Flip-Flop: Ralph Northam Supports Sanctuary City Ban: ‘I’ve Always Been Opposed to Sanctuary Cities’

Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam finally cracked under pressure, flip-flopped, and admitted that he would sign legislation that would ban sanctuary cities in Virginia.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie rose in the polls in recent months by appealing to Trump’s nationalist-populist and conservative base, promising to ban sanctuary cities in Virginia and crack down on the dangerous MS-13 gang in Northern Virginia.

On Wednesday, Northam said that under certain circumstances he would sign legislation that would ban sanctuary cities.

“If that bill comes to by desk … I sure will. I’ve always been opposed to sanctuary cities. He knows that,” Northam said, speaking of his Republican opponent, Ed Gillespie.

Northam defended his previous vote that prevented a bill banning sanctuary cities from going to the governor’s desk, calling the previous bill a “political game,” which was meant to “promote fearmongering.”

“I don’t go to Richmond to play games,” Northam added.

In the third and final debate between Ed Gillespie and Ralph Northam, the Democrat dodged the question as to whether he would sign legislation banning sanctuary cities by arguing that Virginia currently had no sanctuary cities.

Northam’s campaign is mired in controversy after a new report revealed that the Northam campaign and the Latino Victory Fund coordinated an ad that featured an Ed Gillespie supporter attempting to run over minority children. The Latino Victory Fund pulled the ad in the wake of a terrorist attack in New York City.

Breitbart News reported that the race between Gillespie and Northam remains tight. The election is on Tuesday, November 7.

Gillespie took the opportunity to chastise Northam, who flip-flopped about “the very bill he has bragged about voting against.”

“I sincerely hope that this change of heart is real,” Gillespie said in a statement. “That Ralph Northam recognizes MS-13 is a real issue, and a serious threat, and that allowing for the creation of sanctuary cities here would only make things worse. Given his track record on this issue, I’m not sure where the lieutenant governor stands.”