Virginia Republican senatorial candidate Ed Gillespie said he will offer a "check and balance" on President Barack Obama, rather than the "blank check" that Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Warner has provided.
The Virginia Republican Convention tabbed Gillespie as its Senate nominee on Saturday.
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Gillespie is a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and served adviser to former President George W. Bush and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"We don't need, in the United States Senate from Virginia, a blank check for President Obama. We need a check and balance on this administration and on President Obama," Gillespie told "Fox & Friends" on Monday.
Gillespie said Warner told Virginians "he was going to be an independent voice for us in Washington, D.C." However, he said Warner had "voted with President Obama 97 percent of the time."
Gillespie said his priorities would be to enact policies "that will create jobs and foster economic growth and upward mobility, and help lift people out of poverty." He said Warner's votes in the Senate had "resulted in higher prices for energy, for skyrocketing healthcare costs, for lost jobs and lower take home pay."
Gillespie said winning the Senate in Virginia would enable Republicans to "get control of the United States Senate for the last two years of the Obama presidency." He said he "would not support the president's policies down the line and [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid down the line, as Mark Warner has."
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