Last week, Bearing Drift reported that 5th District Republican Committee chairman Bill Stanley, fresh off his committee’s successful campaign to defeat incumbent Representative Tom Perriello, had announced his intention to run in the special election to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Representative-Elect Robert Hurt.
Since then, two additional Republicans have stepped forward: Danville City Councilman Fred Shanks and now Pittsylvania County Republican Committee Chair Brenda Bowman.
To date, no Democrats have filed to run for the 19th District seat and Gov. Bob McDonnell is yet to set a date for the special election.
UPDATE:
Sen. Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax County), majority leader of the Virginia Senate has announced that the Senate Democratic Caucus will not field a candidate in the special election in the 19th District:
“You’ve got to look and see where your best results can be,” Saslaw said. “If this were a vacant seat in Alexandria, you wouldn’t see a Republican.”
While this is a heavily Republican district, the Democrats’ decision is striking for two reasons: first, special elections are unpredictable, just ask Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). Second, after the electoral drubbing the GOP took in 2008, Republicans did not hesitate to field challengers in a number of races, including races for Alexandria’s city council, which resulted in victories for Frank Fannon and Republican-leaning independent Alicia Hughes. These and other Republican victories in the wake of the 2008 debacle helped the GOP rehabilitate its broken spirit, learn valuable lessons that would be used in future elections and make in-roads in communities previously thought too blue for a Republican victory. For Democrats to cede the 19th Senate district to Republicans without a challenge suggests just how disoriented they are after last Tuesday’s electoral rebuke.
