Think you were paying attention to Virginia politics in 2014? Take our carefully curated multiple-choice quiz and find out just how much of an electoral obsessive you really are.
1. Although they won a pair of State Senate seats in January special elections, Virginia donkeys were dealt a huge blow when Democratic Senator Phil Puckett resigned his southwestern district seat in June, throwing control of the chamber to Republicans. According to a federal investigation, which of the following offers were made to Puckett as he was considering his decision?
a) A job on the GOP-controlled state tobacco commission by Delegate Terry Kilgore.
b) A promise by Republican leadership to confirm Puckett’s daughter, Martha Puckett Ketron, for a state judgeship.
d) The possibility of a top state job for Puckett’s daughter from Paul Reagan, Governor Terry McAuliffe’s chief of staff.
e) An appointment to the federal bench or a potential corporate position for Puckett’s daughter by U.S. Senator Mark Warner.
f) All of the above.
In February, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen struck down Virginia’s ban on gay marriage. Match the following reactions to burgeoning marriage equality to the political figure who made them.
2. “All Virginians deserve the right to marry the person they love, and this decision is significant in moving us toward marriage equality in our nation.”
3. “Judge Wright Allen clearly lacks judicial temperament, has absolutely no sense of judicial restraint, exhibits signs of deracinated thinking and should be impeached.”
4. “Today is a great day for Virginia, but we must not stop working to expand equal rights and opportunities for all Americans.”
5. “A thousand years from now, marriage will still be a union between one man and one woman because God ordained it so!”
6. “You’ll see men hand-in-hand skipping down to adoption centers to ‘pick out’ a little boy for themselves.”
a) Senator Mark Warner
b) Delegate Bob Marshall
c) Loudoun County Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio
d) Bishop E.W. Jackson
e) Delegate David Toscano
7. In June, Democratic Delegate Joe Morrissey was indicted for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old girl. Which of the following facts about the pugnacious 57-year-old lawmaker is not true?
a) He is a descendant of famed bare-knuckle brawler John “Old Smoke” Morrissey.
b) He once punched a fellow attorney during a trial.
c) He once brandished an AK-47 on the floor of the House.
d) He wrote and published a self-help book titled In Praise of Humility.
8. Faced with an unexpectedly tight primary campaign (which he ultimately lost), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor released an ad that labeled his opponent David Brat as what?
a) A “Tea Party terrorist.”
b) A “Libertarian loon.”
c) A “liberal college professor.”
d) A “carpetbagger from Detroit.”
9. With the recent special election victory of Todd Pillion in Virginia’s 4th District, every state legislator in Southwest Virginia is now a Republican. When was the last time this was the case?
a) 1982
b) 1974
c) 1898
d) Never
Answers: 1-e, 2-e, 3-b, 4-a, 5-d, 6-c, 7-d, 8-c, 9-d
Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, bi-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics.