Va. Lt. Gov. nominee John Reid accuses Gov. Youngkin of extortion

John Reid accused Gov Glenn Youngkin s gang of extorting him as the Virginia governor pushes for Reid to step down as the Republican nominee for the lieutenant governor s race Related stories How the Va lieutenant governor s race may play out after Youngkin calls on Reid to step aside Virginia voter guide What to know about casting a ballot in June primary ballot Virginia GOP candidate for lieutenant governor says he won t exit race despite governor s push The accusations come as Reid a conservative radio host from the Richmond area continues to defend himself against claims that surfaced last week claiming a social media account with the same name that Reid uses shared pornographic content The statements prompted Youngkin to call for Reid to exit the race Reid declined saying it was not his social media account and denying publicly performing or sharing anything pornographic In a video posted on social media Sunday Reid announced he had hoped the Republican ticket would be unified and that he could put the bigotry and ugliness of last week behind him However he stated representatives of his campaign have been repeatedly described by the leader of Youngkin s political organization that the attacks would continue unless he drops out of the race They were communicated that if I dropped out of the race they would purchase the opposition research and the lies and threats against me would suddenly stop This is extortion and it is illegal in Virginia And I am more outraged now I have engaged legal counsel to pursue all options against these people he disclosed Reid is the state s first openly gay candidate from either party for statewide office and previously explained his sexual orientation is the reason he s being targeted The insiders in Virginia politics made a big miscalculation if they thought that I would bow down to anyone or run away scared Reid mentioned I m a conservative Trump supporter and I m gay and everybody knows it because I ve narrated you in person and in the media for decades Reid became the party s candidate for lieutenant governor when Fairfax County supervisor Pat Herrity dropped out for fitness reasons I am sickened and outraged at the weeks of veiled accusations and attacks on my family and I m not going to continue to answer a never-ending parade of questions and false accusations from people who we now know are solely motivated to stage a coup against a gay man whom they didn t want to be their nominee but didn t have the guts to run against Reid disclosed WTOP has reached out to Youngkin s office for comment on the accusations Source