Election — By Warren Fiske

Although three Republicans are running in the June 13 GOP primary for lieutenant governor, all of the drama has come from two of the candidates locked in an intensely personal fight.

The brawl is between the two state senators in the race — Bryce E. Reeves of Spotsylvania and Jill Holtzman Vogel of Fauquier.

Sen. Reeves accuses Sen. Vogel of spreading an email under a fake name last fall that falsely accused him of having an affair. Records link the email to Sen. Vogel’s home computer account and to her husband’s cellphone. The Vogels have denied any role and Sen. Vogel has said she believes she was “the target of a hoax.”

Sen. Reeves has filed a defamation suit in Stafford County Circuit Court and his attorney has subpoenaed Sen. Vogel and her husband to a deposition. The Vogels are trying to quash the subpoena, saying Sen. Reeves is trying to abuse the discovery process in lawsuits. A judge is scheduled to hear the Vogels motion on Friday, June 9 — four days before the GOP primary election.

The third candidate in the race, Delegate Glenn R. Davis Jr. of Virginia Beach has steered clear of the drama while touring the state in an RV he calls “Mello Yello” because of the color of its seats.

The part-time job of lieutenant governor isn’t very glamorous. It pays $36,321 a year. The main responsibilities are to preside over the state Senate and break tie votes in the chamber — a role that has taken on importance in recent years with the partisan balance in the Senate being split nearly in half. And, perhaps most important for aspirants, the job is often a stepping stone to the governorship.

Delegate Davis, 43, is the founder and chief executive officer of OnCall Telecom, a company that designs and sets up telecommunication systems for businesses. He says his entrepreneurial skills make him uniquely able to help improve Virginia’s business climate.

“I understand what causes entrepreneurs heartaches,” he said during his campaign kickoff last year.

After serving on Virginia Beach’s City Council, Delegate Davis was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2013. In Richmond, he has received several awards from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce for promoting small business growth. He has broken with the GOP on a key issue — in 2014, he was one of two House Republicans who voted for an unsuccessful bill that would have expanded Medicaid in Virginia, a plan sought by Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Sen. Reeves, 50, is a former Army lieutenant and vice narcotics detective for Prince William County. These days, he sells insurance. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2011, nosing out longtime Democratic Sen. Edward Houck.

Sen. Reeves bills himself as an unflinching conservative dedicated to law and order, gun rights, easing business regulations and reforming the welfare system. One of his key moments in the Senate came in 2015 when he brokered a deal with Gov. McAuliffe for legislation that expanded the right to carry concealed weapons in exchange for establishing voluntary background checks of firearm buyers at gun shows.

Sen. Reeves is airing a television commercial depicting two hooded terrorists with black bags running to a van in a suburban neighborhood while a mother and two children watch.

“This is the America Obama left behind,” Sen. Reeves said in the ad.

Sen. Vogel, 46, is a lawyer who specializes in nonprofits, ethics, campaign finance and tax-exempt organizations. Her TV ad shows her serving her children breakfast, getting them in the SUV for school and arriving at work — all fitting into her slogan of “Getting things done.”

Sen. Vogel bills herself as a solid conservative who isn’t afraid to break with her party. She has proposed two Constitutional amendments that are pending in the General Assembly. One would empower the legislature to review, and possibly reject, all regulations. The other would require lawmakers to draw compact legislative districts instead of gerrymandering them for partisan gain.

The only publicly released poll on the GOP lieutenant governor’s nomination race was conducted by Christopher Newport University in late March. It showed Sen. Vogel holding a slight lead in the race, but 57 percent of Republican and self-identified independents said they were undecided.

The latest campaign finance reports on June 1 show that Sen. Vogel has raised $1.7 million and has $47,000 left in her war chest; Sen. Reeves has raised almost $964,000, of which $188,000 is unspent; and Delegate Davis has raised $503,000 and spent all but $36,000.