With less than four months to go until November’s election, the ballots have been finalized and the fundraising and campaigning is well underway.
Historic Triangle voters will have the chance to cast votes in two federal races: A U.S. Senate seat and a U.S. House of Representatives seat. The ballots do not contain any state or local positions.
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Democrat Mark Warner is trying to defend his seat against Republican challenger Ed Gillespie and Libertarian challenger Robert Sarvis.
Warner, who was elected in 2008, is finishing his first term as a senator. The former Virginia governor has seen several bills he has sponsored or cosponsored become law.
He introduced the bill that later created a national nonprofit called the National Foundation on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition to support an executive order from President Barack Obama to help encourage Americans to improve their diets and become more active. He has also co-sponsored the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill to expand work to help prevent Alzheimer’s, a bill to curb cigarette trafficking and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which aims to eliminate discrepancies in compensation between men and women for the same job. Find out more about his campaign here.
Gillespie, who appeared in Yorktown last week, has been involved behind the scenes in Republican politics for years. He has chaired the Republican National Committee and has served as an adviser to President George W. Bush. He also oversaw former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s successful 2009 campaign and worked for years as a policy and communications aide to former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Find out more about his campaign here.
Sarvis, a Libertarian, ran for governor of Virginia in 2013, finishing third with 6.52 percent of the vote behind the winner, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, and the runner-up, Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Sarvis is a Northern Virginia native who has worked as a small-business owner, a software developer, a math teacher and a lawyer. Find out more about his campaign here.
Warner is winning the fundraising race against his opponents by several million dollars. The latest information from Open Secrets, a project by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics which tracks spending in political races, shows Warner with $9.45 million cash on hand, far above Gillespie’s $2.31 million cash on hand. Open Secrets did not have data for Sarvis at the time of this article’s publication.
In the U.S. House of Representatives race, incumbent Republican Rob Wittman is squaring off against Democrat Norm Mosher and independent Glenda Gail Parker for the first congressional district. The first district includes the Historic Triangle and stretches north through the middle and upper peninsulas to parts of Prince William County in Northern Virginia.
In his most recent two-year term, Wittman has co-sponsored several successful bills related to the military, including funding for a Vietnam Veterans Memorial visitors center, commendations for participants in a 1942 air raid on Japan and a law cracking down on people who make fraudulent claims about military service.
Wittman has served as the first congressional district representative since his election in 2007. Find out more about his campaign here.
Mosher is a Democrat who spent 26 years in the U.S. Navy, where he earned combat decorations for his service in the Vietnam War. He went on work in the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee and to found a consulting company. He is currently working for a nonprofit working to develop programs for at-risk girls in India. Find out more about his campaign here.
Parker spent several years working as the financial manager of the U.S. Air Force’s research and development program. She is a certified information system security professional whose platform emphasizes investing in rail throughout Virginia. Find out more about her campaign here.
Wittman has $1.01 million on hand, according to Open Secrets. Data for Mosher and Parker were not available at the time of this article’s publication.
Several other people have announced candidacies for the two jobs, however they were not certified as candidates by the Virginia Department of Elections, meaning any votes they receive in November will come as write-ins.
Republicans Howie Lind, Shak Hill, Tony DeTora and Chuck Moss have all expressed interest in running for Warner’s seat, while Libertarian Xavian Draper and Republican Anthony Riedel have expressed interest in running for Wittman’s.
The election takes place Nov. 4. Find out how to register to vote here.