Connolly faces moderate Republican in N.Va.

After staving off back-to-back challenges from the same conservative opponent, Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly is in a more liberal Northern Virginia district, but also facing a more moderate — and therefore more threatening — Republican challenger.

Connolly’s challenger this fall, retired Green Beret Chris Perkins, supports abortion rights as long as taxpayer dollars aren’t involved and repeatedly refused to sign a pledge to never raise taxes. He is, in short, starkly different from Keith Fimian, the pro-life, pledge-signing conservative businessman whom Connolly beat in 2008 but only barely outdistanced in 2010.