2010 Virginia's 5th congressional district election

2010 Virginia's 5th congressional district election

Candidate Robert Hurt Tom Perriello Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 119,560 110,562 Percentage 50.8% 47.0%

County and independent city results Hurt:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Perriello:      50–60%      60–70%

Representative before election Tom Perriello Democratic Elected Representative Robert Hurt Republican

Virginia's 5th congressional district election, 2010 was an election held to determine who would represent Virginia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives during the 112th Congress. The candidates were incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello, Republican state Senator Robert Hurt and Independent candidate Jeffrey Clark. Hurt narrowly defeated Perriello in the general election, 51% to 47%, with Clark receiving 2% of the vote.^[1]

Background

See also: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia

The seat being contested is located in Central and Southside Virginia. The district covers all or part of 18 counties and all of 4 independent cities, making it Virginia's largest district with an area of 8,922.03 square miles (23,108.0 km²) - 193 sq mi (500 km²). larger than New Jersey. The 5th district has been represented by Democratic representative Tom Perriello since the 2008 election result, when he defeated Republican incumbent Virgil Goode by 727 votes, one of the closest elections in the nation.

The 5th congressional district was traditionally a conservative Democratic district. Incumbent Virgil Goode left the party to become an independent in 2000, and then a Republican two years later. In his 2008 defeat of Goode, Perriello out-performed the Democratic national ticket in the district, which Republican presidential candidate John McCain carried by 51% to 48%. In the previous two presidential elections George Bush won by 56% and 55%.

Goode did not seek a rematch against Perriello,^[2] although he said several Conservative groups asked him to run on a pro-Tea Party ticket, due to their dissatisfaction with the Republicans.^[3] Assembly line worker Bradley Rees filed to run as a Republican, then stated he would run on the Virginia Conservative Party ticket,^[4] and then suspended his campaign in 2009.^[5]

Republican primary

Hurt won the Republican nomination a seven-way primary on June 8, 2010, with results:^[6][7]

• Robert Hurt, State Senator, 48.42%
• James K. "Jim" McKelvey, from Franklin County, 25.89%
• Michael G. McPadden, 9.78%
• Kenneth C. Boyd, Albemarle County Supervisor, 7.37%
• Feda Kidd Morton, educator and Republican activist, 4.59%
• Laurence Paul Verga, private real estate investor, 2.26%
• Ron L. Ferrin, businessman, 1.64%

Candidates

• Tom Perriello, Democrat, incumbent U.S. Representative
• Robert Hurt, Republican, state Senator
• Jeffrey Clark, Independent^[8]

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Tom Perriello (D)	Robert Hurt (R)	Jeffrey Clark (I)	Undecided
Survey USA[9][10]	October 28, 2010	45%	50%	4%	3%
Survey USA[9][10]	September 28, 2010	35%	58%	4%	3%
Benenson Strategy Group[11]	September 21, 2010	44%	46%	4%	5%
Global Strategy Group[12]	September 7, 2010	42%	44%	6%	7%
Survey USA[13]	September 2, 2010	35%	61%	2%	2%
American Action Forum[14]	August 12, 2010	43%	49%	-	8%
Survey USA[15]	July 20, 2010	35%	58%	4%	3%
Public Policy Polling[16]	February 5–10, 2010	44%	44%

General election results

General Election Results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Hurt	119,560	50.81
	Democratic	Tom Perriello (incumbent)	110,562	46.98
	Independent	Jeffrey Clark	4,992	2.12
Total votes			235,360	100

^[1]

References

1. "November 2, 2010 General and Special Elections Official Results". State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
2. K.A. Wagoner (July 27, 2009). "Goode won't seek GOP nod". Martinsville Bulletin. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013.
3. Damewood, Brian (January 18, 2010). "Virgil Goode: Candidate in 2010?". WSET-TV. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
4. Thompson, Dave (October 29, 2009). "Rees says he's not running as Republican in Fifth District". The News & Advance. Archived from the original on November 1, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
5. "Bradley Rees for Congress". Reesforcongress.com. June 13, 2009. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
6. Official Results Archived 2010-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, State Board of Elections.
7. Reed, Ray (October 16, 2009). "Campbell Republican joins race for Fifth District". The News & Advance. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009.
8. "Clark Officially Qualified for November Ballot". NBC29. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
9. "SurveyUSA Election Poll #17137". www.surveyusa.com.
10. "SurveyUSA poll has Hurt up 23 points". Danville Register & Bee. September 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved October 3, 2010.
11. "2nd Democratic poll shows tight race for Perriello". washingtonpost.com. September 21, 2010. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
12. "With new poll, Democrats make case that Perriello race is still competitive". washingtonpost.com. September 7, 2010. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved September 21, 2010.
13. "No Purchase for Perriello in VA-05, Another Democratic Incumbent Congressman in Trouble". surveyusa.com. September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 2, 2010.
14. "GOP poll gives Hurt 6-point edge over Perriello". Washingtonpost.com. August 17, 2010. Archived from the original on July 20, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
15. "News7 Survey USA poll gives Republican challenger a commanding lead in 5th District Congressional Race". wdbj7.com. July 20, 2010. Archived from the original on August 31, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
16. Giroux, Greg (February 11, 2010). "Va. Poll: Perriello Tied With Hurt, Goode - The Eye (CQ Politics)". Blogs.cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2010.

External links

• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets
• Race profile at The New York Times

Official campaign sites

• Feda for Congress
• Ferrin for Congress
• Hurt for Congress
• McKelvey for Congress
• McPadden for Congress Archived June 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
• Perriello for Congress incumbent
• Verga for Congress
• Video: Perriello supporter gets violent^{[permanent dead link‍]}