Since his apparentconversion to more socially liberal policies, Mr Portillo is also a bit of an unknown quantity and has yet to map out any detailed policies.
If that apparentconversion lasts (and it is notable that Congress's brief enthusiasm for gun-control laws evaporated overnight), it is likely to alarm Virginia's politically powerful gun lobby.
Those who criticise Portillo's apparent"conversion" evidently know very little about his diverse background as a son of an anti-Fascist Spanish socialist and a teenage Labour party supporter.