Lynchburg-area Republicans celebrated a GOP sweep of the region's General Assembly elections Tuesday night during a party in the Candlers Station shopping mall.
Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, told the crowd that Matt Fariss' win in the 59th District House of Delegates race against Democrat Connie Brennan and independent Linda Wall was exciting.
"That was a very tough race…" Byron told the audience.
"We watched it very closely, as did the media. But that just goes to show that sometimes the media doesn't matter, does it?"
A few chuckles greeted the comment.
Fariss won about 53 percent of the vote in a district that has voted heavily Republican in the past.
During an interview later, Byron said Fariss "is pro-business, pro-family -- just the type of person that we need in the General Assembly.
"Matt is the one that brings the most experience and ability to bring jobs and to help the economy and work with Gov. [Bob] McDonnell. So we're real excited. I couldn't be happier about the results," Byron said.
Byron said Garrett's win over Democrat Bert Dodson of Lynchburg in the 22nd District Senate race means "we're all just winners in the Central Virginia region tonight.
"We have a great team here, representing us in Richmond" between Tom Garrett, Sen. Steve Newman, Matt Fariss now, myself, Del. Scott Garrett (R-Lynchburg) and Del. Lacey Putney, Byron said.
"We all work together as a team, and the team just got stronger," Byron said.
Tom Garrett, speaking to the Lynchburg Republican victory party through a live internet feed, said:
"We didn't do this alone. We did this with a lot of people's help and I'm eminently grateful," he told the cheering crowd, which included several members of the Liberty University College Republicans. The club made thousands of phone calls urging voters to turn out for Garrett on Tuesday.
Garrett told the Lynchburg party that he will make it a mission to be "frugal with taxpayer dollars."
Newman said in an interview that Garrett "is going to be a remarkable partner for Central Virginia and Richmond. Tom is an accomplished attorney, Commonwealth's attorney, and he worked in the office of the attorney general.
"I anticipate that he will be of great assistance to us on the courts committee. And I'd love to see him finally get onto the transportation committee as well… He has great acumen for that," Newman said.
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