2007 Virginia's 1st congressional district special election

After the death of Republican Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis on October 6, 2007, a special election was required to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the 110th United States Congress. Governor Tim Kaine announced that the election would occur on December 11, 2007. The Republican and Democratic candidates were selected by political conventions on November 10, 2007.[1] Republican state legislator Rob Wittman was elected, defeating Democratic nominee Philip Forgit and independent candidate Lucky Narain.[2]

2007 Virginia's 1st congressional district special election

Nominee Rob Wittman Philip Forgit Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 42,772 26,282 Percentage 60.77% 37.34%

Representative before election Jo Ann Davis Republican Elected Representative Rob Wittman Republican

Candidates

Democratic

Democrats nominated Iraq War veteran and former teacher Philip Forgit over retired United States Navy Captain Ted Hontz by a 106–91 convention vote.[3] The Democratic convention was held in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not invest large amounts of money into the campaign,[4] opting instead to fund Robin Weirauch's campaign in a special congressional election in Ohio.[5]

Republican

After five ballots, Republicans chose State Delegate Rob Wittman as their nominee when Paul Jost withdrew before the sixth ballot could be announced.[6] The Republican convention was held at Caroline High School in Caroline County, Virginia. The Republican convention drew a wide variety of candidates, including former State Delegate Dick Black; former Republican Party official Jim Bowden; Sherwood Bowditch, the Director of the Virginia Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs; David Caprara, an activist; retired FBI agent David Corderman; Chuck Davis, the widower of late Congresswoman Davis; businessman Paul Jost, attorney Kevin O'Neill, and businessman Rob Quartel.

Independent

Lucky Narain, a former Peace Corps volunteer, Army Reservist, and grant writer from Yorktown,[7] filed the necessary petitions to be placed on the ballot as an independent candidate. He criticized Wittman for supporting a transportation tax increase despite having signed an anti-tax pledge; Wittman claimed that he had not signed that particular pledge.[8]

General election results

Virginia's 1st congressional district special election, 2007[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Rob Wittman	42,772	60.77
	Democratic	Philip Forgit	26,282	37.34
	Independent	Lucky R. Narain	1,253	1.78
	Write-ins		75	0.11
Total votes			70,382	100.00
	Republican hold

See also

• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives

References

1. ""Republicans Warn Against Overconfidence in Race to Succeed Davis" by Greg Giroux". cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
2. Wittman wins 1st Congressional District Election Archived 2007-12-12 at the Wayback Machine WVEC December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 11, 2007
3. "Page Not Found - Daily Press". dailypress.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
4. "Washington Post: Breaking News, World, US, DC News & Analysis". Washington Post. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
5. "Parties Focus on Specials - Roll Call". rollcall.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
6. "The Shad Plank: Convention final. Wittman is in!". typepad.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
7. "Page Not Found - Daily Press". dailypress.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
8. "Protected Blog › Log in". fred2blue.wordpress.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2013-10-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)