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Follow us on TwitterGoode will not seek to reclaim Fifth District seat in 2010
File photo
In this 2008 file photo, Virgil Goode (right) speaks at a forum with Tom Perriello. Perriello beat Goode for the congressional Fifth District seat in November.
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Virgil Goode raised $154 for likely 2010 bid - July 15, 2009
Political speculation in the 5th District leaped ahead to 2010 Monday after former Rep. Virgil Goode announced he wouldn’t be a candidate for the Republican nomination.
“Everybody has been waiting for Virgil to decide what he wanted to do,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-6th District, who was holding his annual energy conference in Lynchburg.
“I think now that that decision has been made, there will be a lot of discussions among a lot of folks in the Fifth District about finding the best candidate who can win that seat,” Goodlatte said.
Freshman Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, holds the seat after upsetting Goode by 722 votes last fall in the closest congressional race in the nation.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has singled out Perriello in TV attack ads after he voted for the cap-and-trade energy bill that passed the House in late May.
“Let the maneuvering begin,” said political analyst Robert Holsworth of Richmond on his Virginia Tomorrow Web site.
Goode had filed a statement of candidacy form with the Federal Election Commission in March, although he said at the time he hadn’t made a decision about running.
His indecision kept many other potential candidates from stepping forward, although one did. Bradley Rees, of Bedford County, announced a month ago that he would seek the Republican nomination to oppose Perriello.
Rees, 31, is a Lynchburg factory worker and an advocate of the Fair Tax, which would establish a national sales tax to replace the income tax.
State Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, one of several prospects whose names have been mentioned in early speculation, said he was concentrating on this fall’s elections.
“My main focus now is to get Bob McDonnell elected governor” over Democrat Creigh Deeds, Hurt said. Hurt also is helping local House of Delegates candidates, including Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, in a race against Democrat Seward Anderson.
Other potential candidates discussed in political circles included Cordel Faulk of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, along with Kenneth Boyd, an Albemarle County supervisor. Both had said they might be interested in running.
Faulk specializes in communication and media research at the center run by Larry Sabato, a nationally recognized analyst.
Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, had been on the speculation list, but he said Monday he wouldn’t seek the 5th District nomination.
Rees’ campaign manager, Michael Ernette, said, “We welcome all comers.”
“As long as we wind up in June with a conservative candidate, this campaign will be happy. Of course we hope Brad is that conservative candidate,” Ernette said.
Perriello, through a spokeswoman, said, “I respect Mr. Goode’s years of service and wish him well in whatever he chooses to pursue next.”
Anyone who runs on the Republican side will go up against the sort of war chest an incumbent typically owns.
Perriello had $381,000 in his campaign account at the end of June, according to the Federal Election Commission. He spent about $2 million in his race against Goode last fall and benefited from another $1.1 million in support from political action groups outside the Perriello campaign.
The funds helped Perriello prevail even though voters gave Republican presidential candidate John McCain a majority of their votes in the 5th District. Statewide, Democrats carried the state in the presidential contest and two other congressional races.
The 2010 race will be different in two respects: It will have a smaller turnout than the presidential election, and House of Representative candidates will be at the top of the ballot as the premier contestants that year, instead of the down-ticket slots they held last November.
Reader Reactions
Maybe in his spare time he’ll do us all a favor and invest in speaking lessons to teach him proper diction and pronunciation. Then perhaps we’ll have a better chance at comprehending what the heck he’s saying. Oh wait… when he leaves office we won’t have to hear from him ever again. Never mind!
Good will not run again. Yippee!!!
Well, Virgil lost for some reason and the majority voted for the DEMOCRAT. It seems to be change you voted for but don’t believe in. Typical. He’ll win again too because he’s a good man and doing exactly what he said he would do. Grow up.
lablover said: “[Goode] left the Democrat party when it became a party of ultra left-wing radicals like Tom Periello who would say or do anything to get elected. “
That may be so, but historically, white conservatives left the Democratic party when Democrats accepted black people and civil rights into their ranks and platform. Nixon (with the help of George Wallace) welcomed angry southern whites into the GOP on the “law and order” platform.
Virgil has served the 5th district honorably and loyally. It is unfortunate that the people of the 5th district would be so uneducated to elect a man with no experience over a man such as Virgil.
An earlier poster made a comment about the backwardness in our community. Let me say this; We have been like this a long time…this “backwardness”. This is where I was born and raised and this is where I’ll be buried. I should hope that the likes of the left never take hold in this area. It will be a sad day. These roots run strong and deep with me and many more like me. If this area was so “backwards” why are people moving here in herds? It must be satisifying someone. And if you don’t like the way we are, you’re more than welcome to find somewhere else better suited for your ways of life. That is a freedom we have and hope to continue to have. Until then, our “backwardness” will continue to be a way of life and thought and your “backwardness” will still be just that…
WTP, you have quite the sense of humor! The late ‘80s, ‘90s, and ‘00s were indeed very prosperous years – for a small, wealthy segment of the population. The disparity between rich and poor consistently grew through those years. Conservatism reigned even during the Clinton years; he was no liberal himself and the Republican Gingrich Congress attempted to return us to the Dark Ages… a process which was very nearly brought to fruition during the Bush II years. It was Bush II’s flagrant abuse of power and disregard for most of our citizenry which was the beginning of the end for the Age of Reagan. At least Reagan had charm and was a pragmatist. Bush II was the ugly climax of Reaganism at its worse… and the nation went running back to the center to get away from the right-wing theocracy that he and his cronies attempted to put into place.
Greywolf,
What three dark decades are you referring too? Because the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s have been three of the most prosperous decades our nation has ever experienced. Minus the eight dark years of Clinton. Also, you are wrong, our nation began to shift left, then Obama showed us the ugly truths about the left. Now our nation is running back to the right. Perriello will lose in 2010 and Democrats will lose their majority of seats.
Less government intervention is the only thing that will save us from this mess.
By saying that the progressive and intellectual Periello is antithetical to the fabric of Southside, are you suggesting that those is this area are stupid obstructionists who cling to the failed policies of the past? Wow, lablover, I never knew you felt so strongly about the backwardness which is so prevalent in our community!
Virgil served his constituents with dignity and honor for years. He left the Democrat party when it became a party of ultra left-wing radicals like Tom Periello who would say or do anything to get elected. Since his election, Periello has yet to stop campaigning and spends every day trying to socialize the 5th District through more taxation and regulation. His is the polar opposite of what Southside is about, but much more popular with the elitist liberals of the Charlottesville area. It’s long past time for the Republicans to find a conservative to run for this offfice in the landslide that is about to come in 2010.
The old expression “discretion is the better part of valor” most likely applies here… Virgil has probably come to realize that the political tenor of the district and nation has begun to shift. The Age of Reagan, which plunged the nation into three dark decades of radical conservatism, has finally given way to more moderate politics. Right-wing ideologues like Goode will find it more and more difficult to get elected - Thank God!
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