Rudee’s Inlet, Virginia Beach, June 2021. (Photo by Sarah Vogelsong/Virginia Mercury)
In a dramatic late-night vote that capped more than a year of escalating infighting, the Republican Party’s 2nd Congressional District Committee voted Wednesday to remove Laura Hughes as chairwoman of the Virginia Beach GOP, accusing her of mismanagement and failing to perform her duties.
But Hughes says the move was political payback — and an affront to the grassroots Republicans who elected her.
“This was a ‘screw you’ to the Virginia Beach voters,” she said of her detractors’ actions in a phone interview Thursday, “because they wanted this small little group who likes to stay in charge, and they installed a chair that will do their bidding. And I am most likely going to file an appeal with the state Republican party.”
The 11-4 vote took place after four hours of closed-door deliberations at the Chesapeake GOP office, with 15 ballots cast, including five by proxy. The use of proxies and the closed nature of the meeting drew swift criticism from more than 50 Hughes supporters gathered outside, who said the decision undermined transparency and local control.
“It was a difficult decision,” Dennis Free, chair of the 2nd District Committee, told The Virginian-Pilot after emerging from the meeting around 11 p.m. He did not respond to requests for further comment Thursday.
The committee unanimously appointed Larry Lane as interim chair, a decision that must still be ratified by the full Virginia Beach Republican Committee on Monday.
Hughes, who was elected in March 2024 by a margin of 95 votes at a standing-room-only mass meeting of over 1,100 Republicans, said that her ouster was not about performance, but about control.
“This, in my opinion, is something they’ve been working on for quite some time,” she said. “There have been irregular elections (for local party chair) going on in Virginia Beach for years, and they finally lost one. The Virginia Beach voters spoke regarding the chair race, and this took it out of their hands.”
But Bruce Meyer, vice chair of the 2nd District GOP Committee and a vocal critic of Hughes’ leadership, said the vote was based on a pattern of dysfunction that began months into her tenure.
“Laura’s removal was massively performance-based,” Meyer said. “Between the precinct operations that were a disaster and the financial books — my God, how many organizations would tolerate not having a treasurer’s report in eight months?”
Meyer cited the resignation of Hughes’ secretary and treasurer last summer as signs of internal collapse, and said the party was still missing finance reports and meeting minutes months later.
“In October, we had a meeting and we’re missing full finance reports and minutes, and there’s a lot of concerns about precinct operations being a disaster,” he said. “(U.S. Rep.) Jen Kiggans’ campaign had to kick in and take over probably 80% of our precinct operations, which is unheard of.”
Hughes forcefully disputed Meyer’s characterization.
“I would not call what Bruce says an honest assessment,” she said. “And it’s interesting because one of the things I’ve said consistently is that Bruce was running the party through the previous chair, and he has said as much to other people. And now they’ve installed a new chair. ”
The clash over party finances was central to Hughes’ term. After discovering the committee had not conducted an audit since 2014, she said she repeatedly requested access to financial documents but was stonewalled by the former treasurer. Her push for a review eventually led the state party to step in — but only after she signed a non-disclosure agreement to view the findings.
Meyer argued that Hughes not only mishandled the process but also overstepped her authority.
“She tries to bring the city auditor into it, but doesn’t give him all the information,” he said. “She wasn’t given authority to share financial records with an outside person.” He said the state GOP’s audit committee — which included no Hampton Roads members — conducted a full review and found structural problems dating back years.
The state party’s report, Meyer said, confirmed what many already suspected. “It was totally objective. And they found a lot of bad issues,” he said.
Hughes has long maintained the review was used as political leverage. “Let’s call this what it is: a political hit job disguised as a procedure,” she wrote in a Facebook post last week.
Republican Party of Virginia Chair Mark Peake told The Mercury earlier this week that he was concerned about the optics and timing of the conflict.
“In my tenure as RPV chairman, the last thing I want to have happen are intra-party fights,” he said. “I don’t think it is good for the party to try and remove people that have been elected unless there’s a crime.”
Meyer acknowledged Peake’s point but said the district committee had little choice.
“This is really the last resort,” he said. “The organization’s controls were such a disaster — such a dumpster fire — that if we didn’t act, we’d be in deep trouble in November.”
He added that Lane has already presented a plan to rebuild the city’s precinct operations and that many members — including elected officials — support the change. “You’re going to have some people upset,” he said. “But there are hundreds who are not.”
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