You are not alone.
I made the conclusion that this decision was made, prior to the news getting to Barry because of the culture surrounding him and his team. From what I can tell, Val has a tight wrap on who sees Barry, especially during the elections. I expect that the responsibilities of being president were getting in the way of his social life and they changed the way things were done.
I can’t wait for the people behind the scenes to tell us what was really going on.