2007 Virginia's 1st congressional district special election
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December 11, 2007
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Virginia's 1st congressional district | |||||||||||||||||
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 County and independent city results Wittman: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Forgit: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Virginia |
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After the death of Republican Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis on October 6, 2007, a special election was required to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the 110th United States Congress. Governor Tim Kaine announced that the election would occur on December 11, 2007. The Republican and Democratic candidates were selected by political conventions on November 10, 2007.[1] Republican state delegate Rob Wittman was elected, defeating Democratic nominee Philip Forgit and independent candidate Lucky Narain.[2]
Candidates
[edit]Democratic
[edit]Democrats nominated Iraq War veteran and former teacher Philip Forgit over retired United States Navy Captain Ted Hontz by a 106–91 convention vote.[3] The Democratic convention was held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not invest large amounts of money into the campaign,[4] opting instead to fund Robin Weirauch's campaign in a special congressional election in Ohio.[5]
Republican
[edit]After five ballots, Republicans chose state delegate Rob Wittman as their nominee when Paul Jost withdrew before the sixth ballot could be announced.[6] The Republican convention was held at Caroline High School in Caroline County, Virginia. The Republican convention drew a wide variety of candidates, including former State Delegate Dick Black; former Republican Party official Jim Bowden; Sherwood Bowditch, the Director of the Virginia Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs; David Caprara, an activist; retired FBI agent David Corderman; Chuck Davis, the widower of late Congresswoman Davis; businessman Paul Jost, attorney Kevin O'Neill, and businessman Rob Quartel.
Independent
[edit]Lucky Narain, a former Peace Corps volunteer, Army Reservist, and grant writer from Yorktown,[7][8] filed the necessary petitions to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate. He criticized Wittman for supporting a transportation tax increase despite having signed an anti-tax pledge; Wittman claimed that he had not signed that particular pledge.[9][self-published source?]
General election results
[edit]| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rob Wittman | 42,772 | 60.77 | |
| Democratic | Philip Forgit | 26,282 | 37.34 | |
| Independent | Lucky R. Narain | 1,253 | 1.78 | |
| Write-ins | 75 | 0.11 | ||
| Total votes | 70,382 | 100.00 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
By county and independent city
[edit]| Locality | Rob Wittman Republican |
Philip Forgit Democratic |
All others | Margin | Total votes cast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | % | # | % | # | % | # | % | ||
| Caroline (part) | 683 | 73.4% | 245 | 26.3% | 3 | 0.3% | 438 | 47.1% | 931 |
| Essex | 668 | 71.8% | 256 | 27.5% | 7 | 0.8% | 412 | 44.3% | 931 |
| Fauquier (part) | 1,341 | 67.9% | 616 | 31.2% | 17 | 0.9% | 725 | 36.7% | 1,974 |
| Fredericksburg | 693 | 44.6% | 845 | 54.3% | 17 | 1.1% | -152 | 9.7% | 1,555 |
| Gloucester | 2,717 | 61.7% | 1,562 | 35.5% | 125 | 2.8% | 1,155 | 26.2% | 4,404 |
| Hampton (part) | 970 | 44.1% | 1,171 | 53.3% | 57 | 2.6% | -201 | -9.2% | 2,198 |
| James City | 5,454 | 50.4% | 5,181 | 47.9% | 181 | 1.7% | 273 | 2.5% | 10,816 |
| King and Queen | 386 | 58.3% | 272 | 41.1% | 4 | 0.6% | 114 | 17.2% | 662 |
| King George | 1,359 | 70.5% | 544 | 28.2% | 24 | 1.3% | 815 | 42.3% | 1,927 |
| King William | 759 | 64.8% | 397 | 33.9% | 15 | 1.3% | 362 | 30.9% | 1,171 |
| Lancaster | 1,916 | 74.5% | 644 | 25.0% | 12 | 0.4% | 1,272 | 49.5% | 2,572 |
| Mathews | 1,041 | 60.9% | 648 | 37.9% | 20 | 1.2% | 393 | 23.0% | 1,709 |
| Middlesex | 1,184 | 66.8% | 566 | 31.9% | 922 | 1.3% | 618 | 34.9% | 1,772 |
| Newport News (part) | 3,811 | 56.4% | 2,772 | 41.0% | 180 | 2.7% | 1,039 | 15.4% | 6,763 |
| Northumberland | 1,837 | 75.8% | 571 | 23.5% | 17 | 0.7% | 1,266 | 52.3% | 2,425 |
| Poquoson | 1,231 | 67.4% | 541 | 29.6% | 55 | 3.0% | 690 | 37.8% | 1,827 |
| Prince William (part) | 584 | 55.0% | 457 | 43.1% | 20 | 1.9% | 127 | 11.9% | 1,061 |
| Richmond County | 879 | 85.0% | 149 | 14.4% | 6 | 0.6% | 730 | 70.6% | 1,034 |
| Spotsylvania (part) | 3,711 | 66.9% | 1,781 | 32.1% | 51 | 0.9% | 1,930 | 34.8% | 5,543 |
| Stafford | 4,503 | 65.9% | 2,233 | 32.7% | 92 | 1.4% | 2,270 | 33.2% | 6,828 |
| Westmoreland | 1,647 | 78.5% | 439 | 20.9% | 13 | 0.6% | 1,208 | 67.6% | 2,099 |
| Williamsburg | 626 | 36.0% | 1,079 | 62.0% | 35 | 2.1% | -453 | -26.0% | 1,740 |
| York | 4,772 | 56.5% | 3,313 | 39.3% | 355 | 4.2% | 1,459 | 17.2% | 8,440 |
| Totals | 42,772 | 60.8% | 26,282 | 37.3% | 1,328 | 1.9% | 16,490 | 23.5% | 70,382 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ ""Republicans Warn Against Overconfidence in Race to Succeed Davis" by Greg Giroux". cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ↑ Wittman wins 1st Congressional District Election Archived 2007-12-12 at the Wayback Machine WVEC December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007
- ↑ Payne, Kimball (November 11, 2007). "DEMOCRATS PICK IRAQ WAR VET TO RUN FOR 1ST DISTRICT". Daily Press. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ Mack, Kristen (December 9, 2007). "3 Candidates Vie to Fill Davis's House Seat". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ↑ "Parties Focus on Specials - Roll Call". rollcall.com. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ↑ "The Shad Plank: Convention final. Wittman is in!". typepad.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ↑ "PEOPLE". Daily Press. February 8, 2001. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ↑ Payne, Kimball (November 29, 2007). "CANDIDATE TRUMPETS GOP VOW". Daily Press. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "Deer, Meet Headlights. « Fred2Blue". fred2blue.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)