2010 Virginia's 5th congressional district election

Virginia's 5th congressional district election, 2010 was an election held to determine who would represent Virginia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives during the 112th Congress. The candidates were incumbent Democrat Tom Perriello, Republican state Senator Robert Hurt and Independent candidate Jeffrey Clark. Hurt defeated Perriello in the general election, 51% to 47%, with Clark receiving 2% of the vote.[1]

Virginia's 5th congressional district election, 2010
November 2, 2010
 
Candidate Robert Hurt Tom Perriello
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 119,560 110,562
Percentage 50.81% 46.98%
Representative before election

Tom Perriello
Democratic

 Elected Representative

Robert Hurt
Republican

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Background
See also: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia

The seat being contested is located in Central and Southside Virginia. The district covers all or part of 18 counties and all of 4 independent cities, making it Virginia's largest district with an area of 8,922.03 square miles (23,108.0 km2) - 193 sq mi (500 km2). larger than New Jersey. The 5th district has been represented by Democratic representative Tom Perriello since the 2008 election result, when he defeated Republican incumbent Virgil Goode by 727 votes, one of the closest elections in the nation.

The 5th congressional district was traditionally a conservative Democratic district. Incumbent Virgil Goode left the party to become an independent in 2000, and then a Republican two years later. In his 2008 defeat of Goode, Perriello out-performed the Democratic national ticket in the district, which Republican presidential candidate John McCain carried by 51% to 48%. In the previous two presidential elections George Bush won by 56% and 55%.

Goode did not seek a rematch against Perriello,[2] although he said several Conservative groups asked him to run on a pro-Tea Party ticket, due to their dissatisfaction with the Republicans.[3] Assembly line worker Bradley Rees filed to run as a Republican, then stated he would run on the Virginia Conservative Party ticket,[4] and then suspended his campaign in 2009.[5]

Republican primary

Hurt won the Republican nomination a seven-way primary on June 8, 2010, with results:[6][7]

Candidates

Polling
Poll source Dates administered Tom
Perriello (D)		 Robert
Hurt (R)		 Jeffrey
Clark (I)		 Undecided
Survey USA[9][10] October 28, 2010 45% 50% 4% 3%
Survey USA[9][10] September 28, 2010 35% 58% 4% 3%
Benenson Strategy Group[11] September 21, 2010 44% 46% 4% 5%
Global Strategy Group[12] September 7, 2010 42% 44% 6% 7%
Survey USA[13] September 2, 2010 35% 61% 2% 2%
American Action Forum[14] August 12, 2010 43% 49% - 8%
Survey USA[15] July 20, 2010 35% 58% 4% 3%
Public Policy Polling[16] February 5–10, 2010 44% 44%

General election results
General Election Results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Robert Hurt 119,560 50.81
Democratic Tom Perriello (incumbent) 110,562 46.98
Independent Jeffrey Clark 4,992 2.12
Total votes 235,360 100

[1]

References
  1. "November 2, 2010 General and Special Elections Official Results". State Board of Elections. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  2. K.A. Wagoner (July 27, 2009). "Goode won't seek GOP nod". Martinsville Bulletin. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013.
  3. Damewood, Brian (January 18, 2010). "Virgil Goode: Candidate in 2010?". WSET-TV. Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2010-06-08.
  4. Thompson, Dave (October 29, 2009). "Rees says he's not running as Republican in Fifth District". The News & Advance. Archived from the original on November 1, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
  5. "Bradley Rees for Congress". Reesforcongress.com. 2009-06-13. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  6. Official Results Archived 2010-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, State Board of Elections.
  7. Reed, Ray (October 16, 2009). "Campbell Republican joins race for Fifth District". The News & Advance. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009.
  8. "Clark Officially Qualified for November Ballot". NBC29. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  9. http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=3dacde86-7c46-4050-9ba0-069ca6910d37
  10. "SurveyUSA poll has Hurt up 23 points". Danville Register & Bee. 2010-09-29. Archived from the original on 2010-10-02. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  11. "2nd Democratic poll shows tight race for Perriello". washingtonpost.com. 2010-09-21. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  12. "With new poll, Democrats make case that Perriello race is still competitive". washingtonpost.com. 2010-09-07. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  13. "No Purchase for Perriello in VA-05, Another Democratic Incumbent Congressman in Trouble". surveyusa.com. 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  14. "GOP poll gives Hurt 6-point edge over Perriello". Washingtonpost.com. 2010-08-17. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  15. "News7 Survey USA poll gives Republican challenger a commanding lead in 5th District Congressional Race". wdbj7.com. 2010-07-20. Archived from the original on 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  16. Giroux, Greg (2010-02-11). "Va. Poll: Perriello Tied With Hurt, Goode - The Eye (CQ Politics)". Blogs.cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on 2010-07-26. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
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