Fenit Nirappil

The Washington Post

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Republican gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart came to this town to defend its statue of Robert E. Lee in a downtown park, only to be swarmed by dozens of protesters who shouted him down everywhere he went.

It was the harshest reception yet for the provocative chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, campaigning for governor as Virginia’s Donald Trump, with a hard-line stance against illegal immigration and blistering criticism of his opponents.

A divided Charlottesville City Council’s vote this week to remove the statue of the Confederate general gave Stewart a new opportunity to rile up his base. On social media, he urged people to defend Virginia heritage and likened those who wanted the statue gone to tyrants and Nazis.

But when he tried to take his message out into the real world on Saturday morning, protesters shouting “White supremacy has got to go!” drowned out his interviews and conversations.

Pride and Prejudice: What's in a name? Dignity or disgrace? Honor or shame?

Stewart took it in stride, frequently grinning and trying to chat up his detractors. In an interview, Stewart welcomed the protests and the attention it would bring him, believing it would help his campaign narrative of a conservative standing up to an intolerant left and “political correctness.”

“I am calling them out for who they are,” Stewart said. “It’s really a symptom of the problem of the left and their unwillingness to listen to alternative points of view.”

He recorded a Facebook Live video with Thaddeus Alexander, an African American veteran who became an online conservative star after his Facebook video railing against liberal protesters went viral.

Their latest video ran a little more than 2 minutes and racked up more than 9,000 views by 1 p.m.

“They have no respect for our heritage,” Stewart said in the video over shouts. “They have no respect not only to Robert E. Lee, a great American, but they have no respect for Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington or any of the other great American and Virginia heroes.”

The demonstrators continued to follow Stewart, hoisting signs saying “Ban Bigots” and “No tolerance for white supremacy” over his head and yelling at him to go back to Prince William.

“Do you need to be escorted to your car?” asked Toby Gray, a 51-year-old man wearing a camouflage jacket and holding a giant American flag sign, as Stewart walked down the stairs out of the park.

“I think I do,” Stewart responded, crossing the street to a parking lot.

Protesters didn’t follow, shouting “Whose town? Our town!”

The protesters outnumbered a group of supporters of the statue, some of whom carried Confederate flags. The statue supporters - who were angered by the wave of protests against President Donald Trump nationwide - said the whole exchange left them feeling warmer to Stewart.

“I wasn’t sure about voting for Corey Stewart before, but I’d be very honored to vote for him after today,” said Isaac Stewart, a 20-year-old Charlottesville resident who filmed the rally for a local blog.

He backed Trump for president but said he was uneasy about the prospect of having a mirror image in the governor’s mansion.

“I’d like to see something a little more tempered, a little more mild. Certainly the way Stewart dealt with these people, I think he was an absolute angel,” Smith said.

Gillespie’s stance

Fellow Republican candidate Ed Gillespie, a political strategist who Stewart derides as ‘Establishment Ed,’ said in a statement he doesn’t support moving statues, but such decisions are local issues. Gillespie is leading the Republican field in polling and campaign cash for the November election.

Republican distillery owner Denver Riggleman, who like Stewart is running a populist campaign, also denounced the statue move and recommended using money for demolition to add a statue of a prominent African American instead.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello, who represented Charlottesville in Congress from 2009 to 2011, supports the statue’s removal as part of creating a “more inclusive” environment. Lt. Gov Ralph Northam, who is also running for governor, has said local communities should make decisions about Confederate symbols, and said Charlottesville is a model for creating a “welcoming community.”

As Stewart hopped into his Toyota Tundra to go to his next rally in Winchester, he flashed a handful of supporters who escorted him to the park lot a thumbs up.

“This was fun.”