District: 9th (Blacksburg, Bristol)
First elected: 1982
Margin of victory in last election: Unopposed
Votes on key issues
Health care overhaul: No
Cap and trade: Yes
Had Rep. Rick Boucher not backed the “cap and trade” climate bill in a district defined by its coal seams, would Republican Del. Morgan Griffith ever have taken on the well-known, well-financed Democrat?
“I don’t know, I might have,” said Griffith. “But clearly that made it so obvious that he no longer represents the Ninth District, or even makes the pretense of representing the Ninth District.”
The powerful Virginia House majority leader is stepping in to challenge an incumbent so dug in, the GOP didn’t bother to field a candidate against him two years ago.
And energy issues, more than any other race in Virginia, will take center stage. Boucher, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, not only backed the legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions, but helped forge a compromise between power companies and environmental interests that allowed the bill to win narrow passage in the House.
The Democrat, first elected in 1982 as Republicans took a beating during a long recession, has at the same time split from his party on heath care. He declared the shortcomings of the nearly $1 trillion legislation “outweigh its merits,” criticizing the bill for reducing Medicare funding and for disparate benefits among the states.
Griffith is not without his own stumbling blocks. His state House district runs into Boucher’s turf but Griffith’s home is a stone’s throw outside the congressional district.
