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Dave Brat’s Former Communications Manager Endorses Spanberger, Rejects Brat’s “Divisiveness”

David Streever | August 10, 2018

Topics: abigail spanberger, Dave Brat, election 2018, exclusive, Midterms, virginia election

At the time, it was Cory Hebert’s dream job. The rising Republican operative, a former field director for Florida Congressman Allen West, had landed a position as then-candidate Dave Brat’s communications director, and he was excited to move to Richmond to work against the powerful House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

“I was fairly conservative,” Hebert admits. He liked Brat’s economic policies, and said his message about Cantor being out of touch resonated with him. Now, he’s a staunch supporter of another insurgent challenger: Democratic-candidate Abigail Spanberger.

“She’s spent so much of her life serving our country,” he says. “That’s what we need, someone who is going to be a public servant.”

His shift, from the right-wing of the Tea Party to support for democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, came in response to the Trump-era and what he calls a hard tilt to the right for his former party.

I was appalled … with what I was being tasked to do

He saw the new policies develop first-hand, as then-candidate Brat increasingly hardened on immigration. After the economics professor began appearing on the “Laura Ingraham Show,” where the two described immigration as a threat to America, it emerged as a wedge issue to use against Cantor. But Hebert says the crucial moment came when he had to write a strong anti-immigration statement with Julia Hahn, a new press secretary and former producer for Ingraham.

“I was appalled, for lack of a better word, with what I was being tasked to do,” Hebert says.

The press secretary, Hahn, was an immigration hardliner who would go on to Breitbart. There she’d write scare stories about “white genocide,” or a future where white Americans are a minority, before following her mentor Steve Bannon into the White House. Looking back, it was a key moment in the fusing of xenophobia and white nationalism with the modern Republican party, according to Rolling Stone political writer Reid Cherlin on an episode of Ira Glass’s “This American Life.”

This American Life producer Zoe Chace zeroed in on one speech in the episode; the same speech that Hebert was appalled to co-write. “Specifically, it was the speech [Brat] gave in Richmond, at the Capitol building, on a day when Congressman Luis Gutiérrez was there for a rally [for immigration reform],” Hebert tells me. Bannon and Breitbart would later point to that as the turning point for Brat, who won the primary by double-digits despite trailing in polls and raising a mere $200,000 to Cantor’s $5.5 million.

Hebert says he supported border security, and still does. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting secure borders,” he says. But, even then, he thought that, “Immigration makes our country stronger. Diversity makes our country stronger. He wasn’t taking a position on national security, but on identity.”

While it was enough to make him quit, it wasn’t enough to make him speak out. Part of that might have been out of professional embarrassment. Hebert says, “It wasn’t ideal to quit ten days before the primary, but I didn’t feel comfortable continuing any longer. It was a moral position.”

Personal experiences, and the national political shift, drove him to the left. “The Republican party itself has moved far to the right, but I’ve also moved to the left,” he says. “That came about after spending time with people from different backgrounds, travelling, and looking deeper at the issues.”

Brat says my blue collar father is going to have to wait for his social security, but we lower taxes on millionaires?

His fiscal views have changed in tandem with his social views. He says, “As a congressman, Dave Brat supported Trump’s tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Then he turns around and says, “We can’t afford social security, we need to raise the retirement age.””

That hits close to home for Hebert, who says, “I just think about my father, who has worked a blue collar job his whole life. Dave Brat says my father is going to have to wait for his social security checks, but we had money to lower taxes on millionaires?”

He lives in Florida now, but Hebert wants to help Spanberger however he can, even if it means talking about a part of his history he regrets. “It’s just so important for people to come out and support Abigail. I see the division in our country right now, and I see Dave Brat as part of that division. He doesn’t want to work with people.”

“It’s important to me that our country tackles these problems together. I want to see someone go to Congress and tackle these problems, and I think that person is Abigail Spanberger.”

Check out an exclusive stream of Lightfields’ brand new EP, Melodies–out next week!

Marilyn Drew Necci | March 24, 2015

Topics: exclusive, Lightfields, Melodies EP, music, premiere, RVA

We’re very excited to bring this one to you. Lightfields‘ debut full-length, Junior, blew us all away last year with its mixture of aggressive multiple-guitar alt-rock and pure pop catchiness. Now, the band is following in the footsteps of D’angelo and Kendrick Lamar by dropping a sudden surprise EP on an unaware Richmond scene. Said scene is sure to be delighted, and we definitely are, as we’re bringing you the exclusive streaming debut of Lightfields’ brand new EP, Melodies, right here at RVA Magazine!

[Read more…] about Check out an exclusive stream of Lightfields’ brand new EP, Melodies–out next week!

Positive No make glorious noise on exclusive new track; Negative Fun Singles Club EP out next week

Marilyn Drew Necci | August 19, 2014

Topics: Black Iris, exclusive, music, Negative Fun Records, Positive No, RVA

Local indie-rock band Positive No have made a strong and, um, positive impression on the Richmond scene ever since they started playing out, and their debut EP, Via Florum, was one of the best releases to come out of RVA in 2013 according to our own Shannon Cleary (and he’s right). Now, the first new song since the band’s debut EP proves that they’re not content to settle into a formula, instead pushing the boundaries of their sound to create some of their best work yet.

[Read more…] about Positive No make glorious noise on exclusive new track; Negative Fun Singles Club EP out next week

Hoax Hunters Show Off Exclusive New Track; Comfort & Safety Out August 5 On Negative Fun Records

Marilyn Drew Necci | July 30, 2014

Topics: Cherub Records, Comfort & Safety, Dave Watkins, exclusive, gallery 5, Hoax Hunters, music, Negative Fun Records, Positive No, RVA

RVA noise-rockers Hoax Hunters have been building up to the release of their debut full-length, Comfort & Safety, for quite a while, but the wait is almost over–the album will hit the streets next Tuesday, August 5.
[Read more…] about Hoax Hunters Show Off Exclusive New Track; Comfort & Safety Out August 5 On Negative Fun Records

Hear A Brand New Sleepwalkers Song In Advance Of Their LP Release Show Friday At The Broadberry

Marilyn Drew Necci | July 9, 2014

Topics: exclusive, Greenwood Shade, music, RVA, Sleepwalkers, song premiere, The Broadberry

Sleepwalkers are a local alt-rock/pop band who’ve been subtly generating a buzz with semi-infrequent local shows around town over the past year-plus. Led by brothers Michael and Austin York, their shift into Sleepwalkers is analogous to the transition that occurs when a former child actor switches smoothly into adult roles.
[Read more…] about Hear A Brand New Sleepwalkers Song In Advance Of Their LP Release Show Friday At The Broadberry

Hear Exclusive New Track From Toxic Moxie’s Forthcoming EP, Episode V; Catch CD Release Show Saturday At The Camel

Marilyn Drew Necci | May 29, 2014

Topics: Episode V, exclusive, music, postpunk, RVA, The Camel, Toxic Moxie

The music of local quartet Toxic Moxie is tough to slot into a convenient genre category. When we interviewed them last year, just before the release of their first EP, Episode IV, we called them “punk-funk.” That made sense at the time, in light of the clear influences from bands like Gang Of Four, The Rapture, and Moving Units that shone through on their debut EP.
[Read more…] about Hear Exclusive New Track From Toxic Moxie’s Forthcoming EP, Episode V; Catch CD Release Show Saturday At The Camel

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