Sunday, September 04, 2011
GOP aims to unseat popular Democratic state senators
State senators who haven't had much competition recently are being targeted by Republicans bent on ousting them.
General Assembly 2011
Among the major issues: The state's continuing efforts to provide services with fewer dollars and Gov. McDonnell's plan to privatize liquor stores. Session ends Feb. 26.
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RICHMOND - Democrats John Edwards of Roanoke and Phillip Puckett of Russell County have not had to break a sweat to win their last two elections to the Virginia Senate. They haven't had Republican opponents since 1999.
Democrat Roscoe Reynolds of Henry County easily dispatched Republican challengers in his last two Senate campaigns, winning at least 63 percent of the vote.
But all three senators find themselves in the cross hairs of Republicans in 2011.
"Everybody's been targeted," Edwards said. "It's like a full-court press."
Republicans occupy Virginia's three executive branch offices and have a comfortable majority in the House of Delegates. Now they are waging an all-out effort to take over the Senate and gain complete control of state government for just the second time in history. And their road map goes right through Southwest and Southside Virginia.
"I think we learned early on that our race was going to be in play," said Puckett, whose district stretches from the coalfields to the New River Valley. "It's pretty red out here most of the time in statewide races."
Democrats hold 22 of the Senate's 40 seats heading into the fall campaign. Redistricting, retirements and the relocation of two senators have upset the political landscape and created new battlegrounds.
Perhaps no one has as much riding on these contests as Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is nearing the midpoint of his four-year term.
McDonnell has won bipartisan support for a transportation funding package, economic development initiatives and some of his budget priorities. But the Senate has blocked some of his high-profile fiscal and policy reforms, and McDonnell said a Republican majority would help his cause.
"I do believe that it will be helpful to our agenda to have more fiscal conservative Republicans in the Senate in order to do a number of things," McDonnell said, citing his desire to pursue reforms in state government, public education and the state employee pension system, among other things.
Related
The Roanoke Times
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Democratic leaders argue that state government would take a hard right turn if Republicans control the entire legislature. Edwards said the current crop of GOP Senate candidates is more conservative than the moderates who controlled the chamber in 2007, when Republicans last had a majority.
He said lawmakers would have made deeper cuts to public schools and safety net programs last year if Senate Democrats had not protected those priorities.
"Moderate governing would no longer exist in Virginia if the Senate weren't there to hold back this ultraconservative tide that's coming in from the House and the governor's mansion," said Edwards, who was first elected to the Senate in 1995. "The Senate is a bulwark against an avalanche of really extreme legislation."
McDonnell said Democrats have it "just backwards."
"What I'd say is if people want to see more jobs and more opportunity and more government reform and more fiscal responsibility, then they ought to vote for the candidates who are advocating those principles and those are largely going to be Republicans, not candidates who are going to advocate more government spending and reversing some of the cuts that have been prudently made," McDonnell said. "That's really a big theme in the campaign."
Money where mouth is
McDonnell isn't just talking the talk. He's putting money where his mouth is.
John Edwards
Dave Nutter
His political action committee, Opportunity Virginia, has contributed $83,000 to Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, who moved into the 20th District to oppose Reynolds. Tazewell County Republican Adam Light, who is challenging Puckett, has received $50,000. And Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, who gave up a safe House seat to take on Edwards, has received $40,000.
McDonnell also has steered $50,000 each to Republican challengers running against veteran Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania County, and first term Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News.
McDonnell singled out Nutter and Stanley during an interview Thursday, saying they made "bold moves by giving up their seats to go run in other races."
"I think courage should be rewarded," said McDonnell, who had nearly $3 million stockpiled in his political committee at the end of June.
Nutter said his decision to challenge Edwards was a personal one and not part of a larger plan to help Republicans reclaim the Senate. But, he said, "You really need resources in order to be competitive, and both from the background that I brought to the table and the support that I was hearing was going to be available from the governor and others, that was part of the equation."
Light called McDonnell's financial backing "huge," saying it has helped his campaign get mailers to voters and radio ads on the air.
"It takes this from a race where we would have been completely dependent on grass-roots stuff to a race where we have both factors - we have the media stuff and the grass-roots stuff," said Light, who made an unsuccessful bid for Congress last year.
Adam Light
Phillip Puckett
Stanley took a risk by giving up the 19th District Senate seat he won in a January special election and moving south to the 20th District to battle Reynolds. His decision allowed Republican Sen. Ralph Smith to move from Botetourt County to Roanoke County and run in the reconfigured 19th District. The Senate's redistricting plan had left Smith and Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, in the same district. Smith will run against former Republican state Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke County, now running as an independent.
"When I really sat down and looked at it, I just thought it was time for new leadership and a new voice in Southside and Southwest that we haven't had in a while," Stanley said. "We have to start thinking about solving our economic problems in a different way."
The 20th District, which stretches from Galax to South Boston, could be the most fiercely fought-over terrain in Virginia this fall. Reynolds, who has served in the Senate since 1997, said he expects McDonnell "to spend all the money that he thinks is necessary to change the majority in the Senate."
The Senate Democratic Caucus has come to Reynolds' aid with more than $92,000 in cash and in-kind contributions this year, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Jeff Evans of Henry County, who ran as a Republican against Reynolds in 2007, is running this year as an independent.
Obama a factor?
Republicans tapped into voters' concerns about the economy and their dissatisfaction with Washington to win Virginia's three statewide offices in 2009 and a majority of its congressional seats last year.
"People at the lower end of the economic ladder and the upper end of the economic ladder are scared," said Nutter, who has made jobs a central issue in his campaign.
Jeff Evans
Roscoe Reynolds
Bill Stanley
In some races, Republicans are associating Democratic senators with the party's statewide and national leaders, including President Barack Obama, as they appeal for votes in Southwest and Southside Virginia. Edwards, Reynolds and Puckett said they will let their records speak for themselves.
"We're going all out in our race because it's important to keep this seat and because I think I reflect the values of this district better than he [Nutter] does and because I think I have a record I can defend very well," Edwards said.
Reynolds and Puckett have broken with their party on some high-profile issues over the last two years. Both supported a 2010 state law designed to protect most Virginians from being forced to have health insurance. The state law was used as the foundation for Virginia's lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul.
"In past campaigns, opponents have misrepresented me as a liberal and the people I represent know that I am not," Reynolds said.
"I try to be middle of the road and I think my voting record shows that that's about where I am," Reynolds said. "And if you're in the middle of the road, you're going to get criticized by the extremes on both sides."
Puckett said he expects Republicans to use the same playbook they used against former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, last year and former Del. Dan Bowling of Tazewell County in 2009.
"They're going to try to paint me much like they did the congressman and also Dan Bowling in his race as a guy who's against coal, which is the furthest thing from the truth," said Puckett, who has received nearly $85,000 in campaign contributions from the coal industry in this year alone.
Only five Senate candidates in the state had more cash on hand than Puckett as of July 31. But with McDonnell and Republicans going all out this fall, Puckett said he isn't letting down his guard.
"One of the things we're saying to our people is don't let somebody outside of the district or even outside of the state try to buy this just because they have more money than we do," Puckett said.
