Virginia congressional primary open-thread and live-blog

By J.R. | June 10, 2008
Filed Under Campaigns and Elections |

The biggies today are in the 8th, 10th and 11th where we’re watching the race between Republicans Amit Singh and Mark Ellmore, Democrats Judy Feder and Mike Turner, and Democrats Gerry Connolly and Leslie Byrne respectively. We’re hearing, so far, that turnout has been extremely light in the 8th and 11th. In the 8th, this may favor Amit Singh. In the 11th, Operation Chaos-Virginia, may be having an effect. Then again, so might the storms.

11:42 p.m. Didn’t take the Fimian campaign long. HAHAHAHAHA!

“All of the enthusiasm for change on the national and local level evaporated in the face of two tired re-tread candidates slugging it out for the Democrat nomination today,” said Travis Smith, spokesman for Fimian. “Voters in Fairfax and Prince William were clearly disenchanted with their Democrat choices.”

Totals accumulated by the state board of elections show that fewer than 5% of eligible voters cast ballots in the 11th District Congressional Primary in Fairfax County and even fewer voted in Prince William County.

“Voters in Fairfax and Prince William are clearly disenchanted about their prospects for the fall. I don’t think Democrats were at all excited about their choices to begin with, now they are stuck with Gerry Connolly,” said Travis Smith. “He is simply more of the same, a tired, old politician who represents the politics of the past. If you want change, he is not the answer.”

9:30 p.m. With nearly all the voting complete, we can get a better idea of voter turnout…and it stinks. In each district, despite competitive races, turnout will not break - combined between Democrats and Republicans - 6% With two precincts left to report in the 8th, Ellmore has a 662 vote lead. Republicans could muster only about 1.5% turnout, while Democrats could only get about 3%. In the 11th, a very competitive Democratic race has only 5.5%. Pathetic.

9:10 p.m. Ellmore continues to widen his margin of victory. With 24 precincts left to report in Fairfax, Ellmore has a 500 vote lead.

8:46 p.m. So it looks like it will be Gerry Connolly (D) v. Keith Fimian (R) in the 11th, Judy Feder (D) reprising her defeat against Rep. Frank Wolf (R) in the 10th, and Mark Ellmore (R) getting his shot to unseat Rep. Jim Moran (D) in the 8th. Jim Riley has some farewell music for Leslie Byrne and her “netroots” supporters.

8:36 p.m. Returns from Fairfax County are starting to come in and they favor Ellmore. If I had exit polls, I’d project Ellmore as the winner. But, I don’t, so it’s just an educated guess.

8:22 p.m. With 87 precincts already reporting, and Moran effectively unopposed in the 11th, the Democrats have a vote total of 8,400 vs. the Republicans, who have obviously had a very competitive race, with a turnout of only 3,500. Whoever wins for the GOP in the 11th faces almost insurmountable odds in November. Additionally, all of Alexandria and Arlington have reported, but only 7 of 71 precincts in Fairfax have reported. That may favor Ellmore.

8:17 p.m. No movement for Byrne in the 11th. Talk about our blogger friends on the left backing the wrong horse. Weren’t they supposed to be the ones who made candidates? At least that’s what they tell us. Regardless, Singh and Ellmore are separated by less than 80 votes. Now that’s a horse-race.

8:05 p.m. Feder has a reasonable lead of 600 votes with more than half the precincts in, but that is still closer than I thought.

7:57 p.m. Ellmore’s lead is less than 100 votes. 55% of the vote is in.

7:50 p.m. With about 50% of the vote in, Ellmore’s lead is now down to 110 votes. Just got off the phone with both candidates, and they’re on pins-and-needles. Connolly’s lead has grown to over 1700 votes with nearly 40% of the vote in…wow.

7:45 p.m. Ellmore has a 150 vote lead with about 20% of the precincts reporting.

7:43 p.m. Byrne is getting crushed by Connolly early on.

Garren Shipley is live-blogging the 10th. And “Too Conservative” has a great open-thread going as well.

What have you heard?

Results for the GOP

Results for the Dems

Comments

4 Responses to “Virginia congressional primary open-thread and live-blog”

J.R. on June 10th, 2008 7:40 pm

Ha! I just noticed on the GOP page that is says:

“View Results for Democrat June Primary” as opposed to “Democratic“.
Bearing Drift Open Thread on Cong. Primaries « Virginia Virtucon on June 10th, 2008 8:10 pm

[...] Open Thread on Cong. Primaries Posted on June 10, 2008 by Riley Bearing Drift is running an open thread on today’s congressional primaries in the 8th, 10th and 11th districts. Head on over and [...]
Henry Ryto on June 10th, 2008 9:25 pm

Wonder if Ben Tribbett will now vote Republican in November.
The Write Side of My Brain » What the heck are they gonna “Raise” now? on June 10th, 2008 9:30 pm

[...] Bearing Drift: Virginia congressional primary open-thread [...]