Republican Tom Garrett wins 22nd District Senate seat

Republican Tom Garrett defeated Bert Dodson of Lynchburg Tuesday to win the 22^nd District state Senate seat, helping Virginia Republicans toward a clearer path for Gov. Bob McDonnell’s agenda the next two years.

However, it was not clear at presstime whether Republicans had captured enough seats in other races around Virginia to take control of the state Senate.

At midnight, the count was 19 seats for Republicans and 19 seats for Democrats, with two seats undecided and one race close enough for a recount.

But with Garrett’s win, Republicans will represent every Lynchburg-area district in the General Assembly, in both the Senate and House of Delegates.

Dodson, in a concession speech, thanked his campaign’s volunteers and contributors and said, “I think we ran a very good campaign. I have no regrets.”

 “The bottom line is that there are some headwinds at the national level, and that’s what participated in our loss,” Dodson said, referring to the nation’s economy, President Barack Obama’s low ratings in Virginia, and Garrett’s advertising that connected Dodson to them.

“Sometimes people vote national issues,” Dodson said.

The former Lynchburg city councilman said this was his first election defeat, and although he was both disappointed and heartbroken,  “The sun comes up tomorrow.”

Then, quietly, he added, “I’m out of politics.”

Garrett said the key to victory was, “We worked awfully hard. We had a bunch of people who believed in us.”

Among the believers were Gov. Bob McDonnell and other Republican leaders in Richmond who supported Garrett with their endorsements, cash and campaign apparatus.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli endorsed Garrett even before he defeated four other contenders in a Republican primary election in August.

Once Garrett captured the nomination, McDonnell and other state-level Republican leaders backed him fully, including the party’s phone banks and direct-mail operations.

Liberty University’s College Republicans club leaders said they made nearly 50,000 phone calls for Garrett.

Spending in the race had topped $1.3 million, according to raw numbers posted by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of  money in state politics.

 “Certainly the national climate didn’t hurt us,” Garrett said. “But I give credit to the men and women who talked to their neighbors to send our message of common sense fiscal conservatism.

“I don’t think we do it without the people here at home,” said Garrett, who is commonwealth’s attorney of Louisa County. 

Garrett said his first priority as a new senator, after “listening to everybody and trying to represent the entire district,” will be a review of state spending.

 “I’d really like to see us take a bottom-up, long look at all the agencies in the commonwealth,” Garrett said, referring to $300 million of unassigned money that was found in an audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Garrett said he didn’t have a particular agency in mind. “We need to look at all of them. There’s no hit list here,” Garrett said.

The 58 percent majority that Garrett enjoyed with three precincts still unreported Tuesday night was close to the newly created 22^nd District’s voting history.  Its precincts have voted about 60 percent Republican in recent elections.