Republican Fariss wins 59th House of Delegates race

Republican Matt Fariss of Campbell County won a bitterly contested House of Delegates race Tuesday by a wide margin over Democrat Connie Brennan of Nelson County.

Linda Wall, an independent candidate from Appomattox, finished a distant third in the race for the 59^th House District seat.

Despite publicity about Fariss’ court record, his election couldn’t be considered a surprise because the district’s precincts have voted 75 percent Republican in the past.

In addition, Gov. Bob McDonnell soundly endorsed Fariss, and the National Rifle Association called voters last weekend to say Fariss had its top rating.

This is the first bid for office by Fariss, 43, who is a part owner of the Lynchburg Livestock Market. He also owns a Rustburg-area farm and several real estate ventures.

Fariss takes the House seat formerly held by Del. Watkins Abbitt, I-Appomattox, who retired after representing the district for 26 years.

Fariss didn’t show up for a Republican Party victory celebration near the GOP headquarters in Lynchburg Tuesday night, but his campaign manager phoned in a statement, which said:

“My family and I are deeply honored that the common sense of the people of the 59th District has prevailed again.

“I look forward to representing this district in Richmond with the same common-sense conservatism that has made this victory possible,” said the statement issued by campaign manager John Porter.

Brennan said she appreciated support she received during the campaign, and especially the 57-percent majority from her home county.

“I’m honored to have received the vote of confidence from my Nelson County neighbors,” she said.

Brennan said she considered any result to be a victory, because she will continue to serve on the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

“I win either way,” she said.

Campbell County wasn’t part of the district during Abbitt’s years. But redistricting in April moved 30,000 Campbell residents into the 59^th, making it even more Republican than it had been when Brennan lost a 2007 bid for Abbitt’s seat.

The campaign was highly controversial because it disclosed events from two of the candidates’ past.   

Brennan’s supporters tipped reporters about a protective order, issued against Fariss in 2002, which required him to stay away from a Lynchburg woman.

Fariss’ campaign relied heavily on mailed brochures, one of which, last weekend, included a baby-in-the-womb image to assert that Brennan supports abortion rights.

The campaign also flushed out an old lawsuit deposition in which Wall admitted to a lesbian relationship with a junior-high student when Wall was a gym teacher in the 1970s. 

Wall acknowledged the relationship in an interview, and now describes herself as an ex-gay person.

Fariss had a low-profile campaign. He never appeared at debates and forums where Brennan showed up, and spoke only sparingly with reporters except for an interview with the Altavista weekly newspaper.

Fariss’ campaign was run almost entirely by the Republican Party of Virginia, which financed about $200,000 worth of direct-mail placards  that compared Fariss’ stated positions on issues to Brennan’s record as a member of the Nelson County Board of Supervisors.

The state party also paid for several rounds of automated phone calls to voters, some of which sought to defend Fariss after reports that his court record included misdemeanor convictions for a concealed-weapon violation, a driving-under-the-influence conviction, and three hunting-related infractions.

Raw numbers from the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics, indicated the Fariss campaign received cash and services totaling almost $320,000, most of it from Republican Party fund-raising committees or incumbent delegates.

Brennan’s campaign receipts totaled about $170,000, according to VPAP data, with little of the funds coming from the state Democratic Party until after news reports emerged in late October about the protective order issued by a Lynchburg magistrate in 2002.

The 59^th  House District includes southeastern Nelson County, Appomattox and Buckingham counties, and parts of Albemarle and Campbell counties.

Staff writers Liz Barry and Katrina Koerting contributed.