2007 Virginia's 1st congressional district special election
December 11, 2007
Virginia's 1st congressional district
 
Nominee Rob Wittman Philip Forgit
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 42,772 26,282
Percentage 60.77% 37.34%
County and independent city results
Forgit:      50–60%
Wittman:      50–60%      60-70%      70-80%      80–90%
U.S. Representative before election

Jo Ann Davis
Republican

 Elected U.S. Representative

Rob Wittman
Republican

After the death of Republican Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis on October 6, 2007, a special election was required to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the 110th United States Congress. Governor Tim Kaine announced that the election would occur on December 11, 2007. The Republican and Democratic candidates were selected by political conventions on November 10, 2007.[1] Republican state legislator Rob Wittman was elected, defeating Democratic nominee Philip Forgit and independent candidate Lucky Narain.[2]

Candidates

Democratic

Democrats nominated Iraq War veteran and former teacher Philip Forgit over retired United States Navy Captain Ted Hontz by a 106–91 convention vote.[3] The Democratic convention was held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not invest large amounts of money into the campaign,[4] opting instead to fund Robin Weirauch's campaign in a special congressional election in Ohio.[5]

Republican

After five ballots, Republicans chose State Delegate Rob Wittman as their nominee when Paul Jost withdrew before the sixth ballot could be announced.[6] The Republican convention was held at Caroline High School in Caroline County, Virginia. The Republican convention drew a wide variety of candidates, including former State Delegate Dick Black; former Republican Party official Jim Bowden; Sherwood Bowditch, the Director of the Virginia Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs; David Caprara, an activist; retired FBI agent David Corderman; Chuck Davis, the widower of late Congresswoman Davis; businessman Paul Jost, attorney Kevin O'Neill, and businessman Rob Quartel.

Independent

Lucky Narain, a former Peace Corps volunteer, Army Reservist, and grant writer from Yorktown,[7][8] filed the necessary petitions to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate. He criticized Wittman for supporting a transportation tax increase despite having signed an anti-tax pledge; Wittman claimed that he had not signed that particular pledge.[9]

General election results

Virginia's 1st congressional district special election, 2007[10]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Rob Wittman 42,772 60.77
Democratic Philip Forgit 26,282 37.34
Independent Lucky R. Narain 1,253 1.78
Write-ins 75 0.11
Total votes 70,382 100.00
Republican hold

See also

References

  1. ↑ ""Republicans Warn Against Overconfidence in Race to Succeed Davis" by Greg Giroux". cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2008. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  2. ↑ Wittman wins 1st Congressional District Election Archived 2007-12-12 at the Wayback Machine WVEC December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007
  3. ↑ Payne, Kimball (November 11, 2007). "DEMOCRATS PICK IRAQ WAR VET TO RUN FOR 1ST DISTRICT". Daily Press. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  4. ↑ Mack, Kristen (December 9, 2007). "3 Candidates Vie to Fill Davis's House Seat". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Parties Focus on Specials - Roll Call". rollcall.com. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ "The Shad Plank: Convention final. Wittman is in!". typepad.com. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  7. ↑ "PEOPLE". Daily Press. February 8, 2001. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  8. ↑ Payne, Kimball (November 29, 2007). "CANDIDATE TRUMPETS GOP VOW". Daily Press. Archived from the original on April 26, 2021. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Deer, Meet Headlights. « Fred2Blue". fred2blue.wordpress.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2007. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 10, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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