Lynchburg's Peake seeks GOP nod in Va. Senate race

The chairman of the Lynchburg Republican Party announced today he will seek the GOP nomination for state Senate in the newly created 22^nd district.

Attorney Mark Peake entered the race for state Senate Monday in the newly created 22^nd District, which extends from northern Lynchburg to Goochland County.

Peake became the fourth candidate to announce for the district’s Republican nomination, which will likely be decided in a primary election on Aug. 23, party officials said.

“I stand for limited government, fiscal responsibility, lower spending and lower taxes,” Peake said during an announcement crowded with supporters in his law firm’s office.

Peake has been chairman of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee for six years and was appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which oversees the state’s $4.4 billion program for roads, rails and ports. He also is a member of the party’s state central committee.

This is his first bid for public office.

“My commitment to Republican politics is strong and cannot be questioned,” Peake said.

He added, “Limited government doesn’t mean no government,” and listed several core services he would protect.

Public safety was first on his list, he said, and government should provide resources for law enforcement and other first responders.

“We have to work hard to prioritize how we spend those resources. That’s where all governments have let people down in the past,” Peake said.

Transportation and public education also are top issues, Peake said.

Peake said his five children, who were present, attend public schools.

“We will fight to keep our schools working well,” Peake said, by making sure teachers are competent and by holding teachers, parents and students accountable for educational quality.

“Unlike what Democrats say, if there are problems in schools, just spending money is not the answer,” Peake said.

Transportation priorities include continuing to fund the Amtrak train from Lynchburg to Washington, D.C. and getting a U.S. 29 bypass built around Charlottesville, Peake said.

He vowed to work with Sen. Steve Newman, whose 23^rd District includes the other half of Lynchburg, to seek the bypass. “That is one of the key issues for this area and I will fight hard to make sure that happens,” Peake said.

He plans to campaign by knocking on a lot of doors, but also by mailing out campaign brochures, advertising on radio, “and TV, I would expect, toward the end of the primary,” Peake said.  His next step will be raising funds, he said.

Previously, three other candidates announced for the 22^nd District, which was created in the General Assembly’s once-a-decade redistricting process on April 28.

Those candidates are: Bryan Rhode of Goochland County, Brian Bates of Buckingham County, and Tom Garrett of Louisa County.

Nearly half of the district’s 196,000 people live in Lynchburg or the adjoining counties of Amherst and Appomattox.

Wendell Walker, a Republican leader in the Lynchburg area, said the State Board of Elections gave the go-ahead last week for local Republican units in the district to meet and decide how to select a nominee.

Walker and other Republican leaders have said they expect the leaders to hold a primary election instead of a mass meeting.

No Democratic Party candidates have announced for the 22^nd District, which leans Republican. Its nine localities gave more than 60 percent of their votes to McDonnell in the 2009 election.