Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, facing a tough re-election battle, has begun advertising on television.
His first TV ad spotlights Perriello's attempts to bring jobs to the 5th congressional district, which stretches from Charlottesville south the North Carolina line.
Meantime, the National Republican Congressional Committee has added Perriello's Republican opponent, state Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Pittsylvania, to the top level of its potentially winning candidates.
The NRCC gave Hurt "Young Gun" status because of "his proven ability to build a winning campaign and achieve substantial fundraising goals."
In the "Young Gun" program the NRCC aids promising challengers with fundraising and strategy. The NRCC also has added to the list Keith Fimian, who is in a re-match with Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th.
That means four of the NRCC's 39 "Young Guns" are in Virginia. Two previously named to the list were E. Scott Rigell, who is challenging Rep. Glenn Nye, D-2nd, and H. Morgan Griffith of Salem, who is challenging Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th.
Hurt won the GOP nomination handily over six GOP opponents.
A spokeswoman for Perriello said the ads began late last week in TV markets in the Charlottesville and Roanoke areas. She described the ad buy as "substantial."
In the 60-second ad, Perriello shows himself getting dirty while working hard to boost farm and industrial jobs in the Southside district.
"I guarantee no one will work harder to bring jobs to Virginia," he concludes.
Serving his first term in Congress, Perriello is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats. In 2008 he won by just 727 votes when Barack Obama was bringing thousands of new Democratic voters to the polls.
An independent, Jeffrey Clark, also is running and trying to position himself to the right of Hurt.
The election is Nov. 2.
Whitley is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement