Virginia's 1st congressional district special election, 2007

After the death of ushr|Virginia|1|1st district representative Jo Ann Davis on October 6th 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. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002626158 "Republicans Warn Against Overconfidence in Race to Succeed Davis" by Greg Giroux] ] Republican state legislator Rob Wittman was elected, defeating Democrat Philip Forgit and Independent Lucky Narain. [ [http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_121107_elections.606452d.html Wittman wins 1st Congressional District Election] WVEC December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007]

Candidates

:"Listed alphabetically first by party, then by last name."

Democratic

Democrats nominated Iraq War Veteran and former teacher Philip Forgit over retired United States Navy Captain Ted Hontz by a 106-91 convention vote. [ [http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-democrats-1110,0,1335869.story?coll=hr_tab01_layout 1st Distric Democrats select Forgit as candidate] ] The Democratic convention was held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not invest large amounts of money into the campaign, [ [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2007/12/kaine_was_rebuffed_by_dccc.html?nav=rss_blog Kaine Rebuffed by DCCC - Virginia Politics ] ] opting instead to fund Robin Weirauch's campaign in Ohio's 5th congressional district special election, 2007. [ [http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_66/news/21224-1.html Parties Focus on Specials - Roll Call ] ]

Republican

After five ballots, Republicans chose State Delegate Rob Wittman as their nominee when Paul Jost withdrew before the sixth ballot could be announced. [ [http://hrblogs.typepad.com/the_shad_plank/2007/11/convention-fina.html The Shad Plank: Convention final. Wittman is in! ] ] The Republican convention was held at Caroline High School in Caroline County, Virginia.

Also Ran

*Dick Black - Former State Delegate, 1998-2006
*Jim Bowden - Ex-chairman of the First Congressional District Republican Committee
*Sherwood H. Bowditch - Executive Director, Virginia Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs; Ex-Insurance agent ( [http://www.bowditchforcongress.com Campaign Website] ) [ [http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-news_bowditch_1105nov05,0,7201106.story dailypress.com] ]
*David Caprara - Republican Party activist
*David Corderman - Retired FBI agent, consultant
*Chuck Davis - Widower of Representative Davis
*Catesby Jones - President of Peace Frogs, Inc. ( [http://www.catesbyforcongress.org Campaign Website] )
*Paul Jost - Businessman, Activist ( [http://www.jostforcongress.com Campaign Website] )
*Kevin O'Neill - Attorney
*Rob Quartel - Chairman and CEO of FreightDesk Technologies( [http://www.robquartelforcongress.com Campaign Website] ) [ [http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-news_quartel_1101nov01,0,3163142.story Topic Galleries - dailypress.com ] ]

Independent

Lucky Narain, a former Peace Corps volunteer, current Army Reservist, and grant writer from Yorktown [ [http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-news_newlucky.1114nov14,0,1171775.story?track=rss Topic Galleries - dailypress.com ] ] , filed the necessary petitions to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate. He was the nominee of the Indy Greens. 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. [ [http://fred2blue.wordpress.com/2007/12/10/deermeet-headlights/ Deer, Meet Headlights. « Fred2Blue ] ]

Results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Rob Wittman
votes = 42,772
percentage = 60.8
change = "n/a"Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Philip Forgit
votes = 26,282
percentage = 37.3
change = "n/a"Election box candidate with party link
party = Independent (politician)
candidate = Lucky Narain
votes = 1,253
percentage = 1.9
change = "n/a"Election box candidate
party =
candidate = Write-ins
votes = 75
percentage = 0.1
change = "n/a"Election box turnout
votes = 70,382
percentage = 15.6
change =

ee also

* List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

References