Virginia a Key Battleground State; Virginia Rep. Scott Rigell Says He'll Vote 3rd Party
BLITZER: Virginia is a key battleground state in this year's presidential election and could help decide the outcome of the race. Once a reliable Republican stronghold, the state went for Barack Obama in each of the last two presidential elections. As CNN's Athena Jones show us, the two campaign's push for voters are as different as the candidates themselves.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: I'm reaching out to you on behalf of the Trump campaign.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The battle for Virginia is being waged by volunteers like these.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: You're planning to support Hillary this November?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah.</s>JONES: Working to identify and recruit supporters to help turn out the vote in this swing state.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you, northern Virginia.</s>JONES: With three months to go until Election Day, neither side is taking anything for granted.</s>GARREN SHIPLEY, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Virginia is absolutely critical. The road to the White House runs through the commonwealth and we're committed to making that happen for our Republican nominee.</s>SUSAN SWECKER, CHAIRWOMAN, VIRGINIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: It's a very competitive state. We are going to do everything we can to win this one for Clinton/Kaine.</s>JONES: The Clinton team had staff here since April and has 28 field offices with more opening this month. Much of their focus will be turning out voters in northern Virginia counties, close to D.C., an area with large college-educated population that has grown more diverse in recent years.</s>JEREMY MAYER, SCHAR SCHOOL OF POLICY & GOVERNMENT: Loudoun County is a huge battleground. Second only to Fairfax and there's a lot of swing voters and people who can be persuaded.</s>JONES: Once reliably Republican, Loudoun County voted twice for President Obama in 2008 --</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's good to be back in Virginia.</s>JONES: -- and 2012.</s>OBAMA: How's it going, Leesburg?</s>JONES: -- helping him stop a decade's-long Republican winning streak in presidential races statewide dating back to 1958. Now it's a top target for both Clinton and Trump.</s>TRUMP: We have to get everybody out. Loudoun County is so important.</s>JONES: The real estate mogul has won over some Loudoun County voters.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says things like it is. I feel more that you can trust him, more than Hillary.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's mainly a Never Hillary vote.</s>JONES: Is it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I think she has way too much baggage to be president of the United States.</s>JONES: But Clinton supporters here are just as committed.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think competency is important. And she clearly has a lot of experience and seems to know what she's doing.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is the best candidate for the job. I've been a supporter of hers for a long time. And in this particular case, I think that she is certainly the better choice.</s>JONES: The Clinton campaign hopes tapping former governor and current Virginia Senator, Tim Kaine, as her number-two will help her in the state.</s>SEN. TIM KAINE, (R), VIRGINIA & VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do you want a trash-talking president or a bridge-builder president?</s>JONES: The Clinton campaign has spent $5 million on TV ads in Virginia while the National Rifle Association has spent just over $260,000 on behalf of Trump. The Trump campaign hasn't spent any money on the airwaves but that doesn't mean Republicans aren't fighting hard to win here.</s>SHIPLEY: We're working right now with our volunteers to identify as many Republicans as we can and then as we move forward in the campaign, that will become persuasion, motivation to get out the vote.</s>JONES: Trump's campaign is leaning heavily on the Republican National Committee for its "get out the vote" efforts. The RNC has been on the ground here since the beginning of 2015.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CAMPAIGN VOLUNTEER: My name is Jacob. I'm with the Trump campaign.</s>JONES: They have some 40 paid staffers working with hundreds of volunteers to woo voters, particularly in southwest Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and south side Virginia. And they're not conceding Loudoun County, where recent college graduate, Cameron Saeidi (ph), is hoping the debates will help him make up his mind. CAMERON SAEIDI (ph),</s>LOUDOUN COUNTY VOTER: I'll be watching them to see how the candidates distinguish themselves from each other.</s>BLITZER: Our thanks to Athena Jones for that report. The Trump campaign has seen a significant number of Republicans jumping ship to support other candidates in this year's election campaign. Joining us now from Virginia Beach is Congressman Scott Rigell. Scott, Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.</s>REP. SCOTT RIGELL, (R), VIRGINIA: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: So you are not endorsing, not backing, voting for the Republican nominee this time. You are a Republican. You say Trump would be catastrophic if he became president. Who are you going to vote for?</s>RIGELL: I'm going to be voting for Governor Gary Johnson. I made this clear. I made my case to the second district of Virginia prior to the Virginia primary that the sum of all things that Donald Trump has said and done really his adult life led me to the view that a Trump presidency would really harm our nation. I'm not a representative prone to hyperbole. I don't throw things out in the extreme. In this matter looking at the sum of his actions, I could not support him, what he said about any number of things, for example, the deliberate targeting of not only a terrorist but the terrorist family. I think the insult that he hurled at Senator McCain was the first thing that got my attention that he really didn't understand our United States military. Virginia's second congressional district has the highest concentration of men and women in uniform in the country. By the nature of our commands, we have a disproportionate loss. Our Gold Star families are here, many of them.</s>BLITZER: All right.</s>RIGELL: And he's just disconnected on so many levels and I believe he would be a danger to our country, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: You'll vote for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential nominee and former governor, William Weld, the vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party. Are you concerned that if others in Virginia follow your lead that will effectively help Hillary Clinton, backing someone who is a party that really doesn't have much of a chance of winning this overall contest?</s>RIGELL: Wolf, this may surprise you here, but I'm ready to defend the proposition that Governor Johnson can win. Here's why.</s>BLITZER: He can he win Virginia or win the presidency?</s>RIGELL: I mean that he can thread this needle, and here's how, and win the presidency, and here's why. If we can get him up to about 15 percent in the polls, he'll participate in the presidential debate. No one saw Trump winning the nomination, at least early on. And I believe these same types of unusual real anomalies and the forces coming against our country are present now in the general election. The level of dissatisfaction with the two nominees is so wide and intense, Wolf, I've never seen anything like this. A Republican is voting against the Democratic nominee, but not really for the Republican nominee and, conversely, Democrats are voting against the Republican nominee, and not for their nominee. I've had so many people, family, friends, across the political continuum say what are we going to do this fall? I struggle with that, too. I cannot vote for Donald Trump in good conscience. And Hillary Clinton is equally as unacceptable to me. I give credit to a young intern. We were coming home from an event and he was driving, and he said, sir, are you considering the Libertarian ticket? I said, I hadn't, I need to do that. Once I did, the more I learned about Governor Johnson and what he believes in -- and, Wolf, to your point, it's not going to take votes from simply the Republican ticket, though it will, it will take votes from the Democratic ticket. I think that there's a pent-up demand that will surprise a lot of people on Election Day.</s>BLITZER: Let's see if they get to that 15 percent threshold and you are eligible to participate in the three presidential and one vice presidential debates. Scott Rigell is a Republican Congressman from Virginia, not going to vote for the Republican nominee. Congressman, thanks very much.</s>RIGELL: Thank you, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Coming up, the Department of Justice here in Washington blasting the Baltimore Police Department in a scathing report revealing racial bias and behavior so egregious that several officers have been fired. We'll discuss with the NAACP President Cornell William Brooks. There he is. He's in Baltimore. Lots to assess when we come back.