Northern Virginia’s congressional incumbents are set to face their challengers in a series of debates in the coming months, part of increasingly fierce races for three House seats.
The meetings could prove contentious, if the increasingly virulent tone of the campaigns is any indication.
“I’m not going to respond to him, this guy is a goofball,” 11-District Rep. Tom Davis said Monday of his opponent, Democratic attorney Andrew Hurst. “He’s never done a thing.”
The reaction was elicited from the accusation by Democratic challengers that Davis and 10th-District Rep. Frank Wolf, both Republicans, caved in to pressure on the loss of a proposed Metrorail Tunnel under Tysons Corner. Earlier this month, Gov. Tim Kaine — fearing the loss of a hundreds of millions in federal funds — opted instead of build the rail over Tysons.
Wolf and Davis, like the governor, have said the decision — though far from optimal — saved the project from the possibility of losing a quarter of its funding.
Thevolleys are the latest in the races against the well-financed incumbents, and promise to repeat themselves at public debates leading up to the Nov. 7 election.
Hurst and Davis will square off today at the Fairfax County Government Center, the second of 10 planned debates between the two. Feder and Wolf will clash Oct. 17 at the Dulles Hyatt, sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
Hurst and Feder have repeatedly cast the incumbents as close Bush-administration allies, an attempt to link them to the President and his plummeting approval ratings.
Meanwhile, 8th-District Rep. Jim Moran’s challenger, Tom O’Donoghue, is accusing Moran of being unaccountable on spending and wrong on homeland security. He and the congressman will debate on Oct. 3, at the Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria, sponsored by the Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce.
