Hurt unseats Perriello

Republican state Sen. Robert Hurt unseated U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, in Tuesday’s midterm congressional election, promising an end to what his campaign called the Democrats’ “job-killing, big-spending, big-government” agenda.

Hurt, 41, won the election with 50.9 percent of the vote with nearly all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results posted late Tuesday.

“You all made it possible,” Hurt told some 300 supporters in front of Chatham’s courthouse. “We have traveled all across the 5th District and we have heard it again and again … People are yearning for change in this country — but not the change we got two years ago.”

Hurt’s victory Tuesday meant the defeat of Perriello, 36, a freshman Democrat from Albemarle County who was elected to office two years ago as part of the Democratic wave led by President Barack Obama. In that year, Perriello unseated six-term incumbent Republican Virgil H. Goode Jr. by a margin of just 727 votes, making it the closest congressional race in the country.

“It has been the great honor of my life to serve the people of Central and Southern Virginia for the last two years of my life and I’ve given it everything that I’ve got,” Perriello said shortly after 9 p.m. in front of hundreds of supporters at Siips on the Downtown Mall.

Perriello lost by more than 9,270 votes on Tuesday, receiving 46.9 percent of the vote. Jeff Clark, an independent conservative candidate from Danville, took fewer than 5,000 votes, or 2.1 percent, according to early returns.

Perriello won much of the Charlottesville region, including the city of Charlottesville and counties of Albemarle, Buckingham and Nelson. Hurt, however, won in Fluvanna and Greene counties and won huge margins in many of the district’s southern jurisdictions.

Hurt campaigned on his opposition to the Democratic-backed initiatives that Perriello supported, such as health-care, the economic stimulus package and the clean energy legislation known as “cap and trade.” Over the past year, Hurt has repeatedly blamed these measures for costing jobs, leading to higher taxes and adding far too much to the federal debt.

Hurt promised to cut taxes, reduce government regulation of business and roll back federal spending.

“We need to have policies that promote jobs, not kill jobs, and I’m glad that tonight those people have spoken,” Hurt said. “Our duty is clear … the hard work starts now.”

Perriello, for his part, argued that the Democrats’ actions of the past two years prevented an economic collapse, saved numerous jobs that would have otherwise been lost and positioned the United States to recover from the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression.

Despite his loss, Perriello said, the ripple effects of the legislation he helped pass will continue to help people in the years ahead.

“We stood and faced one of the worst times in American history and found a way to soldier through it,” Perriello said. “I’m proud of what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished. I think those things will continue to bear fruit for this country and this community going forward.”

On Friday, Obama hosted a rally on Perriello’s behalf in front of an estimated crowd of 12,000 at the Charlottesville Pavilion. The rally was meant to energize Democrats — many of whom voted for the first time in 2008 — and convince them to turn out Tuesday to support Perriello. The last-minute push, it seems, fell short of its intended goal.

Perriello promised, if re-elected, to invest in 21st-century infrastructure, move toward energy independence, to support education and job training, and to encourage the growth of American manufacturing, agriculture and clean energy jobs.

Yet just as Perriello was elected as part of a wave in 2008, he has lost his seat in a Republican wave in 2010. The GOP appeared poised Tuesday night to take control of the House. And across Virginia, at least two other Democratic incumbents, Glenn Nye of Norfolk and Rick Boucher of Abingdon, lost their seats to Republican challengers.

Perriello was long viewed as one of the country’s most endangered incumbents, given the close margin of his 2008 victory and because the 5th District — which stretches from the Charlottesville region down to the Southside — is considered fairly conservative. Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, for example, won the district with 60.34 percent of the vote in 2009.

In his two years in office, Perriello said, he sought always to do what was best for the people of the 5th District.

“The wisest man that I know, my father, when I got into politics made me promise one thing — that I would always remember that Judgment Day is more important than Election Day and that’s it’s more important to do what’s right than what’s easy,” Perriello said. “And that’s what I’ve strived to do.”

The race between Perriello and Hurt attracted a staggering amount of cash from outside groups across the country, flooding the district’s TV and radio airwaves and stuffing voters’ mailboxes with an endless stream of campaign literature.

In the final weeks of the race, the League of Conservation Voters spent nearly $553,000 on behalf of Perriello and against Hurt. The Sierra Club spent nearly $313,000 for Perriello and against Hurt. The liberal group Moveon.org dropped $150,000 for Perriello. The veterans organization VoteVets.org spent more than $241,000 on TV ads opposing Hurt, while the National Education Association spent $284,500. The Service Employees International Union purchased $15,000 worth of Internet ads and nearly $300,000 in TV ads against Hurt, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Hurt, meanwhile, was boosted in the last couple of weeks by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which spent roughly $513,000 in various independent expenditures on behalf of Hurt and against Perriello. Anti-abortion groups such as the National Right to Life and Americans United for Life spent roughly $16,000 combined in radio ads for Hurt and against Perriello. An organization called Alliance for America’s Future, which is reportedly run by Mary Cheney, the former vice president’s daughter, spent nearly $3,000 on phone calls in support of Hurt, FEC records show.

Perriello promised Tuesday that his staff will assist Hurt with the coming transition.

“I just got off the phone with Robert Hurt and congratulated him on becoming the next congressman of the 5th District,” Perriello said. “Give him a round of applause. I also let him know that I have made it clear to our entire team that our first priority is to help him with the transition and do everything we can to help him succeed because this isn’t about him and me. It’s always been about the people of the 5th District and they are the best people in the world.”

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner issued a statement shortly after it became clear that Perriello had lost his seat, saying that Perriello has been an exemplary congressman.

“I can’t think of anyone who has worked as hard or been a more passionate advocate for his constituents than Tom Perriello,” Warner said. “He has worked to make higher education more affordable and accessible, and he has been a fierce advocate for jobs, clean energy and economic renewal. I am certain we have not heard the last from this talented young man.”

Pat Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, sent out a statement saying that Hurt will be missed on Capitol Square but “Richmond’s loss is our entire country’s gain.”

“It’s not easy to run a race in the national spotlight,” he said. “It’s even harder to run a race when the incumbent can ask the president of the United States to drop by for a campaign rally. But Congressman-elect Hurt’s team stayed cool under pressure, never wavering from their message of common-sense conservative values.”