House GOP pushes back against effort to unseat Todd Gilbert as caucus leader

Virginia House Republicans elected Shenandoah County Del. Todd Gilbert to serve as the Minority Leader in the coming two-year political cycle, rejecting an effort by a group of critics of Gov. Glenn Youngkin to punish Gilbert as a surrogate.

Gilbert is the lame-duck Speaker of the House of Delegates until the General Assembly reconvenes in January.

Republicans lost their slim majority in the House in the Nov. 8 elections, with Democrats gaining a net three seats to take a 51-49 majority in the 2024-2025 cycle.

The Washington Post had reported ahead of the Sunday caucus vote that a group of unnamed House Republican legislators had wanted to push Gilbert out in protest of the push by Youngkin and the governor’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia, to run a $1.4 million TV ad campaign to promote Youngkin’s proposed 15-week abortion ban.

Those legislators were backing veteran Southwest Virginia legislator Terry Kilgore to take over the leadership post for the GOP with the party set to take up the minority role in the House in January.

Kilgore, in a statement ahead of the vote, said the effort to push Gilbert out wasn’t “about the Governor,” but rather “the future of leadership in the House of Delegates, and making the changes we need to make to be successful in the long term for the Virginians we represent.”

The House Republican caucus did not disclose the final vote tally, though it did confirm that Gilbert had come out on top.

“I’m honored that my colleagues have once again put their trust in me to lead our Republican team for the coming term,” Gilbert said in a written statement issued by the caucus. “I look forward to working with our caucus to advance our shared Republican values and serve as a check on the worst far-left policies put forward by the incoming Democratic majority.”