield.[7] Chase went on to defeat the Democratic nominee, attorney and retired Army colonel E. Wayne Powell, in the general election by about 69% to 31%.[8]

In 2019, Chase was removed from the Chesterfield County Republican Party committee after clashing with others in the organization; Chase had promoted the campaign of an independent candidate for sheriff, violating a party rule barring Republican committee members from supporting a non-Republican candidate running against a Republican nominee. The move was mostly symbolic, depriving her of voting rights in the county party, but having no effect on her status as a Republican nominee.[9]

In November 2019, Chase announced that she would not caucus with the Republicans in the State Senate in 2020, citing what she called broken and failed Republican leadership, and lack of transparency. Chase remains affiliated with the Republican Party.[10]

In December 2020, after the Virginia Republican Party decided to select its statewide nominees through a convention rather than an open primary, Chase said she would run for governor in the 2021 election as an independent candidate in the general election, but would remain a Republican.[11]

During her political career, Chase has adopted a Donald Trump-like impact and persona.[11][12] She has promoted baseless claims that the 2020 U.S. election was marred by election fraud; she also claimed that Virginia Democrats "hate white people".[11][13]

On January 15, 2019, Chase openly carried a .38 caliber firearm in a custom holster while presenting bills to a Senate committee. She said "it’s a deterrent for over-exuberant folks" in explaining why she openly carried a loaded firearm into the Senate committee meeting.[14][15]

On March 22, 2019, Chase reportedly became "irate" and used supposed profanities at Capitol Police officers after being told that she was not allowed to park in the secured Pedestrian Plaza on Bank Street where she would park at times during session. When asked to move her car she told the officer that she would not move her vehicle “unless you let the f---ing barricades down to let me in”. She was eventually allowed to park.[16][17]

In a post on Facebook about the Second Amendment, which was made on Tuesday, July 2, 2019, she said "[i]t’s those who are naive and unprepared that end up raped. Sorry. But I’m not going to be a statistic." Her statement received considerable backlash. Many people asserted that her comment was insensitive to the predicament of recovery that many rape victims undergo and other people asserted that she was blaming victims. In response to the public criticism, Chase posted a video to the same Facebook page as the one that she used to make the comment about rape. She did not apologize in the video and she said that her reply was "taken out of context". She also attacked her critics as "trolls".[18]

Chase opposes removing the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia, which has become a flashpoint of protests in recent times. "Removing the Robert E. Lee statue is a cowardly capitulation to the looters and domestic terrorists."[19] Chase further stated that the removal of Confederate statues is an "overt effort to erase all white history".[20]

After Virginia Governor Ralph Northam proclaimed October 12, 2020 to be Indigenous People's Day, Chase promised in a fundraising e-mail to abolish Indigenous People's Day when she's Governor, claiming the true goal of the holiday was to destroy the United States and give all the land back to Native Americans.[21][22]

Chase has repeatedly posed for photographs with Antonio Lamotta, a QAnon promoter who was arrested in Philadelphia shortly after the 2020 election for carrying pistols, an AR-15 rifle, and over 150 rounds of ammunition without a valid Pennsylvania firearms permit, a third-degree felony.[23] Chase asserted that the story was "fake news" from the "fake media" and that there is "no connection" between her and Lamotta other than him being a "supporter" of hers.[24][25]

In a Facebook post on December 15, 2020, Chase called on President Donald Trump to declare federal martial law and overturn the results of the 2020 election; Chase falsely asserted that there was "extensive fraud here in Virginia" and alleged that the Biden–Harris campaign "cheated to win". Democratic representative Jennifer Wexton called Chase "unhinged" and Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Cox called her position "absurd and dangerous"; other officials also condemned Chase's statement, including Denver Riggleman, Barbara Comstock, and David Ramadan.[26]

Chase attended Donald Trump's rally prior to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, but stated that she left before the rioting began. She refused to condemn the rioters, referring to them as "patriots", while simultaneously suggesting without evidence that they were infiltrated by antifa. She expressed her disappointment in Mike Pence for refusing to attempt to overturn the congressional confirmation of Joe Biden's victory.[27][28] She later stated that Trump still might be sworn in for a second term, saying, "The insurrection is actually the deep state with the politicians working against the people to overthrow our government."[29]

On January 8, 2021, her official Facebook account was suspended for one week, leaving Chase unable to post or comment. Her personal Facebook account was unaffected.[30]

On January 27, 2021, the Virginia Senate voted 24-9 to censure Chase for calling the capitol rioters "patriots".[31] Republican leaders in the Virginia Senate removed her from her committee assignment and bemoaned her "selfishness and constant need for media attention."[32]

In an interview with The New York Times, Chase vowed to "take out whichever Democratic candidate wins the nomination, and I will be the next governor of Virginia."[32]

• "Campaign Website". Archived from the original on 2016-01-09. Retrieved 2015-11-04.
• "2015 Senate District 11 Results". Archived from the original on 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2015-11-04.