Corey Stewart

Corey Alan Stewart (born August 1, 1968) is an American retired politician who served four terms as at-large chair of the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, Virginia from December 2006 to December 2019.

Stewart was first elected chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in a November 2006 special election to replace Sean Connaughton (who resigned to take a post at the United States Maritime Administration).

Stewart defeated Democratic Party candidate Sharon Pandak with 53% of the vote.

He drew national media attention for spearheading Prince William County's 2007 crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Stewart was elected to a full term in 2007 with 55% of the vote, reelected in 2011, and reelected to a third term in 2015 with 57% of the vote.

After Stewart took his seat as chair in 2007, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution designed to purge the county of undocumented immigrants; the new law allowed the Prince William County Police Department to check the immigration status of anyone, even if they were not suspected of wrongdoing.

Additionally, the board directed county staff to cut off public services to illegal immigrants, including drug counseling, elderly services, services to the homeless, and business licenses.

A year later, the law was amended to require local law enforcement officers to arrest people before they could enforce federal immigration law.

Stewart said in 2012 that his crackdown on illegal immigration had "cut violent crime in half", a claim PolitiFact rated "mostly false".

The county's targeting of illegal immigrants was the subject of a documentary film, 9500 Liberty (2009).

Stewart led the successful effort to reduce Prince William County's concealed-carry handgun permit fee, reducing the overall cost to lawful handgun owners from $50 to the state minimum of $15.

Stewart unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in the 2013 election.

In a seven-person race, he was eliminated in the third round of voting in the Republican convention, losing to E. W. Jackson.

In December 2015, Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he had chosen Stewart to chair his campaign in Virginia.

Stewart has been an outspoken proponent of Trump in national media, and continued to support him even as other Republican officials disavowed him after various controversies, including the Access Hollywood scandal.

Stewart was the Virginia state chair of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and co-chaired the Republican Party of Virginia's "Team Virginia" field and communications campaign in 2016.

In October 2016, the Trump campaign fired him after he participated in an unsanctioned protest against the Republican National Committee.

In June 2016, the Republican Party of Virginia selected Stewart to co-chair its "Team Virginia" field and communications campaign, alongside former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore.

Stewart drew controversy in July 2016 when he blamed "liberal Democrats" including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Virginia lieutenant governor Ralph Northam for the spree killing of police officers in Dallas, Texas.

Stewart criticized Democrats for "essentially encouraging the murder."

On October 10, 2016, amid reports that the Republican National Committee was withdrawing resources from the Trump campaign to focus on down-ballot races, Stewart joined a pro-Trump women's demonstration in front of the committee's Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Following the protest, Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon dismissed Stewart to "placate" RNC chairman Reince Priebus, who was reportedly "infuriated" by Stewart's actions.

Days later, the RNC and the Trump campaign announced that they were withdrawing from Virginia, again drawing the ire of Stewart, who criticized the decision as a betrayal of the grassroots and "totally premature."

Despite his firing, he continued to support Trump.

At the Virginia State Republican Convention on April 30, 2016, Stewart announced his intent to run for governor of Virginia.

In the Republican primary, Stewart was described as "on the very conservative end."

During the campaign, Stewart drew media attention for his admission that his campaign staff had edited his Wikipedia page to add positive spin, his use of the term "cuckservative" in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" (AMA), and his staunch support for Confederate symbols and monuments.

During the campaign, Stewart announced that his campaign would give away an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle for Christmas to highlight his support for gun rights.

In a Reddit AMA, Stewart called his GOP primary opponent Ed Gillespie a "cuckservative", agreed with a participant who asked if Bill Clinton was a rapist, and wrote "CONFIRMED!"

to one who asked whether Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe "is a cuck".

In 2017, Stewart sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Virginia, narrowly losing to Ed Gillespie.

He drew media attention for his admission that his campaign staff had edited his Wikipedia page to add positive spin, his use of the term "cuckservative" in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything", and his staunch support for Confederate symbols and monuments.

Stewart raffled off an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in January 2017, praising the weapon as "a good rifle".

Stewart was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2018 in the commonwealth of Virginia, losing to Democratic incumbent Tim Kaine by more than a 15-point margin.

In his campaign, he had portrayed himself as an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump.

According to The New York Times, Stewart "made his name attacking illegal immigrants and embracing emblems of the Confederacy."

In March 2018 he posted on Twitter that the gun was less deadly than former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

In January 2019, he announced that he would be retiring from politics.

He did not seek re-election in 2019.

He was succeeded by Democrat Ann Wheeler.