RICHMOND (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – “Many of you said you wanted to have a say in who your next governor would be, and you wanted to have a choice. I’m honored that you asked me, yet again.” Those words from former state Senator Amanda Chase who announced she submitted signatures to the Virginia Department of Elections before the 5pm Thursday, April 3 deadline to get on the June primary ballot. Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears submitted her petitions with what she says was 20,000 signatures in late March to get on the Republican primary ballot, on the first day a candidate could submit them.

Chase does not say how many signatures she submitted, but in a letter to supporters Thursday night said “to be honest”, she wasn’t sure Thursday morning whether she “would get across the finish line”. 

“Then the Fed Ex envelopes started arriving just as we were ready to head out the door.”

She said she got them to the elections department 20 minutes before the deadline. The board still has to certify 10,000 registered voters’ signatures to approve the candidates for the ballot, and those signatures have to have certain numbers from all of Virginia’s Congressional districts.

Former Loudoun County state Delegate Dave LaRock, who filed paperwork to run, did not meet the signature deadline, saying he had only a little over 9000 as the deadline came. In a letter Friday, he wrote he hopes Virginia’s next Governor “will do everything possible to work with President Trump”, but did not make an endorsement.