District: 2nd (Virginia Beach, Norfolk)
First elected: 2008 (def. Rep. Thelma Drake)
Margin of victory in last election: 13,371 votes
Votes on key issues
Health care overhaul: No
Cap and trade: No
Virginia’s Second is a sliver of a district guarding the mouth of the Chesapeake, encompassing large black and military populations in Virginia Beach and parts of Norfolk. Both constituencies helped Glenn Nye in his upset 2008 victory over Rep. Thelma Drake; black voters turned out for Barack Obama, while Nye’s own military resume helped blunt the armed forces’ conservative voting tendencies.
An underdog in his first election, Nye isn’t expected to have much of an easier time running on his own this year. His re-election strategy is based on setting a middle course and a conspicuous distance from President Obama — at the risk of alienating supporters of a president who helped put him in office.
Shortly after taking office, Nye aligned himself with the “Blue Dog” coalition of moderate fiscal hawks who have given headaches to the Democratic leadership. And unlike Rep. Tom Perriello, he refused to back his party’s cap-and-trade and health care legislation.
“It’s a challenge,” said Jesse Richman, a professor of political science at Norfolk’s Old Dominion University. “He has to balance on the one hand some of the people on the left side of things who worked hard to get him elected and have been disappointed with his votes, and at the same time Republicans still aren’t happy with him.”
Nye’s decision to wait on announcing his opposition the health bill until shortly before its passage has given the GOP an avenue to paint him as “too close to the speaker” and not acting independently, Richman said.
About half a dozen Republican challengers have stepped forward seeking to challenge Nye, although auto dealer Scott Rigell has emerged as a front-runner. Rigell has the backing of Drake, as well as Jeanine and Maureen McDonnell, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s daughter and sister.
