House Leadership Targeting Schoeneman and Barsa in Northern Virginia
By Norman Leahy | Monday, September 26th, 2011 | Northern Virginia, Politics, VirginiaWhile the GOP’s push to retake the state Senate has garnered more attention, House Republicans aren’t letting the election slide by without a concerted effort to increase their majority. They’ve made it a priority to support as many challengers in as many races as possible this cycle — including in Northern Virginia.
A sign of that commitment came when House leadership confirmed rumors that they’ll be putting $75,000 into two of the most promising races in Northern Virginia. Bearing Drift’s own Brian Schoeneman, running against David Bulova in the 37th District in Fairfax County and John Barsa, running against freshman Scott Surovell in the 44th District, will both be getting a financial boost from the House GOP.
This means that the House leadership’s polling shows these races are winnable and that Bulova and Surovell are vulnerable (which helps explain why the Bulova campaign has started slinging mud). It also means that the candidates in these two races have been working hard, knocking doors and getting their message to the voters.
I spoke to Schoeneman yesterday, and he said that with the help of the caucus, his campaign is close to clearing over $100,000 in contributions in September. He still trails Bulova in terms of fundraising, but not by much. And Schoeneman has the benefit of district that was heavily redrawn and where his opponent’s base of support has not been expanding. Throw in the fact that none of the Democrat’s usual smears are sticking against him, and we’ve got a great chance of winning this seat.
Barsa has the benefit of running against a freshman and having been under the radar. Surovell didn’t expect an opponent and has had to kick his campaign into high gear since John got into the race. While the district isn’t as good demographically as Schoeneman’s, Barsa is a solid candidate who can win this seat.
This is a great environment for Republicans and I’m looking forward to seeing Brian and John head down to Richmond in November.
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About the author
Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Post contributor.
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One Response to "House Leadership Targeting Schoeneman and Barsa in Northern Virginia"
As they say in Missouri: GO TIGERS!
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