Warner takes Senate seat, Wolf, Wittman return to House

Local
By Tara Donaldson
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 2008

By Tara Slate Donaldson

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

It came as no surprise to anyone following the polls: Former Gov. Mark Warner (D) trounced former Gov. Jim Gilmore (R) in the race for Senate.

Warner's landslide victory means Virginia will now be represented by two freshman Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Jim Webb won his post only two years ago, and the newly elected Warner will take the place of retiring Republican Sen. John Warner (no relation).

"By a record margin, Virginians said they want their next senator focused on results not rhetoric," Warner said, as he declared victory shortly after 9 p.m. "The challenges we face are more about the future than the past, and as long as we face that future and avoid political divisions, there is nothing we can't accomplish."

"A record margin" was hardly an understatement.

With 80 percent of precincts in just before 10 p.m., Warner held 63 percent of the vote, according to unofficial numbers from the State Board of Elections.

In Fauquier, the race was much closer. Warner won about 55 percent of the vote, Gilmore about 44 percent.

That represents a shift in local voters from Warner's last run for statewide office.

During his successful run for governor in 2001, Warner lost Fauquier County to Republican Mark Earley by a 15-percent margin.

But that was then, and this is now.

Warner had been up by as many as 30 points statewide throughout the campaign. He also had plenty of money for advertising, while Gilmore has been financially strapped.

Several hours before the polls closed on Tuesday, Gilmore spokesperson Ana Gamonal said the Republican candidate had spent the day shaking hands at precincts throughout Central Virginia.

"Turnout is extremely high but everything seems to be going very smoothly," she said.

However, she wouldn't speculate on the outcome of the Senate election and said the Gilmore campaign hadn't been doing any exit polling.

In an election year in which nothing has gone right for Republicans, Gilmore faced an uphill battle anyway.

Seriously underfunded and abandoned by the national Republican Party, which saw Warner as a shoo-in, Gilmore was also battling against the long memories of voters and state leaders.

His tenure as governor was marked by strife within his own party. While campaigning for governor in 1997, Gilmore pledged to phase out the car tax. It was an extremely popular position, and he rode it into office.

But the proposal turned out to be far more expensive than anticipated, and when the economy took a nosedive in 2001, moderate Republican legislators joined Democrats in trying to postpone the phase-out. After an epic battle between Republicans in the General Assembly, Gilmore prevailed and continued to phase out the tax.

But it came at a cost. Other programs were cut to fund the plan, and the Republican party was badly splintered by the infighting, which paved the way for Warner's gubernatorial victory in 2001.

Ancient history maybe, but this year's Senate campaign focused strongly on the records of the two former governors. And Warner won that PR fight easily.

A telecom multimillionaire, Warner made friends on both sides of the aisle during his tenure as governor and gained support — and financial backing— from business leaders and moderate Republicans.

That support was in evidence on Tuesday as voters flocked to the polls.

Frank Wolf returns to the House for his 15th term representing the 10th District. He easily beat Democrat Judy Feder, winning all eight precincts by wide margins.

This was the second go around for Wolf and Feder. Two years ago, Wolf, in one of his closest competitions since his first victory in 1980, bested Feder by 16 percentage points. This year, with 95 percent of the votes counted as of 11:30 p.m., Wolf tallied about 60 percent of the votes and beat Feder by 23 percentage points. Independent Neeraj Nigam, of Sterling, garnered two percent of the votes.

"I pledge to be the same type of congressman in the next two years as I have been in the past," Wolf said.

Citing soaring government debt and a bitter divisiveness between political parties, Wolf said he was "more concerned about our country" than any other time while in office.

With his wife Carolyn by his side, Wolf promised to reach across the aisle in the House to work with Democrats to control spending in Washington.

"We can't think in terms of red and blue," he said. "We need to think in terms of red, white and blue."

Wolf's victory was all encompassing in the 10th District, which stretches from McLean to Winchester. In Loudoun, his margin of victory was 22 percentage points. In Fairfax County, it was 15 points, while in Fauquier County, it was a resounding 40 point win.

Feder's best showing was in Prince William County, where she collected 42 percent of the votes and lost to Wolf by 13 points.

Rob Wittman easily defeated Democrat Bill Day and Libertarian Nathan Larson, both of whom call Fauquier home, to earn his first full-fledged term representing the 1st District in the House of Representatives. Wittman won a special election last fall to serve out the term of the late Jo Ann Davis.

Wittman, who hails from Westmoreland County won all 10 Fauquier precincts in the 1st District and tallied some 9,200 votes to Day's 5,800.

— Staff writers Dan Roem, Bill Walsh, Jason Jacks and Kali Schumitz also contributed to this report.

Del.icio.us

You must be logged in to post a comment.