Hurt wins GOP primary. Tells Perriello, 'battle starts today'

State Sen. Robert Hurt won the Republican nomination on Tuesday to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, a freshman Democrat, in this fall’s mid-term congressional election.

Hurt, 40, a lawyer from Chatham and member of the General Assembly since 2002, beat out six other candidates in the closely watched 5th District GOP primary contest.

Hurt carried the district — which extends from the Charlottesville region in the north down to Danville and other Southside communities — with 48 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

“This is the dawn of a new day in the 5th District and for all of America,” Hurt said, speaking to cheering supporters Tuesday night at a victory celebration in Danville. “It will not be easy, but I know we can take our country back.”

As he has for much of the campaign, Hurt on Tuesday criticized Perriello and other Democrats in Washington for supporting what he views as far too much federal government spending and regulation of private enterprise.

“Tom Perriello, let me say this, the battle starts today,” Hurt said. “Right here, right now.”

Turnout was fairly low across the 5th District, with 8.2 percent of active voters participating. Of Virginia’s five primaries Tuesday, however, the 5th District had the highest rate of voter turnout.

Hurt won handily in many of the district’s southern localities, whereas his rival candidates carried many of the Charlottesville-area jurisdictions.

While Hurt was the top vote recipient in Charlottesville, he did not win in the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Greene, Fluvanna or Nelson.

Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd won in Albemarle, with 33 percent of the vote. Feda Kidd Morton, a Fluvanna County High School biology teacher and GOP activist, easily won Fluvanna, with 35 percent. Michael McPadden, an airline pilot from North Garden, carried Nelson County.

Jim McKelvey, a real estate developer from Moneta, won in both Greene and Buckingham counties.

Hurt overcame sharp criticism from some of his opponents in the primary because of his 2004 vote in favor of a $2.4 billion tax increase that was championed by then-Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat.

Democrats are now attacking Hurt’s record on taxes, asserting that he has downplayed the number of tax and fee increases he supported in the General Assembly. All told, the Democrats say, Hurt voted in favor of 28 tax and fee increases on top of the 2004 tax hike.

“Long ago, Robert Hurt decided it was more important to get elected than to tell the truth,” Fred Hudson, chairman of the 5th District Democratic Committee, said in a statement Tuesday night. “He’s changed positions on whether he supported tax increases so many times that even he’s probably lost count.”

Hurt’s campaign has called the Democrats’ attack a distortion of his record, saying he has voted to block tax and fee increases on more than 70 occasions.

Hurt was viewed as the primary race’s frontrunner from the moment he announced his candidacy. He has represented a large portion of the district’s southern half as a member of the House of Delegates and Senate, always winning re-election with a minimum of 60 percent of the vote.

“Robert Hurt started as the frontrunner and he never looked back,” said Isaac Wood, a House race expert with the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Hurt’s victory is expected to trigger a three-way race for the general election.

Jeff Clark, a Danville resident and Tea Party member, has threatened to run as an independent because he views Hurt as too moderate.

Such a scenario, Wood said, could siphon GOP votes from Hurt and benefit Perriello.

“It’s certainly not an ideal situation for Robert Hurt or Republicans in general,” he said.

Clark lacks money and name recognition, but his candidacy could receive a boost if any of Hurt’s primary opponents choose to get behind Clark.

Most of the candidates have stated that they will back Hurt against Perriello. “We had a fair race. We had a good race,” Boyd said. “Now it’s time to get behind our candidate.”

McKelvey, Wood noted, has been occupying office space in Danville donated by Clark and might not support Hurt in the general election.

“McKelvey could be the real loose cannon for the Republicans,” Wood said.

McKelvey’s possible support of Clark could be especially significant because he took second place in Tuesday’s primary, receiving nearly 26 percent of the vote.

Reached by phone at around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, McKelvey said it was too early in the evening to comment. He did not answer several subsequent phone calls from The Daily Progress as the night went on.