Chesterfield Republicans met Tuesday night to select the leaders for their local committee, but a confrontation involving former state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, became the main attraction.
Chase is facing an assault and battery charge after a confrontation with Adaire Lazaro outside of the meeting.
Lazaro is the roommate of Shane Snavley, a former employee of Chase who has spent the last year releasing damning information about her to the public.
Chase received a temporary protective order against Snavley in February of 2023.
“There’s nothing I’ve done and nothing I’ve said that’s not a fact,” Snavley said about his past actions in an interview Tuesday night.
After losing her primary to Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Chesterfield, last year, Chase flirted with the idea of a write-in campaign and did not publicly support Sturtevant in the general election.
As a result, Chase was barred from voting for the candidates seeking leadership positions in the Chesterfield County Republican Committee Tuesday night.
The committee explained their reasoning in a letter they gave to her at the meeting.
“We write to inform you that, based on your actions during the 2023 election cycle, you have effectively chosen to withdraw your membership from the Republican Party of Virginia and your ability to participate in party processes for a period of four years,” the letter reads.
“Your social media post expressing intent to launch a write-in campaign against then-Republican nominee, now-duly elected Senator Glen Sturtevant for State Senate District 12, was noted,” the letter continues. “Additionally, during a convened meeting of the CCRC in June 2023, you publicly advocated for Leslie Haley’s self-removal from office and voiced your inability to support Glen Sturtevant for the State Senate, citing your perception of him being dishonorable prior to adjournment of that meeting.”
In a video by Lazaro, Chase can be seen showing the letter to Republicans waiting in line to vote. When Chase spots Lazaro filming her, she turns and tells her to stop.
Chase then walks toward Lazaro and pushes the camera away. The video then ends.
The police were called, and they responded to the meeting.
According to Snavely, Lazaro then filed charges with the magistrate.
Chase confirmed to Virginia Scope Tuesday night that she was served a summons to appear at a pre-trial hearing in April for a misdemeanor charge of assault and battery.
“They were trying to set me up,” Chase said in an interview with Virginia Scope. “His girlfriend was trying to video me, and they were trying to entrap me, trying to rig up a charge against me.”
“That’s not an assault,” she said after viewing the video.
At the meeting, the current committee Chair Leslie Haley, a former Chesterfield supervisor who resigned from the board last year to work for Attorney General Jason Miyares, was defeated handily by Chase-supported Dee Dee Van Buren.
“Thank God we won,” Chase said in an email to her supporters after the votes were counted. “I look forward to appealing this ridiculous letter by Leslie Haley and her crony executive committee. I look forward to rejoining the Chesterfield GOP and being an active member there.”
