As Republicans were picking up 63 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, voters in the Commonwealth’s 5th and 9th Congressional Districts elected two of the General Assembly’s most familiar faces to seats in the 112th Congress. Richmond’s loss, however, is Washington’s gain. Nonetheless, the election of state Senator Robert Hurt and the Majority Leader of Virginia House of Delegates, H. Morgan Griffith, will leave a great void in the General Assembly during a critical time: despite an increase in state revenues, Gov. Bob McDonnell recently announced that the revenue increases are too small to forestall additional budget cuts, the Commonwealth’s highways remain in need of repair, the governor’s ABC privatization plan continues to languish and the decennial ritual of redistricting awaits. To further up the ante, 2011 is election year in Virginia—and all 140 seats in the General Assembly will be up for grabs this November, so every vote cast during this legislative session has the potential to become an election issue.
After the State Board of Elections certified the votes of the November 2nd elections, Representatives-Elect Hurt and Griffith tendered their resignations for their respective seats in the state Senate and House of Delegates and Gov. McDonnell scheduled the special elections to fill their seats for January 11, 2011—the day before the General Assembly session commences. Despite the abbreviated (and thus accelerated) campaign and volunteer-fatigue from the recent midterms, the GOP has managed to field strong candidates in both districts who are fully prepared to advance “bold colors” in what will become the opening salvos of the 2011 election season.
19th Senate District
After a contentious, seven-way Republican primary in the 5th Congressional District last spring, no one would have been surprised if the ultimate winner had difficulty reunifying a divided base. Thanks in no small part to the work of 5th District Republican Committee chairman Bill Stanley, Robert Hurt had little work to do rallying his base for the general election. Stanley’s familiarity with both the Tea Party and the Republican establishment made him the odds-on favorite to win the GOP nomination in a six-way district canvass last month. Since then, Stanley has waged an aggressive campaign to fill the remainder of Representative-Elect Hurt’s term in the Virginia Senate.
On January 11, Bill Stanley will face Democrat Hank Davis, who has served on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors for over a decade. Although Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax County) was originally willing to forfeit the conservative 19th Senate District, Davis, who represents the heavily Republican Blairs-Chatham District as an Independent, has a won the support of the Democratic Party of Virginia for what they believe is his ability to pull off an upset. Hank Davis describes himself as a “pro-life, pro-business, pro-gun” Democrat, but in an interview with Bearing Drift, Bill Stanley warns the district’s conservative voters not to be misled by Davis’ election-year conservatism: “Hank Davis fails to mention that he is also ‘Pro-Tom Perriello,’ and worked hard to try to defeat Robert Hurt. By actively supporting Tom Perriello, he stood for the liberal agenda of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid. While a member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, he voted to increase taxes, which is certainly not an action that should be ever be taken by a self-described conservative.”
Unlike many special elections, this one is developing into a race about ideas, not just a name-recognition contest. Two of the most hotly contested issues involve the Repeal Amendment, which Bill Stanley supports and Hank Davis opposes and uranium mining in Pittsylvania County. Yet the defining issue in this race remains jobs and the region’s near-stagnant economy. Stanley concedes that politicians cannot create private-sector jobs, but they can create a positive business climate and help localities diversify their economies. “While our country has been recently suffering from the effects of the recession, Southside has endured a much longer economic decline. [We] can create the environment favorable to business (with lower taxes and less government regulations) that will bring jobs back to Southside. While we have lost the manufacturing jobs that I believe won’t come back, we have the opportunity to bring new technology businesses to the area.”
Bill Stanley’s forward-thinking, unapologetically conservative campaign is attracting support despite a truncated campaign that has been interrupted by the holiday season and a winter storm. His campaign recently opened a headquarters in Danville and even though the plan is to engage volunteers in early January, Stanley admits that the district’s Republicans have been prepared for an extended campaign season after Robert Hurt’s victory on November 2nd. “Already we have people signing up to volunteer, make phone calls, knock on doors, and cover all of the polls throughout the district on Election Day.” Two additional factors that might be driving grassroots interest in this race: first, in order to be well-positioned to pick-up the state Senate in November’s general election, Republicans must hold the seats the party already controls—especially reliably Republican seats like the 19th District. Second, with reapportionment forthcoming, rumors abound that the 19th District could be dissolved to allow for the creation of new districts in more populous regions of the Commonwealth. Bill Stanley has pledged to fight this if elected: “When we look at the potential redistricting map, we are one of the few districts in the southern part of the state that has remained relatively stable in population. The 19th Senate District encompasses all that is great about the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it has the perfect mix of rural, urban and suburban areas that makes the 19th District reflective of true conservative Virginia values. Virginians need the 19th District to stay as it is so its Senator remains a strong conservative voice in Richmond that will fight to preserve our way of life here, in what I strongly believe is the best state in the union.” Everything in Bill Stanley’s political history suggests that he can be that strong conservative voice for Southside Virginia.
8th House District
Encompassing the City of Salem and parts of Roanoke County, the 8th House District has become synonymous with Morgan Griffith, who, after all, represented the district since 1994. There is, however, another prominent individual in Salem’s conservative circles whose reputation makes him a natural successor to Griffith: Greg Habeeb. Habeeb, an attorney with the Roanoke firm of Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore, has a long history of political activism. Before becoming a conservative blogger and chairman of the Salem Republican Committee, Habeeb, as a student at Christiansburg High School, was elected Youth Governor of Virginia in the Model General Assembly. At the time, the Roanoke Times & World News prophesied that one day Virginians might see “Elect Habeeb” bumper stickers. With Representative-Elect Griffith’s resignation, that day has arrived.
Greg Habeeb, who describes himself first and foremost as a husband and father, says that he is running for the 8th House District seat not simply to advance the Republican Party of Virginia’s platform, but instead to advance the cause of conservatism, fight for lower taxes and stimulate private-sector job creation. These principles, Habeeb said during a phone interview with Bearing Drift, are widely held beyond the Republican base: “Our principles—when properly enunciated—cross way more than our party lines.” To that end, Habeeb wants to be a leader in promoting conservatism in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.
Before Greg Habeeb can become a conservative leader in the House of Delegates, he must get past businesswoman Ginger Mumpower. Mumpower, the proprietor of the now-defunct Roanoke Valley jewelry chain “Ginger’s Jewelers” and the former mayor of Radford, ran unopposed for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the seat. She is a familiar face throughout the district, having starred in a number of commercials for her business. Perhaps more interesting, Ginger Mumpower and Greg Habeeb attend the same Roanoke County church, are Facebook friends and even occasionally cross paths in Salem’s civic circles. Has running against a friend affected the way Habeeb is running his campaign? Not at all, Habeeb asserted. “We were always going to run a positive campaign” regardless of who the Democrats nominated. “As a father of young children, I would like to think that there are lines we don’t cross,” Greg Habeeb said. To its credit, the Habeeb campaign has stayed on-message and limited any supposed “negativity” to issue contrasts with Ms. Mumpower.
Morgan Griffith’s departure from the House of Delegates leaves large shoes to fill, yet Greg Habeeb states that if he is elected, he will “not even try to fill” Griffith’s shoes because no one can accomplish such a daunting feat. Instead, Habeeb hopes he can find his own niche in the House and help the Roanoke Valley maintain some influence within the House Republican Caucus. Both without the pressures of a leadership role and with his familiarity with many of the Commonwealth’s political leaders, a Delegate Habeeb would be able to “focus like a laser beam” on issues important to the Roanoke Valley and articulate the region’s needs. Additionally, Habeeb believes that he can bring new blood, new ideas and new skills to the 8th District seat. Habeeb’s message appears to be resonating with the district’s voters: the Habeeb campaign has already given out more than 1,000 yard signs and 500 bumper stickers. Campaign events are well attended, despite their proximity to Christmas.
Conclusion
When Gov. Ronald Reagan addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 1, 1975, he asked attendees: “Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?” More than three decades later, the GOP, which took a hard fall in the waning years of the George W. Bush administration, stands on the cusp of a political renaissance because principled conservative leaders like Bill Stanley and Greg Habeeb have been unafraid to wave banners of bold-color conservatism for all to see—a conservatism that provides solutions to America’s problems. Grassroots conservatives have responded by joining Stanley, Habeeb and hundreds of others nationwide and, in the process, revitalized the GOP. If voters in the 19th Senate and 8th House Districts send these unapologetic conservative leaders to Richmond on January 11th, they will help Gov. McDonnell, Lt. Gov. Bolling, Attorney General Cuccinelli and the Republican leadership in the General Assembly unfurl a bold, conservative agenda that will be visible across the Commonwealth, across our nation and across the Potomac.
