2005 Virginia Attorney General election
November 8, 2005
 
Nominee Bob McDonnell Creigh Deeds
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 970,981 970,621
Percentage 49.96% 49.94%
County and independent city results
McDonnell:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Deeds:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
     80–90%
Attorney General before election

Judith Jagdmann
Republican

 Elected Attorney General

Bob McDonnell
Republican

The Virginia Attorney General election of 2005 took place on November 8, 2005, to elect the Attorney General of Virginia. Jerry Kilgore, who had been elected attorney general in 2001, resigned in February 2005 to run for Governor, as is the tradition in Virginia. He was replaced by Judith Jagdmann, the Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Litigation Division, who did not run in the election.

The Republican primary was won by State Delegate Bob McDonnell, who defeated attorney Steve Baril. State Senator Creigh Deeds was unopposed in the Democratic primary. McDonnell won the race by 360 votes, which was so close it required a recount.[1] He was sworn in as Attorney General alongside Governor Tim Kaine and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling on January 14, 2006.

McDonnell and Deeds went on to rematch in the 2009 Virginia gubernatorial election, which McDonnell won by a wide margin.

Republican primary

The primary campaign was a contentious one.[2] Baril accused McDonnell of bypassing campaign finance laws by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from clients he represented in cases in front of state agencies in his dual role as a "lawyer-legislator".[3] McDonnell replied that the allegations were "baseless". Baril promised to be "the people's lawyer" and was endorsed by Eric Cantor. McDonnell, carrying Jim Gilmore's endorsement, cast himself as an experienced reformer.[4]

Candidates

Declared

Results

Virginia Attorney General Republican primary, 2005[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 110,125 65.63%
Republican Steve Baril 57,679 34.37%
Majority 52,446 47.62%
Turnout 167,804

Democratic primary

Roanoke State Senator John S. Edwards was to challenge Deeds in a primary fight for the Attorney General Nomination for the Democratic Party of Virginia. Edwards, who had won 30% of the vote in the primary in 2001, was considered a viable candidate, but dropped out due to his tough liberal stances on Gay Rights.[6] After Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds was the only candidate left in the Democratic primary. Running unopposed, Deeds won 100% of the primary vote on June 14, 2005.[7]

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

General election

Campaign

Deeds at a rally in Charlottesville

After securing the nomination due to Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds began positioning himself as a centrist Democrat such as Mark Warner. On June 14, Deeds found out his opponent in the general election would be Bob McDonnell after McDonnell had won the Republican primary.[8] McDonnell, who also positioned himself as a moderate campaigned against Deeds. Throughout early polling, Deeds and McDonnell started the race off tied.

The first poll of the race, conducted by Mason-Dixon showed Deeds at 34% and McDonnell barely ahead with 35% which was inside the margin of error. By the second poll which was also conducted by Mason Dixon, Deeds was behind 33%-36%. Deeds continued to campaign and was endorsed by NARAL in August 2005.[9]

Deeds based his campaign headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was in his native Senate district. Deeds continued to lag McDonnell in the polls until the endorsement of the NRA. In late September 2005, the NRA unexpectedly endorsed Deeds, the Democrat, over McDonnell.[10] With the new ability to claim himself as a "centrist" Democrat, Deeds had gained much needed campaign momentum.

By late October, Deeds was only 4%-5% behind McDonnell. Heading into early November, Deeds was inside the margin of error with McDonnell, behind 40%-43%. On Election day, it appeared obvious that the race was heading into a recount. Deeds trailed McDonnell by approximately 320 votes.

Polling

Source [11] Date Deeds (D) McDonnell (R)
Mason Dixon November 1–2, 2005 40% 43%
Roanoke College October 23–30, 2005 34% 39%
Rasmussen Reports October 26, 2005 39% 43%
Mason Dixon October 18–20, 2005 34% 42%
Mason Dixon September 13–15, 2005 33% 36%
Mason Dixon July 19–21, 2005 34% 35%

For the majority of the campaign, Deeds lagged McDonnell from anywhere between 3%-8%. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Deeds picked up support due in part because of the NRA's endorsement of him.[12] In the final poll taken by Mason Dixon and released on November 3, Deeds was only 3% behind McDonnell.

Fundraising

Deeds lagged considerably in the fundraising race. On Election Day, according to Our Campaigns, the candidates had the following amount of Cash on hand:[11]

  • McDonnell - $3,500,000
  • Deeds - $1,700,000

Initial results

Virginia Attorney General General election, 2005[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 970,886 49.96%
Democratic Creigh Deeds 970,563 49.95%

Recount

In late November, the Board of Elections certified Bob McDonnell as the winner by 323 votes. However, Deeds announced he would petition the courts for a recount on November 29.[14] The recount was set to last until mid-December.

The recount started later than expected on December 20, 2005, when both campaigns were allowed to comb through ballots to make any challenges.[15] Despite the fact that it was a recount, very few ballots were actually recounted as opposed to both campaigns making challenges to hand-fulls of ballot instead.

On December 22, 2005, however, the Board of Elections confirmed McDonnell the winner of the recount by a 360-vote margin.[16] Despite the fact that the race was one of the closest in history, the recount had actually gained McDonnell exactly 37 votes boosting his margin from 323 votes to exactly a 360-vote lead over Deeds. Deeds called McDonnell at 7:15 that night to congratulate him on the victory.[17]

Final results

After the recount, the final certified tally was as follows:[16]

Virginia Attorney General election, 2005[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 970,981 49.96%
Democratic Creigh Deeds 970,621 49.94%
Write-ins 1,801 0.09%
Majority 360 0.02%
Turnout 1,943,403
Republican hold

References

  1. ↑ The Virginia News Letter (February 2006). "Election Recounts in Virginia" (PDF). Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  2. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/NewsDetail.html?NewsID=22442 Baril-McDonnell race getting personal [GOP VA Attorney General]
  3. ↑ http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/052005/05252005/102144 Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Baril: McDonnell bypassing campaign funding rules
  4. ↑ http://ww2.roanoke.com//news/roanoke/24928.html Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine GOP candidates for attorney general trade barbs as primary nears
  5. ↑ Race details at ourcampaigns.com
  6. ↑ The Roanoke Times (March 4, 2005). "Roanoke senator drops statewide nomination". Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  7. ↑ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General - D Primary". Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  8. ↑ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General Race - R Primary". Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  9. ↑ NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia (August 18, 2005). "Naral Pro-choice Virginia Announces Candidate Endorsements for 2005". Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  10. ↑ Washington Post (September 30, 2009). "NRA Backs Dem for Va. Attorney General Race". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  11. 1 2 Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General". Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  12. ↑ Jenkins, Chris (September 30, 2005). "NRA Backs Democrat For Va. Attorney General". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010. Virginia Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, who is running for attorney general, received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association
  13. 1 2 Virginia Board of Elections. "General Election - November 8, 2005". Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  14. ↑ The New York Times (November 29, 2005). "Recount Likely in Attorney General Race". Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  15. ↑ Morello, Carol (December 21, 2005). "Recount Starts, but Without Va. Ballots". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  16. 1 2 The Los Angeles Times (December 22, 2005). "Virginia Recount Verifies Win". Retrieved April 8, 2005.
  17. ↑ The Washington Post (December 22, 2005). "McDonnell Clinches Attorney General Race". Retrieved April 5, 2009.
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