Loudoun's Paul Siker Builds Campaign Against Del. Dave LaRock

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Paul Siker, a Loudoun County businessman, was surprised when Democrats were not lining up to challenge the incumbent member of the House of Delegates. It was no secret that Del. Dave LaRock (R-33rd) learned far to the right on the political spectrum.

The aftermath of the November 2020 presidential election brought even greater attention to LaRock's views. He led efforts to overturn Virginia's results in the presidential election and used “colored community” to describe Black residents of Loudoun County.

The community also learned that LaRock is friends with an alleged Jan. 6 insurrectionist who is facing some of the most serious charges among the people arrested in the wake of the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

With more attention on LaRock's views, many believed 2021 could be a year when Democrats could grab control of a district that leans conservative but not to the fringes.

“I became concerned because I wasn’t seeing people emerging at the beginning of the year,” Siker said in an interview with Patch. “At the point I jumped into the race, I also said that if there’s someone else who really, passionately wants to do this, I’m happy to fall in line and support that person.”

But no other Democrat announced their candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the 33rd District, which covers areas of Loudoun west and north of Leesburg, along with Clarke County and parts of Frederick County on the eastern side of Winchester.

As it stands now, Siker, who lives in Waterford, is expected to face off against LaRock in November’s general election for the 33rd District.

“I tell people that this is no way aspirational for me. I’m not looking to climb the political ladder. I’m doing this out of a sense of obligation to my community,” Siker said.

According to Siker, the 33rd District needs a representative whose values match the majority of its residents, and Siker believes LaRock is not that person.

LaRock was one of the leaders in Loudoun, along with Sheriff Mike Chapman and other Republican officials, of the movement to overturn the presidential election results in Virginia so that former President Donald Trump would be declared the winner in the state.

LaRock, who has represented the 33rd district since 2014, sent a letter along with other Virginia lawmakers to former Vice President Mike Pence in the days before the Jan. 6 insurrection asking him to overturn Virginia’s electoral votes.

In response to the letter, Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat, removed LaRock from the House Transportation Committee in Richmond.

“By seeking to disenfranchise millions of Virginians and undercut faith in our democratic institutions, Delegate Dave LaRock, Delegate Mark Cole and Delegate Ronnie Campbell showed exceedingly poor judgment and conducted themselves in a manner unbecoming of their office,” a Filler-Corn spokesman said in a statement.

LaRock attended at least two Stop the Steal rallies — on Nov. 15 in Loudoun County and the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C. — supporting claims of voter fraud in the Nov. 3 presidential election. But the delegate said he did not enter the Capitol with his fellow Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

In response to some Loudoun leaders, including the Loudoun NAACP president, calling for his resignation from the General Assembly, LaRock issued a statement in which he said that “rather than focusing on the business of Loudoun County and the needs of the colored community, they are wasting their time and taxpayer resources to attack me.”

LaRock told the Loudoun Times-Mirror that he did not realize using “colored people” was racist until after he issued the statement.

LaRock also is a friend of Thomas Edward Caldwell of Berryville, who faces some of the most serious charges among the people arrested for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Caldwell, 65, was indicted on Jan. 27 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, destruction of government property and entering a restricted building along with two alleged co-conspirators — Donovan Ray Crowl and Jessica Marie Watkins. The government has asserted all three are members of the Oath Keepers militia group.

With everything LaRock had done since the November presidential election, Siker said he felt Democrats needed to make a run at defeating him at the ballot box.

“I felt that with everything that had transpired between the outcome of the election, the aftermath and the controversy that swirled around that and then the attempt to set aside Virginia’s votes culminating with the rally-turned-insurrection, I was pretty distraught,” he said.

But Siker does not want to make his bid for office a referendum on LaRock.

“This can’t be all solely, ‘We don’t like Dave LaRock,'” Siker said. “There needs to be substance that I’m bringing to the table that actually instills in people an understanding and belief that I’m keenly interested in representing this district and that I can bring tangible results to the district in Richmond.”

In a news release announcing his candidacy, Siker described himself as a “seasoned entrepreneur, small business owner, engaged community volunteer and non-profit board member.”

“I’m running for the House of Delegates because residents in western Loudoun, Clarke, and Frederick counties deserve significantly better representation in the General Assembly,” he said.

Brief Relationship With Loudoun GOP

Siker briefly belonged to the Loudoun County Republican Committee 15 years ago. He was recruited by a former Republican Party chairman who wanted to bring more moderate voices into the party.

But Siker, who had not previously belonged to a political party, said he concluded after a few meetings that “these are not my parents’ Eisenhower Republicans” but were instead on the fringes of the right wing. So, he decided to leave the party.

As it turned out, a few years later, LaRock, one of those more conservative members of the party, won election to the House of Delegates.

Looking back to January, Siker said he believes LaRock was upset about the House speaker removing him from the Transportation committee because “transportation issues gave him the cover and gave him some validity.”

“He could approach transportation issues in a bit more pragmatic manner knowing that it would give him cover to do more socially fringey things in other areas,” he said.

In his campaign, Siker said he plans to compare his decades of experience “getting results” for his business clients with LaRock's record in the House of Delegates.

LaRock’s bills “die in committee because they’re always too extreme and because he hasn’t built the collaborative relationships that allow him to be effective as a legislator.”

Siker said he has received support from residents across the 33rd District, as well as from people elsewhere in Virginia who have reached out to offer support.

The Democratic Party is “definitely interested in the campaign,” he said.

“They are waiting for anecdotal evidence or data that suggests there is something different going on this year” that would allow a Democrat to win the district, he said. “As soon as we get information along those lines, they will become more proactively involved.”

During the campaign, Siker said he wants to highlight his values to residents and then ask them to stack up his values against LaRock’s.

“And then I’ll ask them to make a decision as to whose values align most closely with their own,” he said. "We may not agree on everything. But I would submit that most of us probably don’t look at the events that transpired on Jan. 6 and say, That’s the America I want to be a part of."