Freshman Democratic Reps. Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye — as well as longtime incumbent Rep. Rick Boucher — all lost re-election bids Tuesday, portending a seismic shift back to Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Perriello and Nye were widely considered to be among the most vulnerable House Democrats up for re-election Tuesday. But the defeat of Boucher, a 14-term congressman from southwest Virginia, by the state House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith represented a major coup for Virginia Republicans.
With 96 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Griffith leading Boucher 51 percent to 46 percent.
For Perriello, whose race was among the most closely watched in the country, defeat was less of a surprise. He had narrowly won the Republican-leaning seat in 2008 during a Democratic surge led by Obama and emerged as a vocal supporter of Obama’s agenda, which proved wildly unpopular in Perriello’s district.
Obama had personally campaigned for Perriello, appearing at a rally in Charlottesville days before the election.
“I’ve given it everything that I’ve got,” Perriello told supporters Tuesday night. “We knocked on more than 35,000 doors this weekend and people were cold, but we were warm in spirit.”
With virtually all precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt leading Perriello 51 percent to 47 percent.
“The real work starts on Nov. 3,” Hurt told supporters. “Now is our time to go to work.”
Nye, who, unlike Perriello, went to lengths to distance himself from Obama and congressional Democrats to avoid alienating the 2nd District’s 300,000 military personnel, veterans and their families, who make up about a quarter of the voters in the Norfolk-centered district. With 96 percent of precincts reporting, Rigell was ahead 53 percent to 43 percent.
Nye, a 36-year-old former Foreign Service Officer, touted his opposition to health care reform and cap and trade while advertising his support for extending the Bush-era tax cuts.
Rigell fought back by tying Nye to the unpopular House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whose sour ratings made her an easy target for Republican candidates hoping to take control of the House.
“Listen, I’m ready to go to work,” Rigell told supporters at his victory party. “Our great country is in serious and increasing risk. … Let’s put our country and our district back to work.”
Unlike the three freshman lawmakers, Boucher represented his southwestern district for nearly three decades and, until he faced Griffith this year, had never really had a serious challenger. His chief liability in Virginia’s coalfields was his support for Obama’s cap-and-trade environmental legislation, which the coal industry views as a threat.
Tuesday’s election tilted Virginia’s congressional delegation back to Republicans. Before the election, Democrats held six of the state’s 11 congressional seats. Republicans will now hold at least eight seats, with the race in the 11th District between Democratic incumbent Rep. Gerald Connolly and Republican challenger Keith Fimian too close to call late Tuesday. The state’s U.S. senators — Democrats Mark Warner and Jim Webb — were not up for re-election this year.
Examiner Staff Writer Freeman Klopott contributed to this report.
